Amstel Gold Race: Remco Evenepoel takes resounding victory over Mattias Skjelmose in tense two-man rematch

Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) claimed his first victory in the Amstel Gold Race, beating defending champion Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) in a two-man sprint with ease.

As Evenepoel whooped in joy at his achievement, the Dane shook off his disappointment quickly and was all smiles as Benoit Cosnefroy (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) rounded out the podium from a small chasing group.

Evenepoel and Skjelmose were part of a five-man move that went clear on the Kruisberg, but a crash from Kévin Vauquelin (Ineos Grenaders) took Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) down and out, leaving just Skjelmose, Evenepoel and Groupama-FDJ United's Romain Grégoire at the front. While the Frenchman was dropped, Evenepoel and Skjelmose worked together to build an unassailable margin.

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After finishing third in the Amstel Gold Race behind Skjelmose and the now absent Tadej Pogačar last year in his debut, Evenepoel expressed his joy at taking the win, saying, "It means a lot. I mean, I've had a pretty good last month of April with Catalunya [where he was 5th overall] in Flanders [third], but to take a win is always a bit different.

"I think I mentioned already that I really love this race. [It has] lots of short, hard climbs, and actually the race more or less opened in the same place this year again. So I was really confident. I felt much better than I did last year in the final. I think it was also shown in the sprint that my sprint was much better, that I had something left.

"I'm just very proud to finish off all of the teamwork. I mean, Danny van Poppel and Tim van Dijke, they had to control the whole race alone. Then my other teammates as well. They dropped me off in perfect position always, and also with the rain, it was not really easy to stay calm. But yeah, like I said, this is one of my favorite races in the season, and to win it in my second participation, it feels amazing."

Skjelmose appeared as if he would just sit on Evenepoel and sprint to a second victory, but explained that he went to the front in the final kilometre to keep the sprint short, but could not respond when Evenepoel came past.

"I'm happy. Remco was for sure the strongest, like last year. Last year I was lucky, and this year he just beat me with legs," Skjelmose said. "I was on the limit, and I actually thought he would drop me on the climbs. So it was what it could be. I tried my best, and I'm happy with second.

"I was a bit on the limit, so I wanted to keep it, you know, as short as possible, but he was just clearly better - it was quite obvious. I tried, but there was nothing to do."

How it unfolded

The 2026 Amstel Gold Race started under sunny skies and mild temperatures, with a quick 10 kilometres before the breakaway escaped on the first climb, the Maasberg. Nine riders made up the move: Huub Artz (Lotto-Intermarché), Filip Maciejuk (Movistar), Marco Frigo (NSN), Warren Barguil (Picnic-PostNL), Xabier Mikel Azparren (Pinarello-Q36.5), Joseba López (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Siebe Deweirdt (Flanders-Baloise), Valentin Retailleau (TotalEnergies), and Abram Stockman (Unibet Rose Rockets).

With the escapees going full gas, their advantage quickly grew to over four minutes before Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe moved to the front of the peloton to stabilise the gap. Evenepoel's team matched the breakaway's pace for 130 kilometres before stepping on the accelerator and slashing into their lead with 100km to go.

As the leaders' advantage dipped to nearly one minute and the breakaway approached three laps to go and tackled the Cauberg, Maciejuk lost contact. Then, López, Deweirdt and Stockman were dropped, too. With Movistar now not in the escape, Raúl García Pierna surged from the peloton but was not allowed any leeway by Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.

The gap was hovering around 1:15 when the breakaway hit the Cauberg again with 80km to go, where Barguil was the first to be dropped from the quintet. Soon after, Retailleau couldn't hold on and joined him out the back.

With the kilometres ticking down, Red Bull sat back as UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Visma-Lease a Bike, Groupama-FDJ United and Decathlon CMA CGM assembled their full squads at the head of the peloton to control the remaining three-rider breakaway.

On the Bemelerberg with 69km to go, Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal-QuickStep) attacked and hovered just under a minute behind the leaders as the peloton eased back to 1:45. Soon, Azparren lost touch with Frigo and Artz and was caught and quickly passed by Reinderink, but the Soudal rider never could catch the duo ahead and went back to the peloton with 50km to go.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe lined out the peloton as they approached the Gulperberg with 48km to go and surged up the climb, severely reducing the chasing peloton and gaining the attention of Matteo Jorgenson, who latched onto Evenepoel's wheel. Up ahead, Frigo dropped Artz and set off alone with 52 seconds on Evenepoel's group.

The skies began to darken, and light rain fell as the peloton hesitated - Evenepoel wasn't ready to make a move yet, and his Red Bull teammates were scrambling to bring reinforcements up from the second peloton. For a brief time, it came down to Ineos Grenadiers, Groupama-FDJ and Uno-X Mobility to take responsibility for chasing, with defending champion Mattias Skjelmose tucked neatly in.

Evenepoel follows a move

On the Kruisberg with 42km to go, it was finally game on, as Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) made a move just as Artz was about to be caught, and Evenepoel, Skjelmose, Jorgenson, and Kévin Vauquelin were quick to follow the Frenchman.

The five-rider escape was still fresh when disaster struck in a seemingly innocent-looking corner, when Vauquelin slid out on a section of damp pavers and took down Jorgenson and Artz, leaving Evenepoel, Grégoire and Skjelmose alone in pursuit of Frigo.

With 36km to go on the Fromberg, they had him in sight, and soon there were four in the lead with 24 seconds on a small group of riders led by Benoît Cosnefroy (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

Evenepoel kept the pressure on, distancing Frigo on the Keutenberg with 32km to go as the chasing group was closing in at just 16 seconds. However, the momentum in Cosnefroy's group reversed after the climb, and as the chase was whittled down to five: Cosnefroy, Albert Withen Philipsen (Lidl-Trek), Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Ewen Costious (Groupama-FDJ United), and Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal-QuickStep), their gap went out to 26 seconds.

The gap was stable to the chase group as the trio hit the Cauberg for the start of the small lap, and a surge from Evenepoel knocked Grégoire out the back. Behind, Cosnefroy looked as if he was riding through sand compared to Evenepoel as the gap went out to 36 seconds. Skjelmose was the only rider able to match the Belgian and even took a pull to add a few more seconds to their advantage.

Over the Geulhemmerberg, the gap to Cosnefroy's group was out to nearly a minute, while Grégoire kept fighting for his podium position midway between the leaders and chase, which had swelled in numbers with the addition of Emiel Verstrynge (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) and Frigo.

The Bemelerberg proved to be Grégoire's undoing, and he was absorbed by the chase, which was now a full minute back and losing ground behind Evenepoel and Skjelmose as the sun began to peek out between the clouds.

Skjelmose sat behind Evenepoel, shaking out his legs as they reached the base of the Cauberg, dancing on the pedals behind the Belgian. The Dane took a short pull before the crest of the climb, but then got back onto Evenepoel's wheel and into the drops, getting ready to withstand his rival's acceleration. But when Evenepoel started his sprint, Skjelmose had no response.

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