refreshes
– 141 km
In the men’s race, the seven leaders still have 2:30 on their hands after Camerige, the longest climb of the day. The race will soon make a short sortie across the border into Belgium between the ascents of Drielandenpunt (11) and Gemmenich (12). the Dre landing In question at that point, by the way, are the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The hill, also known as Walserberg, overlooks the place where the borders of the three countries meet. Walsburg is the highest point in the Netherlands, at 322 meters above sea level, and the Drielandenpunt peaks at the border at 330 metres.
There are 33 kilometers left in the women’s race, by the way, and James Moultrie describes the procedure for us. His live coverage is available here.
-150 km
After the ninth climb out of 33 climbs, Schweibergerweg, the break’s lead fell back to 2:30.
The pace was gradually building up in the peloton and the break’s lead continued to narrow, dropping just north two minutes into the eighth climb of the day, the Loorberg.
-163 km
break:
Matthias Vasek (Trek-Segafredo), Leon Henske (DSM), Matteo Verscher (TotalEnergies), Ward Vanhoef (Flanders-Balloise), Tobias Ludvigsson, Alessandro Fedele (Q36.5) and Martin Orianstad (Uno-X)
peloton at 2:05
-165 km
Away from the Amstel Gold Race, Franche-Comté’s racing experience ends this afternoon with the Tour du Doubs, as Thibaut Pinot seeks victory on home roads in his final season as a professional. The Frenchman, who was closing in on the Giro d’Italia, finished second to Kevin Vauquelin at the Tour du Jura yesterday. “Everyone talks about a farewell tour, but I want to hit the road,” said Benott afterwards. “It shows that I’m not only here to sign autographs and take pictures, but also to win races. That’s what’s important.” Read more here.
AG2R Citroen was up front helping to dominate the peloton with the United Arab Emirates, while Ineos Grenadiers were visible keeping Tom Pidcock as close to the front as possible.
-175 km
break:
Matthias Vasek (Trek-Segafredo), Leon Henske (DSM), Matteo Verscher (TotalEnergies), Ward Vanhoef (Flanders-Balloise), Tobias Ludvigsson, Alessandro Fedele (Q36.5) and Martin Orianstad (Uno-X)
Peloton at 3:00
There was a clear uptick in urgency for the peloton and the lead of the break was starting to narrow accordingly on the long and relatively flat section that leads towards the seventh climb of the day, Wolfsberg.
– 184 km
break:
Matthias Vasek (Trek-Segafredo), Leon Henske (DSM), Matteo Verscher (TotalEnergies), Ward Vanhoef (Flanders-Balloise), Tobias Ludvigsson, Alessandro Fedele (Q36.5) and Martin Orianstad (Uno-X)
Peloton at 3:25
Matej Mouhorik crashed out of the Tour of Flanders and had to finish 29th in Paris-Roubaix, but his Bahrain Victorious team has been prominent towards the head of the peloton so far. “I was feeling good in Roubaix, the condition and the legs are there. It’s frustrating that I haven’t had any results in the big races yet, but I’ll try to turn that around in Amstel, Flesch and Liege,” Mohorik said at the start. Strong here to support me.My ambition is to get a top five result but of course it’s not easy with Pogacar.But we’ll see what happens at the end.If I’m there at the end I think I can follow the step and hopefully be in check and then try to play my cards – either by anticipation Or by waiting for the enemy and doing my best.”
– 196 km
Unlike the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, the break was able to build up quite quickly this morning and this made for a – relatively – steady start. Runaways still do 42 kilometers in the first hour, mind you.
– 205 km
break:
Matthias Vasek (Trek-Segafredo), Leon Henske (DSM), Matteo Verscher (TotalEnergies), Ward Vanhoef (Flanders-Balloise), Tobias Ludvigsson, Alessandro Fedele (Q36.5) and Martin Orianstad (Uno-X)
Peloton at 4:00
– 207 km
Above the Bergsweg area of the seven leaders, whose advantage seems to have settled around the 4:30 mark for now.
-212 km
The UAE-dominated peloton was still content to give the breakaway its head in this early stage of the race, and the gap stretched towards the five-minute mark.
At first, Tom Pidcock downplayed the idea that the whole group was waiting for Pogacar’s inevitable attack at the end – or before that. Amstel is still Amstel. “Of course you have to be ready for Taddy to attack, because this is the guy you can’t leave a gap for, but then again you can’t build your entire race around one rider either,” Bidcock said. “You have to nail down certain sections and this race has a lot of points where you need to be ahead as a team, so these tactics don’t change. I’ve only raced the full circuit here once. It’s a very tough race and one I really like.”
A puncture for Tom Pidcock, but the Briton gets a quick change and immediately joins the peloton. In front, meanwhile, is the main barrier over the second climb, the Adsteeg.
-221 km
break:
Matthias Vasek (Trek-Segafredo), Leon Henske (DSM), Matteo Verscher (TotalEnergies), Ward Vanhoef (Flanders-Balloise), Tobias Ludvigsson, Alessandro Fedele (Q36.5) and Martin Orianstad (Uno-X)
Peloton at 4:20
Tadezh Pogacar cut a relaxed figure at the start in Maastricht: “I love the Ardennes, I really love them. The last few years I haven’t done Amstel but it’s really good to include them again in this programme. It’s a really tactical race and frantic and very fast with short climbs, but I think we have a good team to stay in front. I know the main climb but I don’t have a good pronunciation in Dutch so I’m not going to say it. It’s very different for the cobbled classics but it’s also different from Liege. It has its little charms. It’s a nice race.”
-231 km
In Sittard, home of Tom Dumoulin Bike Park, the seven leaders have 3:40 in hand on a hovercraft as Team UAE do police duty.
-240 km
break:
Matthias Vasek (Trek-Segafredo), Leon Henske (DSM), Matteo Verscher (TotalEnergies), Ward Vanhoef (Flanders-Balloise), Tobias Ludvigsson, Alessandro Fedele (Q36.5) and Martin Orianstad (Uno-X)
Peloton at 2:20
– 241 km
The pace has largely settled in the group, with the UAE team making it clear they are happy to let the move take shape and establish an early buffer. The day is still long…
-240 km
Matthias Vasek (Trek-Segafredo), Leon Henske (DSM), Matteo Verscher (TotalEnergies), Ward Vanhoef (Flanders-Baloise), Tobias Ludvigsson, Alessandro Fedele (Q36.5) and Martin Orianstad (Uno X) lead 1:30 on the peloton after the first climb of the day, Maasberg . Only 32 left…
-245 km
It was a quick start to the proceedings here, although the group of seven managed to gain a small advantage. Matthias Vasek (Trek-Segafredo), Leon Henske (DSM), Matteo Verscher (TotalEnergies), Ward Vanhoef (Flanders-Balloise), Tobias Ludvigson, Alessandro Fedele (Q36.5) and Martin Orianstad (Uno-X) have 20 seconds or so in hand on set, and it looks like they might be given a degree of leeway.
Details of the ups and downs and twists and turns of the long and winding road around Limburg are provided here. These hills are not, of course, part of the Ardennes, which starts across the border in Belgium and runs south towards Luxembourg, but this race is bundled in both history and style with Ardennes classics. When the race finished atop the Cauberg between 2003 and 2012 it was sure to look a lot like Fleetche-Wallon and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and turning the finish line a kilometer or more past the climb, as the organization did from 2013 to 2016, didn’t do much. to change that. However, the move to the current configuration in 2017 made this a very different and more open type of race.
-253 km
The peloton reaches zero kilometers and the 2023 edition of the Amstel Gold Race is officially launched.
The peloton rolled off the start and made its way through no-man’s-land. There is one not-so-starter writer to report: Andrei Zets (Astana – Kazakhstan) was forced out this morning due to illness.
After signing in Maastricht, Benoit Cosnefroy briefly looked back on last year before looking forward to today’s race. “No, it was a good memory,” he said, when asked about photos of last year’s race on the big screen at the start of the day. “Everyone wanted me to cry at the end, but I had so much fun out of Amstel last year, running for the win. I hope I can enjoy it a lot this year. For me it will be a tough race as it will be in Pogacar’s interest to make the race difficult. That’s what he will try to do with the team.” Strong around him. But the Amstel final is often tactical, I hope he is. That might offset any numerical superiority and make it more complicated if he has more than one opponent to watch.”
A year ago, although the route was more or less the same, there was a slightly different feel to the Amstel Gold Race due to the fact that it came a week earlier than usual after swapping dates with Paris-Roubaix to accommodate the French presidential election. It ensured that a number of men with designs on Roubaix glory – most notably Mathieu van der Poel – lined up in Limburg. Victory ultimately fell to Michal Kwiatkowski even if the unfortunate Benoit Kouznefroy thought he had done enough to claim the decision.
There are 175 debutants in Maastricht, including two-time winners Michal Kwiatkowski, Tom Pidcock, Benoit Kosniefroy, Guy Hindley and Tesg Benot, but all eyes will be on Tadezh Pogacar, who arrives in Limburg looking to pick up his campaign where he left off. in Flanders. Rond’s win was the Slovenian’s tenth this season and he insisted during the build-up to the event that “the hunger is still there” for more success on this impressive opening stage of his season. The final stage of Pogacar’s spring campaign begins here and continues to Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
Welcome to the live coverage of the Amstel Gold Race. The peloton will roll out from Maastricht at 10.45 local time and is set to hit kilometer zero at 10.50. 253.6 km and 33 climbs separate them from the finish in Berg en Terpligt.