“Stay with the grand tours, please,” Mathieu Van der Poel implored after the Tour of Flanders. The Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) had just starred in one of the great exhibitions in the history of the race. He took a break in Paris-Roubaix, where Van der Poel beat Van Aert due to a puncture, and came back even stronger this Sunday to win, again solo, in the 57th edition of the Amstel Gold Race , disputed between Maastricht and Berg en Terblijt. Because Pogacar not only wins, but he does it big.
The Slovenian season is being extraordinary. Double winner of the Tour de France and recently of the Tour of Flanders, he also showed himself to be imperial between Maastricht and Berg in Terblijt, attacking from a distance, selecting the group of favorites and finishing solo with prodigious starts.
Only Ben Healey (EF Education) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos) could follow him from afar in the first Ardennes classic of the season. But both were victims of the fang of this new cannibal of world cycling. In one of those heartbreaking attacks, Pogacar was left alone. There were 29 kilometers to go before the finish line and he had already blown up the race. He just had to stick it out to the end to get his first Amstel.
The Slovenian signed his master class with a time of 6:00:02, at an average of 42.1 km/hour. Behind, there was also a vibrant battle that was won by Ben Healey, 35 seconds behind the leader. Pidcock, who went under at the end, came in at 2.14 in third.
