Amstel Gold Race 2026, April 19

[QueenStagiaire]

Why wouldn't he want to drop the rest and go solo? He went at a hard and steady pace (instead of a short acceleration) hoping to drop Skjelmose but it wasn't enough. Obviously he didn't go as if the finish line was on the top of Cauberg (he needed to continue the effort) but his intention seemed clear: to tire his competition (and drop if possible).

That sprint training can‘t just go to waste so he didn‘t want to drop Skjelmose. He‘s got the body of a Sprinter after all.

 

[Danskebjerge]

just recognize that attacking confers some minor advantages.

1. We don't need to give Pogacar even more advantages - we need more suspenseful racing.
2. Riding behind a motorbike or two easily makes a race winning advantage, not a "minor".

 

[Red Rick]

He went hard, I have no idea whether he was going "full gas"; clearly you are privy to more detailed information than I am.

Evenepoel loves to be seated even on these kind of short climbs, but on the penultimate Cauberg he was out of the saddle for a long time and pulling a lot of faces, trying to drop the others. Then once they were over the top, Gregoire was left dangling at 10s for a while, which indicates that Evenepoel and Skjelmose were basically taking a breather on the plateau to the finish line.

He did most climbs with a pretty controlled pace, but the Keutenberg and 2nd Cauberg were pretty much full gas.

 

[Unchained]

You would be right if it weren't for the fact that others are called arrogant. There's a constant double standard applied to Remco, more lenient.

I am not defending Remco. He could come off as arrogant.. Sure but also he is fluent in a few languages doesn't mean he understands the subtleties of what he is saying. All that aside, these races are foundational for Remco, his mind is clogged with getting dropped on climbs, abandoning races, not winning. These types of performances will rebuild him, rebuild his confidence, his swagger. Once he feels good again will he go to a grand tour and be tossed into the catbox with others ? I hope not but he will anyway.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DH1xseEb2Co&pp=ygUMdmFuIGRlciBwb2Vs

An example of perfect English and he doesn't substitute a word just because, he is trying to describe a feeling about Wout Van Aert, can't think of the word or doesn't know it, so he skips it..Remco will always explain even when he shouldn't..

 

[Berniece]

Not sure why anyone would compare with last year. Hindsight tells us Remco was already on a downward spiral from racing too much too soon. FW was then bad. And then LBL was a disaster. Very different build up this year.

I think he wants to race FW. He even said it would depend how much energy he had to spend today. I have never seen him check his power as much as today. I think he wanted to win without going into the red like a solo would have been. Thus he held for the sprint.

A theory anyway.

He definitely didn’t look cooked at the finish. For Flèche he needs to go early

 

[Krzysztof_O]

He definitely didn’t look cooked at the finish. For Flèche he needs to go early

A lot of teams will be chasing him then. Don't you think he has a shot at the Mur in Pogacar-less race?

 

[Brullnux]

1. We don't need to give Pogacar even more advantages - we need more suspenseful racing.
2. Riding behind a motorbike or two easily makes a race winning advantage, not a "minor".

Riding behind it, sure, riding in front of it? The difference is so negligible.

 

[Red Rick]

He definitely didn’t look cooked at the finish. For Flèche he needs to go early

Fleche is so bad for long solos or breakaways. It's not hard enough to break the peloton into small pieces, there's a lot of big roads, there's this big ugly false flat descent into and after the Cherave. Basically every reason that makes it impossible to win with any long range breakaway makes it also impossible to win solo, no matter how good Evenepoel is solo.

The bad thing is though that he wasn't exactly getting a gap on the Montjuic either.

 

[bah]

Why wouldn't he want to drop the rest and go solo? He went at a hard and steady pace (instead of a short acceleration) hoping to drop Skjelmose but it wasn't enough. Obviously he didn't go as if the finish line was on the top of Cauberg (he needed to continue the effort) but his intention seemed clear: to tire his competition (and drop if possible).

Yes, and all that can be achieved without necessarily going "all out" and into the red.

 

[Sciatic]

He definitely didn’t look cooked at the finish. For Flèche he needs to go early

Isn’t that traditionally the losing strategy on Huy—to launch too early on the climb? Or perhaps you mean earlier in the race prior to the Mur. I’ve never seen that happen, but would’ve kinda fun if he could manage it

 

[Red Rick]

Isn’t that traditionally the losing strategy on Huy—to launch too early on the climb? Or perhaps you mean earlier in the race prior to the Mur. I’ve never seen that happen, but would’ve kinda fun if he could manage it

Some riders should be goingn early, some should be going late. Evenepoel is one that should be going from the very bottom.

 

[red_flanders]

1. We don't need to give Pogacar even more advantages - we need more suspenseful racing.
2. Riding behind a motorbike or two easily makes a race winning advantage, not a "minor".

Interesting to bring up one rider since this happens in literally every race. Why mention just Pogi?

There's ALWAYS a moto with a cam in front of the leading rider(s). If it's such a big advantage, why not just attack, get out front, and reap the massive benefit from the moto. You'd think teams would have figured out this huge tactical advantage.

Oh, wait. The strongest guys are always out front at the end anyway? The guy who already dropped everyone is out front? There aren't motos in front of the second or third group?

Now we have compression waves pushing groups forward, apparently so strong they affect the race outcome. It's actually amazing to read this stuff.

 

[Sciatic]

Some riders should be goingn early, some should be going late. Evenepoel is one that should be going from the very bottom.

Would love to see that. That finale is often kind of deflating because the teams make a crazy push to the bottom of the climb like it’s a bunch sprint, but then the action kind of stalls part way up, but even so some riders are gassed by the top of the climb and can’t contest for the win.

 

[Gratemans]

Isn’t that traditionally the losing strategy on Huy—to launch too early on the climb? Or perhaps you mean earlier in the race prior to the Mur. I’ve never seen that happen, but would’ve kinda fun if he could manage it

Yeah, Huy is just for the rider that climb the mur the fastest and time it right. The climb itself, that is. Pretty straightforward.

 

[Heston]

I'm not convinved Remco can beat Seixas/Vauquelin/Lenny in Fleche no matter how he rides it.

 

[houtdffan]

Isn’t that traditionally the losing strategy on Huy—to launch too early on the climb? Or perhaps you mean earlier in the race prior to the Mur. I’ve never seen that happen, but would’ve kinda fun if he could manage it

Remco should do an all out attack the second time up the Mur de Huy. Not wait for the finale

 

[Berniece]

A lot of teams will be chasing him then. Don't you think he has a shot at the Mur in Pogacar-less race?

Fleche is so bad for long solos or breakaways. It's not hard enough to break the peloton into small pieces, there's a lot of big roads, there's this big ugly false flat descent into and after the Cherave. Basically every reason that makes it impossible to win with any long range breakaway makes it also impossible to win solo, no matter how good Evenepoel is solo.

The bad thing is though that he wasn't exactly getting a gap on the Montjuic either.

I don’t think he has a chance on de Mur. Doesn’t matter that Pogi isn’t there. A lot of other riders are just better at it.

Also the notion that peloton will ride after him is something that has been said since he was 19 winning solo. Give him a small gap, which he might have after a hard Mur, and he rides home

 

[Cookster15]

Congrats to Remco. Was heavy favorite but a win is a win even though some might think he should have won with a long range solo. Skjelmose did as best as he could do but was powerless except to survive as he has admitted post race.

Sorry to read of Jorgenson and Artz's misfortune. Hope their injuries are not too bad.

 

[Heston]

Paul Lapeira also DNF'ed after his crash. Doesn't sound as bad as Jorgenson, but still a rider who would have likely top 10'd today.

 

[Red Rick]

I don’t think he has a chance on de Mur. Doesn’t matter that Pogi isn’t there. A lot of other riders are just better at it.

Also the notion that peloton will ride after him is something that has been said since he was 19 winning solo. Give him a small gap, which he might have after a hard Mur, and he rides home

As we saw in Catalunya, there's a bit of a critical mass of group behind and domestique firepower where it gets near impossible to stay away unless the moto drafting gets unreal. And there's a reason no breakaway or early selection has won in like 20 years, even in absolute dogshit weather. It all comes back together shortly after the Muur.

Sure he can try if he wants, if for the sole reason to check 'solo attack in Fleche' off the bucket list.

 

[Danskebjerge]

Interesting to bring up one rider since this happens in literally every race. Why mention just Pogi?

Because he is by far the strongest rider of them all. We all know which riders are the second best. And yes, it's a problem with those, too.

If it's such a big advantage, why not just attack, get out front, and reap the massive benefit from the moto. You'd think teams would have figured out this huge tactical advantage.

That's exactly what teams like Quickstep have had as a tool in their race tactics. Attack and use the motorbike. Why the heck is this great for cycling? Why give the strongest teams and riders an extra advantage?

There aren't motos in front of the second or third group?

There are less motorbikes in front of the chasers, because the leaders are the ones that are most interesting to follow for the camera men and photographers. But even if there are motorbikes helping the other groups, it influences the race because it reduces the drag difference between the groups. If a group of five riders are chasing a group of two, it would normally be an advantage for the big group, but if the two-man-group have two motorbikes within a few seconds ahead of them, it's like they are sitting at the end of a peloton. This is probably one of the main reasons why we so rarely see favourites being caught in the last 20 kilometers of big races these days.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Congrats to Remco. Was heavy favorite but a win is a win even though some might think he should have won with a long range solo. Skjelmose did as best as he could do but was powerless except to survive as he has admitted post race.

Sorry to read of Jorgenson and Artz's misfortune. Hope their injuries are not too bad.

Just read he (Jorgenson) has a broken collarbone

 

[Netserk]

Where did Burgeadeau and Kron go? They were the two closest to follow on the attack and now they are not in the first 3 groups?

kron had a mechanical

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

kron had a mechanical

That makes sense, last thing I saw of him was not being able to close the gap to the front 5 and then 15s later he was visible on an hello Shot when he slides straight through the second group

 

[Berniece]

As we saw in Catalunya, there's a bit of a critical mass of group behind and domestique firepower where it gets near impossible to stay away unless the moto drafting gets unreal. And there's a reason no breakaway or early selection has won in like 20 years, even in absolute dogshit weather. It all comes back together shortly after the Muur.

Sure he can try if he wants, if for the sole reason to check 'solo attack in Fleche' off the bucket list.

Do you mean the Barcelona stage? I didn’t see that one, but there the race isn’t hard enough. So a lot of riders are more easily following your attack. If RBH is actually able to push everyone to their limit, I can see him getting away on the less steep final part, or the flat after it.

You are right that some teams might organise very quickly and he won’t even get 20s. Then it’ll be hard.

He isn’t winning the sprint with everyone, so nothing else to lose.