Chantal Blaak wins women's Amstel Gold Race

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Dutch world champion Chantal Blaak (Boels Dolmans) celebrated a home victory at the women's Amstel Gold Race on Sunday in against Lucinda Brand (Team Sunweb) and Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott).

The win also meant that Blaak moves into the lead of the UCI Women's WorldTour. "It was in my hands today, so there was pressure, but I also kind of like that," Blaak said in a TV interview after the finish. "When I attacked on the Cauberg with 20km to go, I wanted to test my legs and found out that I was maybe the strongest rider in the break. Then I knew that the others would have to beat me today and that I could trust my sprint."

At 114.9 km, the race was not as long as other spring classics, but it made up for this in difficulty with a total of 17 ascents of various hills in Limburg. From the start in Maastricht, the peloton faced a 64-kilometre course with eight hills, including the Cauberg, followed by three laps on a 16.9-kilometre circuit with the Geulhemmerberg, Bemelerberg and Cauberg.

There were no attacks in the first 50km as the peloton stayed together until the Keutenberg. But the 22 per cent ramps of this steep climb and the open, wind-swept plain at the top of the climb caused the bunch to split into three groups.

A break of eight riders with representation from most big teams went clear before the descent into Valkenburg. Blaak, Spratt, Brand, Alexis Ryan (Canyon-SRAM), Lotta Lepistö (Cervélo Bigla), Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Wiggle High5), Riejanne Markus (WaowDeals), and Giorgia Bronzini (Cylance) had an advantage of 25 seconds on the first peloton at the first passage of the finish line.

This gap then ballooned to 2:35 minutes when the first peloton stopped chasing and waited for the second peloton to catch up. The front group worked together well and kept the time gap between 1:45 minutes and two minutes for the first two finishing laps. Blaak tested her breakaway mates with an attack on the steepest part of the Cauberg at the end of the second lap, making the group fall apart: Spratt and Ryan stayed with the world champion, but Brand, Markus, and Cordon-Ragot fell behind, with sprinters Lepistö and Bronzini even further back.

Brand, Markus, and Cordon-Ragot made it back to the front at the beginning of the final lap. On the Bemelerberg, Markus made a move but was immediately closed down by Blaak. The peloton was still 1:30 minutes behind, so the winner would come from this break. Lepistö and Bronzini had managed their race well and came back to the front group at the foot of the Cauberg, but could not respond to the following attacks.

Brand opened the finale with a first move on the lower slopes of the Cauberg. Spratt was the next to attack, and only Blaak and Brand could follow her acceleration. Brand immediately put in a counter-attack on the steepest part just before the top, but Spratt closed the gap with Blaak on her wheel.

Spratt went to the front with 1000 metres to go to secure a podium place. Brand launched her sprint from Blaak's wheel at 250 metres from the line. Blaak countered, never let the Sunweb rider come around her and won with several bike lengths to Brand. Spratt finished in third place.

The UCI Women's WorldTour continues with the Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday, 18 April.

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