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Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) won the Amstel Gold Race, throwing her bike perfectly to beat Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) on the line in a group sprint after a shortened race. Ingvild Gåskjenn (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) finished third.
The race was stopped after 46 km because of an accident involving one of the police motorbike outriders. After a one-hour break and a neutralised ride to the finish line, three laps of the finishing circuit with the Geulhemmerberg, Bemelerberg, and Cauberg remained.
Eva van Agt (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck), and Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon-SRAM) attacked on the penultimate lap and held an advantage of up to 1:30 minutes, but the gap shrunk quickly on the run-in to the last Cauberg ascent.
Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) was the first to bridge to the break, followed by a move from Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) that was followed by the other favourites and led to a front group of 19 riders at the top.
Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) held the group together into the sprint where Wiebes thought she’d won and posted up to celebrate, giving Vos the opportunity to squeeze past on the line.
“I’m always excited for the Amstel Gold Race, but the accident showed that there are more important things in life than cycling. For a moment we were just waiting and hoping for better news. But when the restart is there, you need to focus again and get ready for the final,” Vos said.
“It was full gas all the time from the restart. With Eva van Agt, we had a good rider up there, so for us it was a perfect situation, but you still need to focus and get ready for the last time up the Cauberg.
“Lorena Wiebes and I got boxed in on the left, and I actually thought we were not coming out again, but then Lorena found a gap. She was just too early to celebrate. Only at the jump did I feel that I had more speed, so I thought I could have had it. It’s a shame for Lorena, but I’m happy with this victory.”
More to follow…
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