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Van der Breggen and Gilbert victorious in the Amstel Gold Race

Gilbert's fourth title and second 2017 WorldTour win

Philippe Gilbert
April 16, 2017
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Olympic and European champ Anna van der Breggen grabbed her first victory of the year in a solo effort at Sunday’ Women’s Amstel Gold Race. Philippe Gilbert (Belgium/Quick Step) took his second WorldTour win of the year and his fourth Amstel Gold Crown, beating Michal Kwiatkowski in a two-up sprint.


The Women’s Race
The sixth round of the Women’s World Tour was one of the new additions to the 2017 calendar and the first women’s edition in 14-years. At 121-km and 17-climbs it would roll the ending of the men’s race from the past few years, with the finish 1.8-km past the Cauberg (700-metres at 9%). Before that would come the Geulhemmerberg (1-km at 6%) and the Bemelerberg (1.2-km at 4%).


Only two 2017 WorldTour race winners were in the Netherlands’ Limburg region on Sunday: Coryn Rivera (USA/Sunweb) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy/Wiggle High5), with Amalie Dideriksen (Denmark/Boels-Dolmans) and Lotta Lepistö (Finland/Cervelo-Bigla) keeping their powder dry for upcoming WorldTour stage races.

Two ladies jumped away early but were brought back on the first of the 17 climbs. The next duo to escape had more success, though it too submitted to the peloton at the 45-km mark.


The Eyserbosweg climb split the peloton. By the top of the Keutenberg there were 35-riders in the front group with Boels-Dolmans controlling the pace. Canadian Leah Kirchmann was in the front bunch. When the first passage of the Cauberg arrived the first group had a minute over the second.

The winds strung out the first peloton and eight dashed away before the Cauberg. At the Geulhemmerberg that new escape had grown to 18. It was a powerful gang.


Bemelerberg saw a quartet blast off the front. It was lassoed on the next trip up the Cauberg where Lizzie Deignan, Elisa Longo Borghini and Katarzyna Niewiadoma bolted. With 18-km to go the trio had a 20-second lead. Sunweb’s Ellen van Dijk chased for Rivera. Rivera, Van der Breggen and Annemiek van Vleuten bridged over at which point Van der Breggen attacked.

By the start of last passage of the Cauberg and 3-km to go Van der Breggen’s gap was 28-seconds.
https://twitter.com/wcstats/status/853579776103153664
Van der Breggen’s teammate Deignan was runner-up, her best WorldTour result of the season. At first Katarzyna Niewiadoma was given third but examination of the finish photo revealed it was too close with Orica’s van Vleuten to call a third and a fourth. Niewiadoma’s third gave her four WorldTour top-10’s so far this season. Rivera’s sixth was enough to keep her in the WorldTour lead.


It was van der Breggen and Deignan’s teammate Karol-Ann Canuel who was the top Canadian in 16th.

The Men’s Race
Unlike the women’s race, the Cauberg wouldn’t be that much of a factor in the outcome. Once the Amstel Gold Race traditionally finished atop the Cauberg. Then in 2013, the line was moved 1.8-km past its crest.

Two thousand and seventeen’s route was similar to 2002’s. Instead of the Cauberg being climbed for a fourth time, its third ascent came at 18.8-km from the finish, with the Geulhemmerberg and Bemelerberg 14.2-km and 5-km respectively from the line. In general the riders faced 261-km and 35-climbs.


An escape of 12 formed soon after the start in Maastricht. The dozen rolled up a 8:00 gap by the 60-km mark. Sunweb’s efforts chipped away at the gap and by 141-km to go it was 6:40.

Heading into the last two laps around Valkenburg, one big one of 70-km with 9 climbs including the Cauberg and then a smaller one, the hills had worn down the lead to 4:00.


BMC and AG2R took over the pacemaking in the peloton, and as the break drew closer, escapees tried dashing away. A big clot of climbs was approaching: Kruisberg, Eyserbosweg, Fromberg, Keutenberg and the final Cauberg.

It All Kicks Off
The final fugitive wasn’t netted until the favourites were finished positioning in the bunch. Finally, it all came together just in time for Lotto-Soudal’s Tiesj Benoot to light the fuse. He powered away on the 8.5% grade of the Kruisberg, with Gilbert and a handful of others able to follow. It was a formidable bunch.


Benoot’s chain problems on Fromberg took him out of the new breakaway. Alejandro Valverde and Greg Van Avermaet were in the first chase group 20-seconds behind with 35-km remaining. With Gilbert providing the break’s engine on the Keutenberg, Van Avermaet tried to bridge, eliciting a response from Strade-Bianche champion Kwiatkowski.

Kwiatkowski made it but Van Avermaet, Valverde and a few others still chased with the Cauberg looming. Two groups of seven laboured with 25-seconds between them and 23-kilometres to go. Colombian champion Sergio Henao led up the Cauberg. The chase wasn’t making inroads.

On the Geulhemmerberg Valverde attacked to try to bridge by himself but it was all for naught. Up ahead in the leading group, his teammate JJ Rojas looked to be well positioned. With 10-km remaining and a gap of 40-seconds, it looked certain that the winner would come from the septet at the front.

And Then There Were Two
It was time for the Bemelerberg, where Kwiatkowski struck. Gilbert was able to go with him. Several of their ex-breakmates tried to come across but could not. In fact, the breakmates were swept up. The peloton was coming hard.

But it would come down to the three-time winner versus the man with the 2015 title. Gilbert adjusted his shoes. Gilbert’s sprint triumph puts in all alone in second place on the all-time winners list, one behind Jan Raas, the Dutchman who took five wins between 1977 and 1982. Gilbert also becomes only the third rider to win the Tour of Flanders and the Amstel Gold in the same season.

The next WorldTour race for both the men and women is Wednesday’s La Flèche Wallonne.

2017 Amstel Gold Race Women’s
1) Anna van der Breggen (The Netherlands/Boels-Dolmans) 3:15:57
2) Lizzie Deignan (Great Britain/Boels-Dolmans) +0:55
3) Annemiek van Vleuten (The Netherlands/Orica-Scott) s.t.
16) Karol-Ann Canuel (Canada/Boels-Dolmans) +1:51
23) Alison Jackson (Canada/Bepink Cogeas) +3:36
48) Leah Kirchmann (Canada/Sunweb) +3:55

2017 Amstel Gold Race
1) Philippe Gilbert (Belgium/Quick Step) 6:33:55
2) Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland/Sky) s.t.
3) Michael Albasini (Switzerland/Orica-Scott) +0:10