The 2019 Amstel Gold Race was awesome! Mathieu van der Poel announced himself as a Dutch hero in the peloton. It will be a huge surprise if he doesn’t go onto win a monument race in the future like the Tour of Flanders.
I went and watched the 2019 Amstel Gold races. The hotel I was at was above the main square in Maastricht. The women’s team buses were all parked here so it was easy to have breakfast and head out. I wandered around the buses at the start area, before seeing the men on the Geulhemmerberg. After seeing the men’s peloton go past, I spent the day on the Bemelerberg where the women went past 3 times and the men twice.
The women’s race saw an attack and a split of the peloton in the final ascent after some cagey riding on the previous ascents. The men tried some digs but ultimately they didn’t stick from here.
The men’s race was won with a heroic effort from national hero Mathieu van der Poel. He almost single-handedly closed the gap to the lead pack of Julian Alaphillipe, Michal Kwiatkowski and Jakob Fuglsang. Once he’d closed the gap with just 1km left to race, he sprinted past them all to take the win. Simon Clarke finished a great 2nd place and Jakob Fuglsang hung on for 3rd spot. Everyone was talking about van der Poel after the race.
The women’s race was won by Katarzyna Niewiadoma who sprinted away from Annemiek van Vleuten and Marianne Vos. Ashleigh Moolman had an unfortunate crash into the barriers within sight of the line. Demi Vollering was also unfortunate after suffering a mechanical on the Cauberg just a couple of km from the finish.
Amstel Gold Men’s Race Photos 2019
Amstel Gold Women’s Race Photos 2019
