Gilbert wins Amstel Gold Race

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Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) continued his remarkable run this spring, adding a fourth Amstel Gold Race title to his palmares on Sunday in a particularly exciting edition of the Ardennes Classics opener, which seemed to benefit from the much-discussed removal of the Cauberg as the final climb of the day.

The race had faced criticism for becoming predictable – a mere waiting game until the Cauberg finale – but Gilbert, who won the Tour of Flanders two weeks ago, was part of a decisive selection that formed on the Kruisberg some 40 kilometres out.

Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) wasn't in that initial group of eight but the fellow former world champion and Amstel winner jumped up to the head of affairs 10km later and he and Gilbert emerged as the strongest two in the race, forging clear together over the Bemelberg, the new final climb of the day.

The remnants of that leading group – Michael Albasini (Orica-Scott), Nathan Haas (Dimension Data), Ion Izaguirre (Bahrain-Merida), Jose Joauin Rojas (Movistar), and Kwiatkowski's teammate Sergio Henao – lacked the cohesion and firepower to get back on terms in the final five kilometres, leaving Kwiatkowski and Gilbert to play cat and mouse in the final kilometre.

Kwiatkowski forced his rival onto the front before delivering a stinging acceleration, but in the slight headwind in Valkeburg it proved too far out, and Gilbert slowly but surely got himself back on terms and came round to celebrate his fourth victory of the spring.

"He surprised me a little in the sprint, but it was a headwind so I didn't panic, and I saw I was getting closer and closer, and it was perfect for me in the end," said Gilbert, whose race was thrown into jeopardy at the half-way mark when he crashed heavily and required a bike change and a painful chase to make it back to the peloton. "I thought my race was over."

Gilbert bounced back, as he has done over the course of this season at QuickStep, where he seems a man reborn. The 34-year-old, free to target the cobbled classics away from Greg Van Avermaet at BMC, enjoyed a stellar couple of weeks in northern Belgium, and it's clear his form has carried down south to the Ardennes, the races which have brought him so much success over the years. Indeed, this is just his second Ardennes victory since that glittering treble in 2011, and he seems to have rediscovered that magic touch of old.

"My goal is to win a classic every year. I won two this year, maybe to make up for the years I didn't," Gilbert added.

"It was a hard final. We went from the Kruisberg, it was a long long move again. All of us deserved the win today because we really worked together. In the end there's only one winner, but we did nice work together in the last 40km. In the end with Kwiato we went hard, I saw the guys behind were on the limit – I was too but if you can find one or two per cent more it makes the difference. I told him, 'we ride until the last k and the best man wins' – that's the best deal you can make."

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Early hostilities

After the white-knuckle drama of the cobbled classics, the Ardennes have faced derision in recent years for serving up bland and predictable racing, with Amstel accused of being a 250-odd kilometre procession to the Cauberg. The organisers hoped to shake things up in 2013 by moving the finish line 1.8km back from the summit, but by scrapping it as the final climb altogether this year, it seems like they've finally struck, well, gold.

The Cauberg appeared three times, the final time as the third-to-last climb, while the gentler Bemeleberg would act as the final climb with just over five kilometres remaining. Many predicted a more open affair, with riders encouraged to try things and take the race on from further out, and that's exactly what we got.

Granted, the opening 220 kilometres were uneventful; a 12-rider breakaway went early and stayed away for most of the day. In there were Lars Boom (LottoNL-Jumbo), Stijn Vandenbergh (AG2R-La Mondiale), Mads Wurtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin), Tim Ariesen (Roompot), Nikita Stalnov (Astana), Michal Paluta (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), Brendan Canty (Cannondale-Drapac), Johann Van Zyl (Dimension Data), Kenneth Van Rooy (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Pieter Van Speybrouck (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Vincenzo Albanese (Bardiani-CSF), Fabien Grellier (Direct Energie).

However, just after the final member of that group, Grellier, accepted defeat, the race sprang to life on the Kruisberg when Lotto Soudal's Tiesj Benoot put in a stringing acceleration. Sergio Henao, who had led the pack onto the climb, was quickly on the case, as was Gilbert, who has hardly missed a move all spring. Albasini, Haas, and Bert Van Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo) also made the boat, while Izaguirre and Rojas managed to make the bridge beyond the summit.

Cue panic stations for Paris-Roubaix champion Greg Van Avermaet, the only rider to outshine Gilbert this spring, whose BMC teammates had set a fierce pace over the previous 30km. The chase group splintered then swelled as the gap hovered precariously above the 15-second mark, the ensuing climbs of the Eyserbosweg and Fromberg aiding the leading group's cause, though a mechanical saw Benoot lose contact.

Onto the Keutenberg, with 29km to go, and the front of the chasing pack had the lead group in their sights. Kwiatkowski was alongside Van Avermaet and put in a hugely impressive acceleration to burst clear. A minute or so later he was up at the head of the race, replacing Lindeman, who couldn't hold the pace.

Van Avermaet was forced to settle into a chasing group with Alejandro Valverde, who had a teammate up the road, Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal), and Fabio Felline (Trek-Segafredo). They were soon joined by another chasing trio of Warren Barguil (Sunweb), Rui Costa (UAE), and Bob Jungels (QuickStep) to form an even fight of seven on seven. Either way, the bookmakers' pre-race favourites, Michael Matthews (Sunweb) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) were caught behind in the small main pack, which would only become more distanced from the head of affairs.

The chasing seven lacked the cohesion of the leading group, which Gilbert said worked so well together, and the gap stayed around the 45-second mark for the most part. It did drop to half a minute on the Geulhemmerberg, just after the final Cauberg, but despite a cursory attack from Valverde, it always looked like the winner would be coming from the front group.

And on the Bemelberg it became clear who the likely candidates were as Kwiatkowski accelerated and Gilbert followed. The others did their best to hold the wheels but the elastic snapped when Gilbert produced an acceleration of his own. And they were away.

Izaguirre first tried to close it down but got nowhere, then Haas drove clear promisingly but locked up before he could finish the job, while Albasini couldn't offer up anything much and Rojas seemed to want a free ride to the finish.

The duo had half a minute heading into the final kilometre, where Kwiatkowski looked to have played it perfectly, only to leave too much road ahead of himself and allow for another chapter to be written in this remarkable renaissance of Philippe Gilbert.

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