On Sunday it will be the 60th edition of Amstel Gold Race men’s race, and the 12th for the women. The race takesin the Limburg region of the Netherlands, the beginning of the Ardennes Classics. There are three men racing: or the men, Alpecin-Premier Tech’s Hugo Houle, EF Education-EasyPost’s Michael Leonard. and Pier-André Côté (NSN Cycling Team).
There are even more for the women’s race. World champ Magdeleine Vallières-Mill (EF Education-Oatly), who has made the next few races some of her big goals for the year, is racing. Plus, there’s Movistar’s Olivia Baril, St Michel – Preference Home – Auber93’s Alison Jackson and Clara Émond and Kiara Lylyk (Mayenne Monbana My Pie).
The 2019 Amstel Gold men’s race
The race on Sunday is bound to be exciting, but it will be a tall order for the race to reach the lofty heights that the 2019 men’s achieved, as Mathieu van der Poel sprinted to a spectacular win.
The day had already seen a cracker of a women’s race, with Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney dropping her competitors on the final climb of Cauberg to take her only WorldTour victory of the year on her way to fourth overall at season’s end. Canada’s Alison Jackson came ninth.
The incredible finish
The men’s race was looking like another round of the Julian Alaphilippe versus Jakob Fuglsang tussle, which began at Strade Bianche and would continue to unfurl in Ardennes Week. The duo attacked and went clear on the Kruisberg and (now) former pro, Michael Woods was among the chasers.
Fuglsang couldn’t shake Alaphilippe, and the cat and mouse games they played over the last few kilometres doomed their aspirations. Michal Kwiatkowski managed to bridge from a 10-strong chase group that included van der Poel.
MvdP led the pursuit, which caught the trio with 650m to go. Undaunted by the work he had just completed, van der Poel sprinted up the right hand side and took the famous win, grabbing his head in disbelief. Woods’ teammate Simon Clarke, runner up, was too astonished to be upset and patted van der Poel on the back as they freewheeled past the line. Fuglsang was third; he would win Liège-Bastogne-Liège the next Sunday after coming runner-up to Alaphilippe at La Flèche Wallonne.
Check back on Canadian Cycling Magazine for a full report from both races too. You can also watch it live on FloBikes.com