Wout van Aert wins Amstel Gold Race in photo finish

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Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) claimed victory in Amstel Gold Race after a photo finish sprint against Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers). Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) finished third after the trio broke clear inside the final 15km of the race and held off a frantic chase from the remnants of the peloton.

The winning break formed after a series of aggressive attacks from the main contenders, and with Ineos Grenadiers briefly posting three riders in a key move before Pidcock attacked and was quickly joined by Schachmann and Van Aert. The trio worked well together but eased up with 1,000 metres to go with Van Aert opening the sprint with 200m remaining. 

It looked as though the Belgian was beginning to fade as Pidcock came around his cyclo-cross rival inside the final 75m but Van Aert found an extra gear just when he needed it most to take a narrow victory. Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) won the sprint for fourth.

A decisive moment came with 18km to go as the race hit the foot of the Cauberg for the final time with Nicola Conci (Trek-Segafredo) making an initial move off the front of the bunch. Van Aert was the first to respond but at the exact moment the Belgian rider lost a valuable teammate in Primož Roglič. Until that point Roglič had marked almost every major move but when Van Aert went over the top of Conci he found Pidcock, Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) and Schachmann on his wheel. The group split just before the top with Kwiatkowski attacking as Alaphilippe began to struggle and a chase group formed that contained Pidcock, Van Aert, Schachmann, Matthews and Richard Carapaz.

Kwiatkowski was caught in on the slopes of the Geulhemmerberg after a desperate chase lead my Schachmann before Pidcock quickly countered. This time only Van Aert and the Bora rider could follow, and the trio quickly opened up a gap of 20 seconds on a fragmented chase that included Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana-Premier Tech).

With 5km to go the leaders’ advantage appeared to be slipping but a lack of cooperation gave them all the time they needed and as they slowed into the final kilometer. It looked as though Pidcock had the best position as he stalked Van Aert’s rear wheel. When the Belgian opened up his sprint for the line it looked as though he had gone too soon, with Pidcock quickly establishing some momentum on the Jumbo rider’s right-hand side. But just when it looked like Pidcock would take the biggest win of his career, Van Aert gave one final surge to take the win by just a few millimeters.

How it unfolded

After the 2020 cancellation, Amstel Gold Race was back on the calendar with a new circuit course and 38 climbs littered over 217km of racing.

The break of the day formed on the first lap with 10 riders Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo), Stan Dewulf (AG2R-Citroën), Sébastien Grignard (Lotto Soudal), Maurits Lammertink (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert ), Loïc Vliegen (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), Chad Haga (Team DSM), Ryan Gibbons (UAE Team Emirates), Kenny Molly (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces-WB) and Anders Skaarseth (Uno-X Pro Cycling) pushing clear and establishing a five-minute advantage over the main field. Jumbo-Visma, riding on home turf and with Van Aert and Roglič in their ranks, set about making the early pace but they had help from Movistar, so with 109km to go the break’s lead dropped to just over four minutes.

The race situation remained stable until Robert Power (Qhubeka Assos) accelerated out of the peloton on the Bemeleberg. He was quickly joined by Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin-Fenix) and although the move was futile, it certainly indicated that teams were starting to think about the next wave of attacks and building groups that could form ahead of the main favourites.

It wasn’t long before a nine-man move went clear with Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe), Peter Serry (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Jan Tratinki (Bahrain Victorious), Jan Bakelants (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), and Krists Neilands (Israel Start-Up Nation) included in their numbers. Ineos brought that move back before a series of accelerations lead to an 11-rider group forming with Florian Sénéchal and Trantik joined by Alex Howes (EF Education-Nippo), Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) among the riders aboard.

A crash between Schachmann, Mauri Vansevenant (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Bob Jungels (AG2R Citroën) saw the latter drop away from contention before the peloton reformed. Dylan van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers), Senechal, Simon Clarke (Qhubeka Assos), Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates), Tosh Van Der Sande (Lotto Soudal) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) generated the next split.

With 49km to go and three laps remaining the early break held a slender one-minute advantage before Roglič almost singlehandedly brought back the Sénéchal group on the ascent of the Geulhemmerberg. With 35km to go to the two leading groups merged at the foot of the Cauberg with Roglič again coming to the fore.

Over the top of the climb and only Vliegen remained out in front before Ide Schelling (Bora-Hansgrohe), who had already been prominent at the front of the bunch, attacked with 25km to go.

With 18km to go Conci made his move, and although he wasn’t able to gain any clear distance on the leading pack, the Italian set up what would eventually form into the winning move.