Amstel Gold Race preview

The first of the Ardennes Classics launches on Sunday with the Amstel Gold Race in the Limburg area of The Netherlands. The WorldTour Amstel Gold features 34 climbs over 251-km, drawing a field of tough climbers and GC men.

Riders leave Maastricht and hit the Slingerberg within 9-km. The peloton will negotiate seemingly endless road furniture over four circuits around Limburg, each one ending on the Cauberg climb (1.2 km, 5.8%, 12% max). The race itself used to end on the Cauberg, but for the 2012 World Championships, organizers moved the finish two-kilometres beyond its crest and the race has kept the new set-up.

It was Philippe Gilbert (Belgium/BMC) who won the 2012 Worlds title and after taking Wednesday’s De Brabants Pijl, he’ll have the confidence of one of the favourites. Two-time Amstel Gold champion Gilbert will be wary of last year’s surprise winner, Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic/Tinkoff-Saxo) and 2013’s runner-up Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar), who has had a hot hand early this season.

Michal Kwiatkowski has developed over the last couple of years into one of the peloton’s most feared riders. The Pole from Omega Pharma-QuickStep was second to Alberto Contador (Spain/Tinkoff-Saxo) in the recent Pais Vasco and took the Strade Bianche title in March.

Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain/Katusha) is the kind of rider who wins on a final hill, and he has a handful of second placings in the Ardennes Classics on his palmares, not to mention a Fleche Wallonne triumph in 2012.

Garmin-Sharp sends double Paris-Nice stage winner Tom-Jelte Slagter (The Netherlands) and last year’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege champion Dan Martin (Ireland), but there’s no Ryder Hesjedal for the 49th edition of the Amstel Gold.

In recent years favourites haven’t always prevailed, with Serguei Ivanov (Russia/Katusha) taking the prize in 2009 and Enrico Gasparotto (Italy/Astana) winning in 2012.

Christian Meier (Orica-GreenEdge) will be the sole Canadian lining up in Maastricht.