Amstel Gold Race
Gilbert tames the Cauberg once again to take his career tally at the Dutch race to three
1The Amstel Gold Race is often talked of as being part of the Ardennes races, but that’s erroneous. It actually takes place in the Limburg region of Holland, though with incessantly rolling terrain and an uphill finish up and over the Cauberg, stylistically it’s a race in a very similar mould to the Ardennes races.
2Like La Flèche Wallone, now held on the Wednesday after Amstel, the race often comes down to the final climb. In this case it’s the Cauberg and it was no different this year. Gilbert made his move near the bottom, with a small number of riders, including Simon Gerrans, trying but failing to stick with the flying Belgian.
3The roads are particularly tight in this part of the world, as world time trial champion Tony Martin discovered. Coasting along serenely on the far left-side of the peloton, the German found himself squeezed out by road furniture. With little room for manoeuvre, he took a high speed tumble over this bush, though the soft landing meant he could pick himself up and finish the race.
4A regular sight for Geraint Thomas fans this spring. The Welshman seems to hit the deck at least once a race, which he claims is as much about his bad luck as bad judgement.
5Gilbert has said that if he could design a finish to suit his talents, it would look a lot like that of Amstel, with the ascent of the Cauberg. He’d won this race twice already, as well as the 2012 Worlds Road Race that finished on the same hill.
6With such a track record on the Cauberg, once he’d opened the gap in the finale it never looked like anything other than a Gilbert victory. Even with the likes of Alejandro Valverde, Michał Kwiatkowski and Gerrans on his tail, his electric attack had substance. Were we on the cusp of seeing the Second Coming of the Belgian?