192 riders are ready to start the fourteenth edition of the Amstel Gold Race! Will Ponzi win it for the fifth time and become an even greater legend, or will we see a new name on the winner’s list? We’ll know in 260 kilometres!
A lot of teams seem to believe in their chances and don’t want to attack. After 15 km Juarez and Setiawa are the two riders up front. Sequera tried to join them, but failed to do so.
Second time’s the charm for Sequera, who brings three other riders with him: Higuita, Madouas and home rider Tolhoek. The peloton now at 2’30” with 225 km to go, with domestiques of Rakuten and Air France – KLM now controlling in the peloton, making sure nobody else joins the leading group.
150 km to go and the peloton has been at six minutes for a while now, while the riders have already started going up and down. Some other teams have also come to the front of the peloton: Aegon – Peroni, Evonik – ELKO, Isostar – Specialized and Moser – Sygic.
We are nearing the gran finale as our six leaders have a gap of 4’ over the peloton with exactly 100 km to go. Nobody has been dropped in the peloton so far.
82 km to go and a first split in the peloton! Preidler, Teuns and Talansky as well as the whole team of Bennelong – Mitchelton are dropped, but the boys in green are now bringing them back. It’s a serious warning for those outsiders to move up some ranks though.
60 km to go and more splits are being caused by the teams at the front of the peloton, which have been joined by King Power. Most of the time the dropped riders come back quickly thanks to their domestiques, but you never know when the final split is there. Now we have 86 riders in the peloton and 100 riding a bit behind. The most important names in the second group are Bellis, Preidler, Teuns, Van Niekerk, Reichenbach, Sirironnachai, Müller, Le Roux, Calmejane, Bystrom, Serry, Schlegel, Vliegen, Talansky and Budyak. The six leaders still 3’ ahead of the peloton.
Bellis, Preidler, Bystrom, Van Niekerk and Teuns have made it back at the 50 km mark. The peloton still being led by the same teams, with the six leaders 2’30” ahead.
The six leaders are not impressed with the teams that are chasing them and have a lead of 2’45” entering the last 40 km. The peloton consists out of 135 riders now, Talansky the biggest name missing.
More and more gaps are forming, which leads to riders spending unnecessary energy. Bakelants doing some work to come back to the first chasing group with still 34 km to go.
Bakelants might have been right to do so, as Per and Gabburo are working hard for leader Mohoric! 22 riders now 1’30” behind the six leaders with 29 km left! Fourteen riders are 1’ behind the first chasing group, in that group of fourteen we find Kwiatkowski, Beltran, Koretzky, McCarthy, Jensen, Vogt, Gastauer, Demare and Boswell. Another group is 40” behind, in that third chasing group are Formolo, Reichenbach, Vakoc, Gerts, Preidler and Teuns. Even further we find Müller, Gidich and Serry. The other favourites should be in the peloton of 22 riders!
Juarez feeling fresh with 25 km left! He attacks!
At the same time but 1’ behind in the race, Mohoric attacks! His team has been working hard for him, and the Slovenian believes today is the day where he will win the Amstel Gold Race for the first time!
Impressive team performance by Evonik – ELKO as well, as leader Skujins has three guys working for him (Riesebeek, Blums and Becis) who bring back Mohoric with 22 km to go! De Bie and Bakelants are losing touch with the first group of favourites now, but might be brought back to the front as the favourites who missed the boat at first are now also coming closer to this group!
The attack of Juarez some kilometres ago didn’t get anyone dropped. However, with 20 km to go, Setiawa is the first of the original breakaway to definitely give up his dreams of winning the Amstel Gold Race. The five leaders now have 1’30” over a peloton of 30 riders, where some nameswho have been dropped earlier have made it back: Bakelants, De Bie, Beltran, Jensen, Demare, Kwiatkowski, Koretzky, McCarthy, Boswell, Vogt, Gastauer and Bystrom.
Home rider De Bie immediately thinks forward and attacks with 20 km to go! Will he be able to get a gap? Who will be able to follow him?
18 km to go and De Bie and nine other riders have closed the gap to the five leaders in no time! Apart from the Dutchman and the five from the breakaway, the other riders in the first group in the race are Hagen, Skujins, Mohoric, Sagan, Ponzi, Kinoshita, Lutsenko, Beltran and Van Garderen! And it’s that last rider who now attacks while De Bie is taking a breath!
There he is! Four-time Amstel winner Ponzi is the only one who immediately closes the gap to the American! They have a small gap over their thirteen chasers with 15 km to go!
Those thirteen chasers aren’t going very hard and are losing some space. The five riders from the original breakaway manage to hold on for now, and five more names come back with 13 km to go: Gerts, Formolo, Demare, Kwiatkowski and Jensen.
12 km to go and the two leaders start their ascent of the Keutenberg! Van Garderen tries to drop Ponzi!
He doesn’t succeed! The two leaders enter the last 10 km with a 40” lead over their first chasers!
And there are only eight riders left in that first chasing group! Lutsenko attacked at the end of the Keutenberg as well, with only seven others who were able to follow him: Hagen, Kinoshita, Sagan, De Bie, Skujins, Beltran and Mohoric!
Mohoric is to first to crack and he’s not alone! So far, only Hagen and Kinoshita join Lutsenko in his quest to catch back the two leaders!
But except for Mohoric they all make it to the head of the race as the leading duo is caught with five kilometres to go! Colombian champion Beltran now losing some terrain on the other eight though! Van Garderen and Ponzi probably no longer the favourites to win it after their recent efforts!
The first group of chasers is 1’15” behind and seems to be out of contention for the win. In this group we find a surprising Juarez from the breakaway, as well as Gerts, Mohoric and Formolo.
4 km left! Beltran has managed to hold on, the chasers still at 1’10”!
We’re getting closer to the Cauberg! On the final descent of the day, the best places riders are Skujins, De Bie and Kinoshita!
Sagan still at the back of the first group with 2 km to go! One km left until they start their ascent of the Cauberg!
The riders enter the last km! Beltran is ready for the final sprint and moves up some places!
Lutsenko starts his sprint with 600 metres to go!
He survives the steepest part of the Cauberg and is still in the lead with 400 metres to go!
300 metres to go for the Kazak! Skujins gaining some ground now!
Still going strong with 200 metres left! Beltran now out of energy and losing places fast!
Skujins starts his final push entering the last 100 metres! Hagen and Kinoshita now battling for third, or do they have an amazing final push in them?!
Skujins is coming very close now! Van Garderen clearly going fastest now though and he might surprise the other two on the inside!
Lutsenko holds on though, and winst he Amstel Gold Race! He was the one to bring back Ponzi and Van Garderen earlier, and finishes it with a great sprint uphill on the Cauberg! Skujins and Van Garderen complete the podium! The others in this group finish in this order: Hagen (4), Kinoshita (5), Ponzi (6), De Bie (7), Beltran (8) and Sagan (9).
1’30” later, Gerts finishes a good race in his home country with the tenth place ahead of Mohoric. The 12th place goes to a surprising name; breakaway rider Juarez!
The top-15 gets completed by Jensen, Formolo and Demare, with two more breakaway riders just behind them: Tolhoek and Sequera.
The top-20 is then completed by Paez, Kwiatkowski and McCarthy.
But back to the winner of the day now, congratulations to Lutsenko, King Power and manager Bikex!
