Amstel Gold Race, Pogacar wins: another winning solo

Mathieu van der Poel had announced after the Tour of Flanders: “In Paris-Roubaix I will beat Pogacar”. Nice joke, also because the Slovenian still doesn’t feel ready for the Hell of the North and hasn’t gone there. At the Amstel Gold Race no van der Poel and van Aert, and Pogacar actually wins on velvet. The Dutch one is not a classic monument (it couldn’t be since it was born only in 1966), but it is nonetheless a very important race that opens the Ardennes Triptych: on Wednesday there will be the Walloon Freccia, next Sunday it will close with the Doyenne, the oldest of the classics, the Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Pogacar won in his own way, regardless of half-energy savings. He has always been in front, both when the group was more consistent (Andrea Bagioli was part of it, excellent sixth and first of the Italians), and when he himself skimmed him off. The only time he was left behind was when he had a puncture and had to change the bike. One of the 33 whetstones spread over an abundant 253 km happened shortly before, but Pogacar didn’t get upset. He attacked on Keutenberg, he was resisted – just – by Pidcock and Healy. Then it was a solo, put in the slightest doubt only by the Irish boy, who for a while even narrowed the gap before giving up and settling for an excellent second place anyway.

“I didn’t expect we’d break away so soon. I had a puncture for so many kilometers and I had doubts about reaching the finish on my own. I squeezed as much as I could to get to the finish line alone and I had it done. The bike change was frustrating, a delicate moment. But I had the bike just in time to enter the decisive climbs. There were many riders in the breakaway group and I decided to be with them rather than check with the team “, explained Tadej Pogacar, who then revealed a background. “Three days ago Van der Poel told me to attack Keutenberg, it’s the hardest climb and the one that suits me best. I’ll reply to thank him for the ‘tip'”, he added. “Wednesday is the Freccia Vallone, it’s a tough race and I’ve never had a good result there. But I’m fit and with the team I can have a good race”.