Remco’s biggest win for Red Bull
It was his first win since February, his first win in the Amstel and his biggest victory for his new team. At the beginning of the year, Evenepoel had targeted this race and the other two Ardennes Classics, Wednesday’s La Flèche Wallonne and next Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where he will see Pogačar again.
“It was a flashback to last year,” Evenepoel told TNT Sports after the race. “I have more confidence now. I felt on the climbs I was the strongest today, and that [Skjelmose] was on the limit when taking pulls. I had a lot of confidence I could finish it in a sprint.”
Saying he was a big fan of Amstel Gold’s “short hard climbs,” he added: “It’s the most beautiful victory of the season, but every week there’s a new beautiful [race]. This race, other than the monuments, is very high on my list. It’s in the top eight victories in my career.”
The finale of the race began with about 45km to ride, on the Kruisberg climb (700 m @ 7.9%), when Romain Grégoire (Groupama–FDJ United) burst out of a large group of riders and was followed by Evenepoel, Skjelmose, Matteo Jorgenson (Visma–Lease a Bike), and Kévin Vauquelin (INEOS Grenadiers). But a few kilometres later, Vauquelin slid out and crashed on a wet downhill corner, with Jorgenson falling over him. Vauquelin was able to remount and ride on, though he was never a factor and finished 50th. But Jorgenson abandoned the race.
On Monday, the team said that he had broken his collarbone and would miss the rest of the Ardennes races. “Matteo broke his collarbone in his crash during the Amstel Gold Race,” the statement declared. “As a result, he will not start in the Flèche Wallonne or Liège-Bastogne-Liège.”
That left Evenepoel, Skjelmose and Grégoire together. They were soon joined by the last remaining rider of an early nine-rider breakaway, Marco Frigo (NSN Cycling). Frigo was dropped on another climb, and Grégoire lost touch with the leaders on the penultimate climb of the Cauberg (900 m @ 7%). That left the Belgian and the Dane to race the rest of the way for the spoils, but it was not much of a contest. As Skjelmose quite accurately put it: “Last year, I was lucky, and this year, he beat me with legs.”
Benoît Cosnefroy, who looks reborn in his first year with UAE Team Emirates– XRG, won the sprint for the final spot on the podium.
Result Men’s Amstel Gold Race: Maastricht to Valkenburg (257 km)
- Remco Evenepoel, Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe 5:59:40
2. Mattias Skjelmose, Lidl-Trek +0:01
3. Benoît Cosnefroy, UAE Team Emirates– XRG +1:59
4. Romain Grégoire, Groupama–FDJ United “
5. Emiel Verstrynge, Alpecin–Premier Tech “
6. Mauro Schmid, Jayco AlUla “
7. Mauri Vansevenant, Soudal Quick-Step “
8. Albert Withen Philipsen, Lidl-Trek “
9. Ewn Costiou, Groupama–FDJ United “
10. Marco Frigo, NSN Cycling “