Niewiadoma wins Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition

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Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) won the 2019 Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition, attacking on the final climb of the Cauberg and holding off Annemiek Van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) in a dramatic pursuit.

The Polish rider had looked strong on previous ascents of the Cauberg and surged away from an elite group of 15 as the race hit the famous climb for the final time. Van Vleuten was late to respond but made her way up past Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv) to crest in second place, leaving a nail-biting 1.8 km run-in to the line.

The time trial world champion gained and gained time on the leader, but ran out of road. Niewiadoma could sit up and celebrate in the final 15 metres, with Van Vleuten now right on her back, but the victory was by then secure.

“To be honest, I still cannot believe what happened,” Niewiadoma said. “I’m filled with so many different emotions. I’m just shivering now, inside, like, ‘Oh my god – what have I done?’ I’ve been wanting so much to win the Amstel Gold Race. I’ve been dreaming about it, and it just happened. A dream came true. It’s just so amazing. It’s beautiful.”

How it happened

With 19 classified climbs on 126.8 kilometres through southern Limburg, the women’s Amstel Gold Race offered a challenging course. The first ten hills were on a big loop that was followed by three laps of a finishing circuit with the Geulhemmerberg, Bemelerberg, and Cauberg.

A group of seven riders attacked four kilometres into the race and built a huge gap of more than five minutes with just under 100km to go. This came down again as the pace increased in the peloton on the Plettenberg with 76km to go, leading to the first splits. The attacks continued on the next hill, and an elite group of 14 chasers formed after the Fromberg.

An attack by Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (CCC-Liv) on the first of four ascents of the Cauberg split the chasing group that reformed on the descent and caught the four remaining escapees just before the Geulhemmerberg. Although there were several attacks, nobody got away until Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo), returning to racing after her maternity leave, made a move with 41km to go.

The Briton rode away while the rest of the group was caught by the peloton, but the race was reset on the Cauberg. Deignan got passed by a select group of Van Vleuten, Niewiadoma, Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Bigla), and Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans).

Things came back together on the descent, and 19 riders entered the Geulhemmerberg together. Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott), Katie Hall (Boels Dolmans) and Longo Borghini attacked and got away. The trio held a twenty-second gap onto the penultimate ascent of the Cauberg with 20 km to go where Niewiadoma attacked from the chase group and bridged to the front.

The lead trio was reeled in at the top of the Geulhemmerberg with 15km left to race, prompting a counterattack by Longo Borghini who went solo and held an advantage of 25 seconds with 9km to go. After a move by Van Vleuten on the Bemelerberg came to nothing, Moolman-Pasio and Spratt countered and could bridge to Longo Borghini 5 km from the finish.

As the three could not agree to work together, they were caught in the descent before the Cauberg. Alison Jackson (Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank) took her heart in both hands and attacked into the climb. She was reeled in by Van Vleuten just as Niewiadoma attacked on the right side of the road with Vos in her wheel. The Pole continued to push the pace and eventually shook off a fading Vos while Van Vleuten went on the pursuit, passing Vos at the top of the climb with 1.8km to go.

Niewiadoma’s advantage shrunk more and more on the long finishing straight and was down to only seconds at the flamme rouge, but she persisted and managed to hold off Van Vleuten. Vos led home a small group seconds later to finish third. An eighth place was enough for Marta Bastianelli (Team Virtu Cycling) to defend her lead in the UCI Women’s WorldTour ranking.

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