Tadej Pogacar has clinched the next big win at the Amstel Gold Race. As in the Tour of Flanders two weeks earlier, the 24-year-old Slovenian crossed the finish line with a reassuring lead after going it alone. After almost 254 km from Maastricht to Valkenburg, Pogacar crossed the finish line a good 40 seconds ahead of Irishman Ben Healy. Third place went to Thomas Pidcock from Great Britain, more than two minutes behind.
Healy and the mountain bike Olympic champion Pidcock were no longer able to follow the two-time Tour de France winner with 28 km to go on the Keutenberg. The two Austrians Patrick Gamper (Bora) and Felix Großschartner (Team Emirates) got off their bikes early.
Pogacar is the fourth driver after Eddy Merckx (1975), Jan Raas (1979) and Philippe Gilbert (2017) to win the Tour of Flanders and the Gold Race in the same year. On Wednesday and Sunday, Pogacar can now complete his Ardennes triple at Fleche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
In the women’s race, Demi Vollering from the Netherlands took victory. Austria’s Olympic champion Anna Kiesenhofer from Team Israel-Premier Tech Roland did not finish the race.