The 24-year-old Mathieu van der Poel won his first Amstel Gold Race in Valkenburg, Netherlands, today.
The Corendon-Circus rider managed to outsprint Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team) and Simon Clarke (EF Education First).
“I can’t believe it,” said Van der Poel after his win in the 265.7km race that started in Maastricht.
“I didn’t believe I could win. I didn’t expect that at all. I felt really good and tried to anticipate a bit on the Guiperberg, but it didn’t really work out. I went full gas and hoped the leaders would start to look at each other. It’s unbelievable.”
Mathieu van der Poel won his first Amstel Gold Race in Valkenburg, Netherlands, today. Photo: Facebook/Mathieu van der Poel
Fuglsang and Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) took the lead after attacking 35km in.
They held off chasers Michał Kwiatkowski (Team Sky), Michael Woods (EF Education First Pro Cycling) and Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) until the last 500m to the finish.
Kwiatkowski then caught up to the leading two riders, before being joined by Van der Poel, who was on the front of the chase group.
The latter, who won the Brabantse Pijl and Dwars door Vlaanderen this month, then launched a powerful attack in the bunch sprint with 300m to go to take this year’s title.
Van der Poel’s win in the 54th edition of the event came 29 years after his father’s Adri.
