Among the two quarreling parties, the third one enjoys it: the 59th edition of the Amstel Gold Race goes to Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl Trek) who, after 256 km from Maastricht to Berg en Terblijt, "outfoxes" at the sprint the two great duellists Tadej Pogacar (2nd) and Remco Evenepoel (3rd) giving himself the most important victory of his career and the team of Luca Guercilena the most important win so far in 2025!

No complete Ardennes trilogy again this year for the UAE leader, another great performance for the Olympic champion of Soudal Quick-Step after winning the Brabant Arrow at his seasonal debut, another bitter placement for Wout Van Aert (Visma Lease a Bike) who finishes 4th regulating the small chase group.

The best-placed Italian finishes in the bunch: Davide Formolo (Movistar) comes in 27th, three and a half minutes down.

RACE REPORT

Even before riders break away, a separation occurs at the back of the peloton: after fifteen kilometers a crosswind cuts off Tadej Pogacar, forcing UAE to work overtime to close the gap. At km 30 the group reconnects and, taking advantage of the reshuffled cards and the Adsteeg (second of the 34 climbs of the day) the battle begins to form the breakaway. Several groups escape and in ten kilometers, eight are officially in the lead: Michel Hessmann (Movistar) Remi Cavagna (Groupama FDJ) Robert Stannard (Bahrain Victorious) Emiel Verstrynge (Alpecin Deceuninck) Cedric Beullens and Jarrad Drizners (Lotto) Hartthijs De Vries and Jelle Johannink (Tietema Rockets).

The time to exceed the 4-minute gap and the main group, starting from Rijksweg, begins to "hammer" with Soudal Quick-Step of Remco Evenepoel, UAE of Pogacar and Q36.5 of Tom Pidcock (last year's winner in Ineos jersey) leading the operations. The situation becomes lively 105 km from the finish: on the Eyserweg, Reuben Thompson (Lotto) Dylan Van Baarle (Visma Lease a Bike) Quinn Simmons (Lidl Trek) and the oldest rider in the startlist Simon Clarke (Israel Premier Tech) launch a counterattack and in the resulting peloton stretch, a massive crash involves Remco Evenepoel, Thibau Nys and Wout Van Aert. Several riders retire: Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick-Step) Marijn Van den Berg (Education First) Hannes Wilksch (Tudor) Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin Deceuninck) Darren Van Bekkum and Clement Champoussin (XDS Astana) Tim Wellens and Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE) while Evenepoel is slightly injured in the elbow but continues.

On the Sibbergrubbe the quartet regroups, between Geulhemmerberg and Keerderberg the leaders break up and on the Bemelerberg (69 km from the finish) the last survivor Hessmann is absorbed. Teams take turns at the front, Pavel Sivakov works hard to close a move by Valentin Madouas (Groupama FDJ) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) but Education First and Lidl Trek stand out. However, surprisingly, the situation explodes by Julian Alaphilippe's hand on the Gulperberg with 48 km to go: only one man manages to follow him, whose name is Tadej. The two proceed together for six kilometers but on the next wall, the Kruisberg with 42 km to go, the current world champion says goodbye to the past one and seems to set up the usual triumphant scenario.

Climb after climb, 17 remain in pursuit: Remco Evenepoel and Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) Wout Van Aert and Tiesj Benoot (Visma Lease a Bike) Michael Matthews and Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) Thibau Nys and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl Trek) Ben Healy and Neilson Powless (Education First) Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) Brandon McNulty (UAE) Romain Gregoire (Groupama FDJ) Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull Bora) Quinten Hermans (Alpecin Deceuninck) Louis Barré (Intermarchè Wanty) Joseph Blackmore (Israel Premier Tech). On the Keutenberg with 31 km to go Skjelmose attacks, joined five kilometers later by Evenepoel. An exciting elastic of gaps begins, with the Belgian-Danish duo from the class of 2000 oscillating between 10 and 20 seconds from the Slovenian phenomenon. Until 8 km from the finish Pogacar, seeing them in his metaphorical rearview mirrors, lets himself be caught.

The trio begins to observe and study each other, effectively "anesthetizing" that Cauberg purposely placed near the finish by the organizers. The atmosphere is like the epilogue of a western masterpiece (for a moment it looks like Van Aert, Healy and Barré might come back from behind) and the game is decided in the final 250 meters: Evenepoel, who has mainly pulled both the previous chase and the trio's pace, launches his attack but is forced to stop; Pogacar responds perfectly from the slipstream but, with a strong back twist, Skjelmose sees his initiative rewarded and puts half a wheel in front of him. See you on Wednesday at La Flèche Wallonne.

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STANDINGS

1 Skjelmose Mattias Lidl-Trek 05:49:58

2 Pogacar Tadej UAE Team Emirates-XRG + 00

3 Evenepoel Remco Soudal Quick-Step + 00

4 van Aert Wout Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 34

5 Matthews Michael Team Jayco-AlUla + 34

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