He was the most anticipated athlete at the Amstel Gold Race, and Remco Evenepoel did not disappoint expectations. At the Valkenburg finish line, the Olympic champion beat the defending champion Mattias Skjelmose in a two-man sprint. Benoit Cosnefroy won the sprint of the breakaway group instead, securing third place. A day to remember entirely for Marco Frigo, who attacked throughout the race and then closed in tenth position.

THE RACE. A tough course and true to tradition for the sixtieth Amstel Gold Race. Starting from Maastricht and finishing in Valkenburg after 257 km, 33 climbs and a total elevation gain of 3400 m. Among the day's difficulties, the last one tackled was the Cauberg, which ended 1.6 km from the finish line.

The start is very fast and after about 10 km the breakaway of the day formed, composed of 9 athletes: Huub Artz (Lotto Intermarché), Filip Maciejuk (Movistar Team), Marco Frigo (NSN Cycling Team), Warren Barguil (Team Picnic PostNL), Xabier Mikel Azparren (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), Joseba López (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA), Siebe Deweirdt (Team Flanders - Baloise), Valentin Retailleau (TotalEnergies) and Abram Stockman (Unibet Rose Rockets). The breakaway riders managed to gain up to 4 minutes advantage over the main group. Throughout the day we witnessed a very nervous race with continuous attacks and narrow roads causing many athletes to crash.

Team Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe, certainly the best-equipped team at the start of the Amstel, gave a first acceleration at approximately 112 km, well supported by Decathlon CMA CGM and Visma Lease a Bike. Climb after climb, the breakaway group lost more and more riders; at 48 km from the finish Marco Frigo remained alone at the front.

On the Kruisberg, approximately 43 km from the finish, Romain Gregoire made his move, exploding the group. The Frenchman brought with him Mattias Skjelmose and Remco Evenepoel; bad luck instead for Kevin Vauquelin and Matteo Jorgenson who crashed right at the end of the climb, the American athlete appeared very much in pain from the start. At 36 km the trio with Evenepoel managed to catch Marco Frigo, who was forced to give up after a day spent entirely on the attack.

Remco Evenepoel took responsibility for setting the pace and tried to drop his opponents. During the penultimate passage on the Cauberg, Romain Gregoire was the first to pay the price for the Olympic champion's high pace and was dropped.

The race was decided in a two-man sprint, with Remco Evenepoel beating Mattias Skjelmose at the finish line. The sprint of the chasing group, which arrived approximately two minutes behind at the finish, was won by Benoit Cosnefroy. Marco Frigo instead tried to attack even in the final kilometer and closed in tenth position.

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FINISHING ORDER

1  Evenepoel Remco Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe 05:59:40

2  Skjelmose Mattias Lidl-Trek + 01

3  Cosnefroy Benoit UAE Team Emirates-XRG + 01:59

4  Grégoire Romain Groupama-FDJ United + 01:59

5  Verstrynge Emiel Alpecin-Premier Tech + 01:59

6  Schmid Mauro Team Jayco-AlUla + 01:59

7  Vansevenant Mauri Soudal Quick-Step + 01:59

8  Withen Philipsen Albert Lidl-Trek + 01:59

9  Costiou Ewen Groupama-FDJ United + 01:59

10 Frigo Marco NSN Cycling Team + 01:59