The dream of the Ardennes triple for Tadej Pogacar has already burst at the Amstel Gold Race. After 255.9 kilometers, the road bike world champion from Slovenia had to give up the Danish outsider of Mattias Skjelmosis by a few centimeters in the sprint.
Third finished Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel. At an average speed of 43.87 km/h, it was the second fastest Amstel edition of the story.
“I really can’t believe that. I said Remco all the time that I was at the limit. I just wanted the podium, that would be a great result,” said Skjelmosis. “I thought I would only see the other two on the horizon at the sprint. I couldn’t believe that. I thought something was wrong here. My grandfather died about a month ago, I wanted the victory for him.”
Even late at the start
Everything had been looking forward to a duel between Pogacar and Evenepoel. However, because of an interview, the time trial world champion not only missed the start of the race by a few seconds, but also Pogacar’s attack on the Gulpeberg 47.5 kilometers before the finish. At the side of Skjelmosis, evenepoel took the persecution – and the Belgian, recently recently recovered by serious fall injuries, actually got Pogacar again eight kilometers before the finish.
The decision was to be made on the notorious Cauberg, which was the last of the 34 hard climbs to be integrated into the final of the race. But the three competitors were lurking, let it arrive on the sprint, which Evenepoel finally opened. The Hatz between Pogacar and its persecutors contributed to the fact that only the Amstel 1967 (43.9 km/h) was faster than the current edition.
Hessmann long ahead
For Pogacar, victory at the Amstel should only be an intermediate destination. The goal was also victories on Wednesday at the Flèche Wallone and next Sunday at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in order to be the fifth cycling professional with the triumph on the Ardennes triple. Previously, Davide Rebellin (2004), Philippe Gilbert (2011), Anna van der Breggen (2017) and Demi full ring (2023) succeeded. Pogacar won the Amstel and Flèche in 2023, but plunged with Liège-Bastogne-Liège and broke his scabbing.
Before the favorites showdown, the race was shaped by Michel Heßmann for a long time. The 24-year-old was part of the early outlier group in his third race after the end of his doping lock and kept the longest at the top. However, the flight of the Movistar professional ended 65 kilometers before the finish.