Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Monday, April 15, 2024
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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia
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Current racing:
- April 15 - 19: Tour of the Alps
Upcoming racing:
- April 17: La Flèche Wallone
- April 21: Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Latest completed racing:
- April 14: Amstel Gold Race
- April 14: Tour du Doubs
- April 10: De Brabantse Pijl
- April 7: Paris-Roubaix
- April 6: Women's Paris-Roubaix
- April 1 - 6: Tour of the Basque Country/Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco
- April 2 - 5: Region Pays de la Loire Tour
- April 3: Scheldeprijs
- March 31: Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders)
- March 30: Gran Premio Miguel Indurain
- March 30: Volta Limburg Classic
We posted the report from winner Tom Pidcock's Team INEOS Grenadiers with the results.
Here's the report from second-place Marc Hirschi's UAE Team Emirates:
Marc Hirschi took his best result in a major classic in several years with 2nd place at the Amstel Gold Race in Holland today.
The Swiss sensation was aggressive in the closing kilometres, forcing ahead with a twelve-man move that took shape over the top of the Eyserbosweg with 35km remaining, and then pushing on again to press clear of all but three of his breakaway companions over the penultimate climb of the Geulhemmerberg.
The 25 year old arrived in a group of four which held a narrow gap on the chasers. The dash to the line would see Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) come out on top with Hirschi half a wheel behind. Tiesj Benoot (Visma LAB) rounded out the podium.
Marc Hirschi just after the race. Sirotti photo
Hirschi: “I’m super happy to be back at the front of the big big races. I felt really good all day and was in the right position to make a move. The goal was to anticipate any attack by Mathieu. I got away in the winning group and felt good so went on the attack again. I’m happy with second but obviously to come so close to the win I’m also a bit disappointed.”
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Here's the report from third-place Tiesj Benoot's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Tiesj Benoot has finished third in the Amstel Gold Race. The 30-year-old Belgian only had to trail Marc Hirschi and winner Thomas Pidcock in a sprint of four. This put Benoot on the podium of the Dutch spring classic for the second time in three editions.
After the cobbled classics, the Amstel Gold Race is traditionally on the programme. Between Maastricht and Vilt, the riders covered 250 kilometres with more than 30 hills along the way. Tosh Van der Sande was part of the breakaway. The 33-year-old Belgian from Team Visma | Lease a Bike and his three companions were caught with 75 kilometres to cover.
After a short breather in the peloton, the hills followed in quick succession. With the Keutenberg as one of the crucial hills ahead, some riders tried to anticipate. Among others, Benoot, Hirschi and Pidcock were part of the head of the race. Once on the Keutenberg, Benoot set a high pace. Only Hirschi, Pidcock and Mauri Vansevenant were able to follow the Belgian.
Tiesj Benoot (on the left) finishes third. Sirotti photo
The peloton, with Matteo Jorgenson, was not able to come back in the finale. The four eventually decided the race in a sprint. Benoot saw his strong race rewarded with third place. "I already finished third here once in 2022, so secretly I was hoping to do better," he said afterwards. "In the last kilometres, I knew we were going to sprint for the win. According to my own feeling, I sprinted well too. I stayed next to Pidcock for a long time, but in the end he proved a size too strong."
"I hoped to try win it with a counterattack," Benoot continued. "But it's hard to surprise anyone in a breakaway of four. In hindsight, I can definitely live with this result. The feeling is good. After the Tour of Flanders, I was able to train and recover well. The injuries I sustained in the E3 Saxo Classic are also healing quickly. Despite the bad luck in the spring, I proved that there is still something in the tank. I am ready for what is yet to come."
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Here's the Amstel Gold Race report from fourth-place Mauri Vansevenant's Team Soudal Quick-Step:
The Ardennes Classics kicked off this Sunday with the 58th edition of the Amstel Gold Race, and Soudal Quick-Step ended up being one of the main protagonists on the road of Valkenburg, in the mix for victory until the final moments of the race which saw the riders take on 33 climbs for a total of 4500 vertical meters.
Team Soudal Quick-Step is presented before the race start. Sirotti photo
Animated by a small breakaway until 60 kilometers to go, the race came to life in the final 50 kilometers, when Louis Vervaeke attacked and was joined by two riders together with whom he applied some pressure on the peloton. Despite their action coming to an end 35 kilometers from the finish, it ended up playing a vital role in the outcome, as it paved the way for another attack, this time of a more numerous group, where Mauri Vansevenant made sure of booking a place.
The 25-year-old made on Sunday his first outing since last month’s Volta a Catalunya, and despite not knowing what to expect from a race he was competing in for just the second time in his career, he made the most of the opportunity and showed he was one of the strongest riders in the field. On the Cauberg, the mythical climb which used to serve as finish until a decade ago, Mauri was one of the few to respond to the accelerations that split the leading group, leaving only four men at the front.
Having crested the ascent with almost 40 seconds in hand, the quartet began believing in their chances, and the Belgian was one of the most active members of the group, taking some long pulls that helped them carry this advantage inside the closing ten kilometers. Briefly dropped by his companions, Vansevenant produced a gargantuan effort to make it back, and once he rejoined the leaders – after catching his breath for a moment – he moved again to the front and dug deep, as the chasers were sitting only ten seconds behind.
A regrouping almost happened on the finishing stretch, only an incredibly long pull of Mauri, who decided to open the sprint at 400 meters to go, allowing the quartet to hold off the chasers and fight for the win, which went to Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers). Vansevenant came home in a remarkable fourth place, his best placing in an Ardennes Classic and a result that left him a bittersweet taste.
“Amstel is always a surprising race, and this time was no different. We did a good job as a team and had a plan, which was being in the important moves that came in the final part. Louis was the first to attack, then I went and the group I was in was very strong and rode well together, which helped us open a good gap.”
“In the final 20 kilometers I went all-out, giving everything out there. When I crossed the line, I was quite disappointed, because I would have liked to be on the podium, but afterwards I watched the replay and saw that if I don’t start my sprint from the distance, then they catch us, so in the end it was the right thing to do, especially as I had to make a decision fast. A podium would have made me very happy, but fourth remains a good and really surprising result that makes me proud. Today will give us a lot of confidence going forward, I am sure of that”, Mauri added.
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And here's the report from sixth-place Valentin Madouas' Team Groupama-FDJ:
Attack turned out to be the right option on Sunday in the Amstel Gold Race. In the opening of the “Ardennes Classics”, the Groupama-FDJ cycling team perfectly seized its opportunity in the last hour of racing around the Dutch bergs. Valentin Madouas and Quentin Pacher indeed took part in a move of about ten riders, and although being distanced fifteen kilometres from the finish, they managed to take sixth and eighth places respectively on the line. Romain Grégoire finished third in the “bunch”, which meant twelfth position. On to the Flèche Wallonne.
Team Groupama-FDJ being presented before the race start. Sirotti photo
No less than thirty-three climbs featured this Sunday throughout the 253 kilometres making up the 2024 route of the Amstel Gold Race. A total which, however, was reduced to thirty-two after just half an hour of racing due to a last-minute course change, following the temporary neutralization of the women’s event.
After a battle of around thirty kilometers, four men managed to take the lead: Tosh van der Sande (Visma-Lease a Bike), Enzo Leijnse (dsm-firmenich PostNL), Alexander Hajek (Bora-hansgrohe) and Zeb Kyffin (TDT-Unibet). The peloton then sailed four minutes behind the fugitives while tackling the first hills of the race. However, it was only with 80 kilometres to go that the riders climbed the Cauberg for the first time, and it was also there that the race opened up in the bunch. Rémy Rochas followed the first moves, the early break was caught shortly after, then Quentin Pacher also briefly slipped into a group about sixty kilometres from the finish. The peloton, however, closed the gap before letting a trio get away shortly after. Paul Lapeira, Louis Vervaeke and Mikkel Honoré then benefited from a thirty-second lead before the decisive sequence of the Gulperberg, Kruisberg and Eyserbosweg bergs.
Following this sequence, the peloton was reduced to around thirty riders, including Quentin Pacher, Romain Grégoire and Valentin Madouas. Domestiques were therefore lacking, and anticipation attempts quickly occurred. The French champion found an opening soon enough with Marc Hirschi, Bauke Mollema and Roger Adria. Then on the next climb of Fromberg, Quentin Pacher also made the jump to the front together with Mauri Vansevenant. With about thirty kilometres to go, Groupama-FDJ found itself with two men in the lead. “Usually, as soon as he gets to the final, Van der Poel doesn’t hesitate,” explained Benoît Vaugrenard.
“Today, he didn’t try, and we thought that it was time to anticipate, which the guys did very well.” “We pretty much executed the plan we had in mind at the start,” added Quentin. “We wanted to have several cards in the final and anticipate fifty to thirty kilometers from the finish. This is what happened. There were two of us, and it was good to be with numbers.” On the other hand, in addition to the competitors previously mentioned, the two men from Groupama-FDJ then had to deal with Tom Pidcock, Tiesj Benoot and Kévin Vauquelin joining them. The leading group thus grew to twelve riders, but the gap was quickly made on the peloton.
Slightly dropped in the Keutenberg, Valentin Madouas and Quentin Pacher managed to come back after and entered the last twenty kilometres forty-five seconds ahead of the bunch. The Cauberg was tackled for the last time but did not make any real selection up front. However, the penultimate classified climb, that of Geulhemmerberg, was too much for the French duo. “My legs were empty, full of toxins,” explained Valentin. “I tried to manage my effort as much as possible, but the legs spoke.”
Hirschi, Benoot, Vansevenant and Pidcock broke away and immediately worked together to prevent their competitors from coming back. In the chasing group, the riders kept on working together but the gap increased from ten seconds to twenty with three kilometres to go. The leading group only started to look at each other as they approached the flamme rouge, which allowed the five chasers to gain a bit of ground. “I tried to bring Valentin as close as possible in the final straight to try to fight for victory,” said Quentin. However, it didn’t prove enough to get in the mix. At the finish, Valentin Madouas took sixth place and Quentin Pacher eighth in the first chasing group. “We raced like we wanted to, and we just didn’t have the legs to win,” said the Breton. “I didn’t have amazing legs but being able to fight for victory and be in the mix is positive. There was a crazy level here, we really had to hold on”.
“It was an intense day,” added Quentin. “Sixth and eighth is good, but when you’re there to fight for something better, you always wonder what you could have done differently.” “Above all, there are no regrets,” said Benoît. “We gave everything. There were just four stronger riders in the final. We would have had big regrets if we had missed the breakaway, but we had two men out of twelve, and we were the only team in that case. Quentin’s race was like his start to the season: incredible form and a super domestique.
As for Valentin, we can feel that he is not yet 100%, in which case he would have managed to follow the first four, but he’s gained confidence for the future, and he needed that”. In addition to the double top-10, Romain Grégoire also took a solid twelfth place, third in the peloton. “I think he also had the legs to be in front, he was very strong,” said Benoît. “He had doubts before the start regarding the distance, but we knew that this race was really made for him. This is a good sign for future years, but also for the next races. It’s always very important to start well, it gives confidence for the next races. David will replace Stefan for the Flèche Wallonne, which we’ll start with great ambitions”. “The team really has a good momentum, that bodes well,” concluded Quentin.
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