Still no breakaway has formed, but there has been a split in the peloton.
MAASBERG
The riders have reached the first climb of the day, the Maasberg (400m at 4.5%). They better get used to this sensation – the Maasberg is the first of 34 hills to be taken on today.
No sign of a breakaway forming just yet.
It’s a dry, mild start in Maastricht, with the temperature at around 13 degrees.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The riders at the start in Maastricht.
OFFICIAL START
And they’re off!
The riders are on the move in Maastricht following the unofficial start, and await the flag to begin racing.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
While Van der Poel was Pogačar’s main rival on the cobbles, now he must contend with Remco Evenepoel in the Ardennes Classics. Though the Belgian has never before ridden Amstel Gold, it’s a race that suits his characteristics, and he’s already in remarkably good form following his injury layoff with victory at Brabantse Pijl, his first race day of the season.
Of those three riders, while Van der Poel has brought his spring to an end, both Pogačar and Van Aert are present today. Pogačar is – as he so often is – the top favourite for victory, in terrain that should suit him even more than the cobbled classics he’s just played such a starring role in.
With multiple short climbs that are neither cobbled like at the Tour of Flanders, nor as long as those found at Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Amstel Gold is a alenced race that attracts a variety of different kinds of riders.
That’s reflected by the fact that it is the only classics other than Strade Bianche to have been won by all three of Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert.
You join us as we await the beginning of Amstel Gold, the first of the week’s so-called ‘Ardennes Classics’ – albeit one that takes place in the Netherlands, rather than the Ardennes.
