FAREWELL CA U BERG, IT' S FOR THE BEST

W hile Milan-San Remo sticks steadfastly to its much loved, well-worn finale, the organisers of the Amstel Gold Race have done the deed and removed the Cauberg from the closing lap. After several predictable editions, the act is a mercy killing. Though the hill is the race’s most famous piece of road, it was stifling the race. Now the last climb is the seven per cent, 900m-long Bemelerberg followed by seven flat kilometres back to the current finish line in Berg en Terblijt.

Roadside fans who turned the Cauberg into a beer-sodden party venue since its first incorporation in 2003 might feel aggrieved to lose a fourth personal viewing, but they should commend chief organiser Leo van Vliet on sporting grounds. The peloton had figured out that the way to win Amstel was a group ride to bottom of the final ascent and then give it everything; six minutes of action does not a compelling bike race make – especially when it’s a reproduction of the year before, largely involving the same riders season after season. We’ve known what was going to happen before it happened; only the details differ.

Traditionally, when it comes to refreshing a race, organisers have tended to make courses harder – see in recent times, the Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Flèche Wallonne, and in a different way, Roubaix, which has two more kilometres of cobbles this year. Van Vliet’s step in the opposite direction will open up the race and it could well pay off with a corker. At the very least, it’ll be different.