Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel held off Denmark’s Mattias Skjelmose in a repeat duel on Sunday to finally win the 60th edition of the Amstel Gold Race.
Injuries marred what could have been a tough fight among the sport’s one-day specialists and climbers, with Ben Healy of EF Education-EasyPost and Tom Pidcock of Pinarello-Q36.5 having to take a step back even before the start of the Ardennes Classic.
But that didn’t stop Evenepoel from conquering the roads in the Netherlands and taking revenge on defending winner Skjelmose in an explosive two-man sprint.
Evenepoel repeats duel with Skjelmose
Nine riders broke away during the first part of the 257-kilometre race, putting a gap of nearly five minutes from the peloton.
However, Evenepoel’s Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe started bridging the gap, determined to put their star rider on the front of the fight.
The pace surged once they reached the race’s halfway point, while rain also made things complicated.
Soon enough, the peloton began chipping away.
As the riders headed for the finale, Groupama-FDJ’s Romain Grégoire began attacking on the Kruisberg.
INEOS Grenadiers’ Kévin Vauquelin, Visma – Lease a Bike’s Matteo Jorgenson, Evenepoel and Skjelmose were the only ones who responded.
The group had looked promising for the fight ahead, until Vauquelin slid out and crashed, taking with him Jorgenson and Huub Artz of Intermarché-Wanty, who had been in the earlier breakaway.
Now smaller, Grégoire, Evenepoel, and Skjelmose caught up with Marco Frigo of the NSN Cycling Team, who was also part of the nine-rider breakaway.
Then the race turned pivotal for the riders at the front when Evenepoel further pushed the pace on the penultimate ascent of the Cauberg, where the Belgian managed to drop Grégoire.
Skjelmose, on the other hand, remained on his wheel, matching Evenepoel’s prowess with his own grit.
What ensued was a repeat duel between the two, but Evenepoel eventually outsprinted Skjelmose in the final 300 metres to snatch the crown from the Dane.
Benoît Cosnefroy of the UAE Team Emirates-XRG completed the podium in third, nearly two minutes after Skjelmose.
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‘Most beautiful victory’ this season
Evenepoel did not hide his delight at the victory, which he termed as “the most beautiful” so far for his season.
“I really love this race. Lots of short, hard climbs, and actually the race more or less opened on the same place this year again, so I was really confident. I felt much better than I did last year in the final,” he said after the race.
“For sure, it’s the most beautiful victory of the season.
“For me this race is just under the monuments, so it’s really high on my ranking. It’s in my top 8 of victories in my career, probably.”
The Amstel Gold Race is his first win in a major one-day race in two years. His last was at the Olympics in 2024.
Since then, he has always been second behind world no.1 Tadej Pogačar at the world championships, European championships, and Tour of Lombardy in 2025.
Legs did the talking
Meanwhile, Lidl-Trek’s Skjelmose accepted the result without much regret, saying he tried his absolute best.
“Last year I was lucky,” Skjelmose said in a report from Cycling News.
“This year, he just beat me with legs. I was on the limit, and I actually thought he would drop me on the climbs.”
Skjelmose made waves in last year’s edition after he outwitted both Evenepoel and Pogačar in a three-man sprint, becoming one of the most unforgettable performances in his career.
“So it was what it could be. I tried my best, and I’m happy with second,” he added.
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Evenepoel targeting Ardennes Triple?
The Amstel Gold Race marks the start of the Ardennes Classics, ahead of La Flèche Wallonne on April 22 and Liège-Bastogne-Liège on April 26.
Italy’s Davide Rebellin (2004) and Belgian Phillipe Gilbert (2011) have been the only two riders so far to achieve what they call the “triple”, winning all races of the Ardennes Classics in a single year.
Evenepoel seems to be looking to achieve this feat, as he is also set to race in La Flèche Wallonne alongside a crop of top riders such as Skjelmose, French rising star Paul Seixas, and Tim Wellens.
The Liège-Bastogne-Liège is also expected to be a clash of one-day titans, during which Evenepoel will be pitted against Pogačar, Seixas and Skjelmose once more.
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