Amstel Gold Race Women: Paula Blasi fights off strong chasers to upset the favourites and claim impressive solo victory

Spain's Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) held off a strong, last-minute chase to win Amstel Gold Race Ladies, crossing the line solo after attacking with 20km to go to take the biggest win of her career.

The 23-year-old bridged to Nienke Vinke (SD Worx-Protime) with 25km to go, then left Vinke behind on the Cauberg with one lap to go and opened a gap of more than a minute to the chasing peloton.

Despite an attack from Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) and Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) on the final ascent of the Cauberg, Blasi held on to a 27-second advantage on the finish line to take the biggest victory of her career so far.

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Niewiadoma-Phinney outsprinted Vollering for second place.

"I think I will need a couple of weeks or even months to realise it. I wasn’t even supposed to be here. I just signed up yesterday because we had some injuries and sickness. It wasn’t even on my mind to be racing here. Now I need to take a breather and accept what happened," said Blasi after her victory.

"When I crossed the finish line [with one lap to go], I didn't even know how many kilometres I had left. I thought, 'hopefully I have just five to go', and then suddenly they said, 'you have still 20 to go'. I knew it was going to be a hard day in the front," the Spaniard recounted of her debut appearance in this race.

Before going on the attack, Blasi had struggled in the fast, attacking race.

"Five minutes before I did the breakaway, I was dropped. So I just came back and I said, 'OK, let's give it a go, try to help the team', and then suddenly I found myself in the front. Since the beginning, I was struggling quite a bit with the positioning because it’s my first race here.

"I was a bit nervous, and it was like nothing that I’ve done before. This bunch is quite crazy. It's quite difficult to be in the front, and that’s actually the most important part. I was way behind, being dropped, coming back, being dropped … So at one point I said, 'if you can go in the breakaway, it’s better because then you will not have to fight for the position'."

How it unfolded

Starting in Maastricht and winding their way through Limburg before hitting the finishing circuit for four laps, the women’s peloton faced 21 climbs on the 158.1km course. They would have to climb the Cauberg five times in the second half of the race.

Annelies Nijssen (Lotto-Intermarché) attacked after 10km and was soon joined by Nicole Steigenga (AG Insurance-Soudal), Kiara Lylyk (Mayenne-Monbana-MyPie), Heidi Franz (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93), and Scarlett Souren (VolkerWessels) to form the break of the day. They were more than three minutes ahead at one point, but after Lylyk and Souren lost contact on the Eyserbosweg with 93km to go, the remaining three escapees were caught just after the first ascent of the Cauberg.

On the third-to-last lap, Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Steffi Häberlin (SD Worx-Protime) got a small gap with 49km to go but were reeled in on the Bemelerberg. 2025 winner Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) was the next to attack, 43km from the finish, and initiated a front group of ten riders. Their gap was never big, and they were caught in the descent towards Valkenburg before the third Cauberg ascent.

On the steep climb, Juliette Berthet (FDJ United-Suez), Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), and finally Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) kept a high pace, and only about 30 riders remained in the peloton when crossing the finish line with two laps to go.

Van der Breggen attacked on the Geulhemmerberg, splitting the group. Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) was on Van der Breggen’s wheel immediately but had to let go near the top of the climb. Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly), Niewiadoma-Phinney, Vollering, and Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike) jumped across to make it a front group of five, but Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) worked hard to close the gap.

After the regrouping, Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek) went away with 32km to go, and Vinke bridged with Swinkels. They held a ten-second gap, but FDJ United-Suez took up the chase and reeled them in after the Bemelerberg, with Vollering herself closing the last bit.

Successive attacks by Bredewold, Vinke, Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek), and Pieterse were neutralised quickly, and when Vinke tried again with 26km to go, nobody went after her right away. Blasi bridged the gap that had opened up to make it a front duo, and they increased their advantage to 25 seconds at the bottom of the Cauberg.

Blasi attacked halfway up the climb to go solo and was 43 seconds ahead of the chase group of 23 riders going into the final lap, with Vinke still in between.

Vollering, Elise Chabbey (FDJ United-Suez), and Van der Breggen set the pace in the chase group on the Geulhemmerberg, but Blasi kept the gap steady, even increasing it to over a minute on the Bemelerberg as the chase ran out of steam and her UAE Team ADQ teammates ran interference.

There was a brief moment of anxiety for Blasi as she almost went the wrong way in a roundabout 4.5km from the finish, but when she started the final ascent of the Cauberg almost a minute ahead, her victory was all but certain.

After a lead-out by Chabbey that finally caught Vinke, Niewiadoma-Phinney attacked on the Cauberg (as she always does) and was joined by Vollering. Fleur Moors (Lidl-Trek) got back to Vollering’s wheel but soon had to let go again when Vollering went out of the saddle and past Niewiadoma-Phinney on the last part of the climb.

The Polish champion could stay with the European champion, and Vollering pulled them to the finish, but Blasi was out of reach and crossed the line 27 seconds before Niewiadoma-Phinney beat Vollering in a photo-finish for second place.

43 seconds down, Letizia Paternoster (Liv AlUla Jayco) won the sprint for fourth place from a group of ten riders.

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