After a race of attrition all through the day on the Amstel Gold Race, Tom Pidcock emerged victorious as he took the victory from the breakaway, beating Marc Hirschi (UAE Workforce Emirates), Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal Fast-Step) within the remaining dash.
This victory has been a long-held ambition for the 24-year-old British rider, as he narrowly missed out on the win within the picture end behind Wout van Aert in 2021 and completed in third place final 12 months behind Tadej Pogačar and Ben Healy.
As assaults went with round 30km to go, Pidcock was fast to react and make a transfer to bridge throughout to the entrance group, as they caught the breakaway and labored effectively collectively to carry off the peloton.
He then went clear with Hirschi, Benoot and Vansevenant excessive of the Geulhemmerberg, in a transfer that may keep away till the end, with the 4 riders battling it out for the win in an exciting finale.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The day started with a four-man breakaway forming inside the primary 35km of the race, with Tosh van der Sande (Visma-Lease a Bike), Enzo Leijnse (dsm-firmenich PostNL), Alexander Hajek (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Zeb Kyffin (TDT-Unibet) going clear on the entrance of the race.
Their hole would go as much as round 4 and a half minutes at their most benefit, with Alpecin-Deceuninck and Ineos Grenadiers setting the tempo within the peloton behind as they tackled the opening climbs of the race.
There have been a couple of crashes within the bunch all through the day, because the slender and twisty nation roads of the Limburg area proved to be fairly treacherous for some riders.
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With round 75km to go, the early breakaway have been caught by the peloton, as they started to hit a number of climbs in fast succession.
A counter-move then went with Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Fast-Step), Mikkel Honoré (EF Training-EasyPost) and Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) going off the entrance with round 60km to go.
They weren’t allowed a lot of a bonus by the peloton, because the favourites’ groups continued to whittle down the principle group, with Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) placing in a small acceleration on the Gulperberg, which the pre-race favorite Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was fast to comply with.
On the Eyserbosweg climb, Vervaeke was dropped by the entrance group and was shortly caught by the peloton, leaving simply Honoré and Lapeira alone on the head of the race.
Having burned by all of his teammates, Van der Poel was remoted within the peloton, which meant that when the likes of Tom Pidcock, Tiesj Benoot and Marc Hirschi went off the entrance in a bunch of ten riders, he had no one left to chase them down.
The small group then linked up with Honoré and Lapeira with round 30km to go, forming a bunch of twelve riders on the entrance of the race. The chase behind have been struggling to get organised with no groups having the numbers to convey it again and the newly fashioned breakaway shortly had a niche of round 45 seconds.
As they hit the foot of the ultimate ascent of the Cauberg with just below 19km to go, Hirschi got here to the entrance of the group and accelerated out of the left flip, sprinting up the primary hundred metres of the climb.
Honoré was instantly dropped from the entrance, with the remainder of the group managing to carry on excessive of the climb.
An assault from the peloton by a bunch containing Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) then went, with Van der Poel ultimately reacting and coming to the entrance of his group in an try to remain in rivalry and bridge the hole.
As they went by the end line and took the bell for the ultimate lap of the ending circuit, the hole to the breakaway sat at just below half a minute.
Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) then put in an assault, however was unable to take care of his effort, as Hirschi, Benoot, Pidcock and Mauri Vansevenant obtained a small benefit over the remainder of the group on the high of the Geulhemmerberg.
With Honoré dropped from the pinnacle of the race, EF Training-EasyPost got here to the entrance of the peloton to chase down these out entrance as Van der Poel stayed within the wheels, patiently ready within the hopes that they may convey the main quartet again.
Pidcock then attacked with 6km to go, with Vansevenant briefly dropped earlier than managing to bridge throughout and rejoin the group.
Beneath the flamme rouge with 1km to go, Benoot accelerated into the ultimate straight, however knocked off his effort, with Vansevenant coming to the entrance of the group to guide out the dash.
The Belgian rider was the primary to launch however shortly light, with Benoot coming round him as Pidcock opened up his dash on the obstacles, boxing Hirschi out. The Swiss rider then discovered a niche to come back by, but it surely was all too late, as Pidcock held him off to take the victory on the road.
Behind them, the chasing group practically made it on to the again of the leaders, but it surely was all too late from them ultimately as Lapeira crossed the road in fifth place. In the meantime, within the peloton Michael Matthews gained the dash for tenth, while Van der Poel completed safely within the bunch in twenty second place.
RESULTS – AMSTEL GOLD RACE 2024: MAASTRICHT > VALKENBURG (253.6KM)
1. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, in 5:58:17
2. Marc Hirschi (Swi) UAE Workforce Emirates
3. Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike
4. Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Soudal Fast-Step
5. Paul Lapeira (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
6. Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
7. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Lidl-Trek
8. Quentin Pacher (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
9. Pello Bilbao (Esp) Bahrain Victorious, all at similar time
10. Michael Matthews (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +11 seconds
