PREVIEW: Amstel Gold Race
The cobbled classics have come to an end and now it's time for Ardennes Week for the Pro Peloton
The first race is this Sunday's 52nd edition of the Amstel Gold Race in the Netherlands and is the only Dutch one-day race on the WorldTour calendar.
Starting in Maastricht, the race is 261 km long and comprises of four distinct loops. The first loop (red) heads north east from Maastricht, before looping around to Valkenburg which was the site for the 2012 Road World Championships. The second (green) heads south east and before heading nortn back to Valkenburg . The third loop heads in the same south east and north direction inside the green loop.
Riders then reach the final smaller black loop for the final climbs and kilometres of the race.
The route contains a lot of twists and turns on sometime very narrow country roads, with lots of climbs and lots of road furniture.
Crashes are common and favourites face a constant battle to be near the front and avoid crashes and, so the pace is typically fast and furious.
The Climbs
In 2017 the route takes in 35 climbs. The Mescherberg and Kalleberg are new for 2017 while the famous Cauberg is featured three times instead of four this year. TV viewers are the main reason for changing the Amstel Gold Race finish again, with not the Cauberg but Bemeleberg as the final ascent of the day.
The punchy 800 metres climb used to be climbed climbed with with 1.8 kilometre to go, but now the last climb comes with around 19 kilometres left, so should change the dynamics of the race.
The last loop features the climbs of the Geulhemmerberg (1.2 kilometres at 4.6%) and the Bemelerberg (900 metres at 4.5%).
The steepest feature in the run-up to the final with 44 kilometres to go. The Gulpenberg, Kruisberg and Eyserbosweg follow one after another. These are short sharp shocks with gradients of 13.9%, 15.5% and 17% respectively.
With 29 kilometres to go, the Keuterberg brings a 22% gradient to endure, while the climb of the Cauberg – with gradients of 12.8% comes with 19 kilometers remaining before the Bemeleberg.
The Favorites
The biggest favorite is BMC Racing's Greg Van Avermaet who just won Paris-Roubaix to add to his list of wins at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, E3 Harelbeke, Gent-Wevelges so far this season.
But he faces some stiff opposition as Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) is riding. He's is also in-form, with wins at the Ruta del Sol, the Volta a Catalunya and the Volta al Pais Vasco. In his own words he's has his best-ever start to a season. This type of race really suits Valverde's risk taking approach to racing. We would expect him to attack at some stage, it's just a case of when. He could opt for a longer distance attack and see if any of the other favorites follow.
Philippe Gilbert (QuickStep-Floors) is another obvious favorite, after his legendary and momentous win at the Tour of Flanders, by far the best win of any race this season, he's in form and again is prepared to take risks and go on the attack.
Previous race winner Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky) will be riding and he will be one to watch after his epic wins at Milan-San Remo and Strade Bianche so far this season. Kwiatkowski is one of the best climbers in the world and this course will suit his style of riding.
Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) who won Brabantse Pijl earlier this week is another in-form rider to watch. He proved he can go on the attack from a lomg way out and can sprint too.
Tim Wellens is Lotto Soudal’s main contender, who loves to go on the attack. Two times and last year's winner Enrico Gasparotto is also another pre race favorite.
Romain Bardet and Oliver Naesen (Ag2r-La Mondiale) will be one's to watch. Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie) could be one to watch too. he could be one for an early break.
This list of favorites for Amstel Gold is a bit bigger than the last few races and the technical and punishing climbs will make for some very animated racing.
Peter Sagan won't be riding, he's taking a break after a pretty bad run of luck recently. We just hope that the Curse of the Rainbow Jersey hasn't struck again.
There are many stories of previous World Champions palmares going south after winning the worlds. He's back in action at the Tour of California.
Live Coverage
The Amstel Gold Race leaves 10:26 CET and the finish is expected around 17:00 CET this Sunday April 16th.
Live coverage will start at 04:30 EST, 9:30 GMT, 10:30 CET, with live video expected at 05:00 EST, 10:00 GMT, 11:00 CET.
For viewers in North America the race will be heating up at around 09:00 EST, so tune in and get live updates and video.
We've just updated our livestream so that it's 100% mobile friendly, you can catch up with all the action on your mobile phone, anywhere, any time.
2017 Amstel Gold Start List (provisional)
Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team
1 GASPAROTTO Enrico
2 ARASHIRO Yukiya
3 BOLE Grega
4 BRAJKOVIc Janez
5 COLBRELLI Sonny
6 IZAGIRRE Ion
7 NOVAK Domen
8 VISCONTI Giovanni
Team Sky
11 KWIATKOWSKI Michal
12 ELISSONDE Kenny
13 GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
14 GOLAS Michal
15 HENAO Sebastián
16 HENAO Sergio Luis
17 TBC
18 VAN POPPEL Danny
Quick-Step Floors
21 GILBERT Philippe
22 BRAMBILLA Gianluca
23 DEVENYNS Dries
24 ALAPHILIPPE Julian
25 JUNGELS Bob
26 MARTIN Daniel
27 VAKOC Petr
28 VERMOTE Julien
Movistar Team
31 VALVERDE Alejandro
32 BETANCUR Carlos
33 ERVITI Imanol
34 HERRADA Jesús
35 MORENO Daniel
36 ROJAS José Joaquín
37 SUTHERLAND Rory
38 BARBERO Carlos
ORICA-Scott
41 KREUZIGER Roman
42 ALBASINI Michael
43 DURBRIDGE Luke
44 GERRANS Simon
45 IMPEY Daryl
46 JUUL-JENSEN Christopher
47 KEUKELEIRE Jens
48 HAYMAN Mathew
Team Sunweb
51 MATTHEWS Michael
52 CURVERS Roy
53 GESCHKE Simon
54 KELDERMAN Wilco
55 BARGUIL Warren
56 OOMEN Sam
57 PREIDLER Georg
58 TIMMER Albert
Lotto Soudal
61 WELLENS Tim
62 BENOOT Tiesj
63 DE BIE Sean
64 MARCZYNSKI Tomasz
65 MERTZ Remy
66 ROELANDTS Jurgen
67 SHAW James Callum
68 VANENDERT Jelle
BMC Racing Team
71 VAN AVERMAET Greg
72 DE MARCHI Alessandro
73 DILLIER Silvan
74 GERTS Floris
75 HERMANS Ben
76 SÁNCHEZ Samuel
77 TEUNS Dylan
78 VLIEGEN Loïc
Team LottoNL-Jumbo
81 BOOM Lars
82 BATTAGLIN Enrico
83 DE TIER Floris
84 LINDEMAN Bert-Jan
85 LOBATO Juan José
86 MARTENS Paul
87 ROOSEN Timo
88 TANKINK Bram
Bora – Hansgrohe
91 ARCHBOLD Shane
92 BAšKA Erik
93 BENEDETTI Cesare
94 BURGHARDT Marcus
95 MCCARTHY Jay
96 MÜHLBERGER Gregor
97 PFINGSTEN Christoph
98 SCHWARZMANN Michael
Trek – Segafredo
101 BEPPU Fumiyuki
102 CARDOSO André
104 FELLINE Fabio
105 GOGL Michael
106 GUERREIRO Ruben
107 IRIZAR Markel
108 ZUBELDIA Haimar
Astana Pro Team
111 FUGLSANG Jakob
112 GATTO Oscar
113 GRIVKO Andrei
114 KOZHATAYEV Bakhtiyar
115 LUTSENKO Alexey
116 SANCHEZ Luis Leon
117 STALNOV Nikita
118 VALGREN Michael
Team Katusha – Alpecin
121 BIERMANS Jenthe
122 KUZNETSOV Viacheslav
123 LAMMERTINK Maurits
124 LOSADA Alberto
125 MATHIS Marco
126 PLANCKAERT Baptiste
127 WÜRTZ SCHMIDT Mads
128 VICIOSO Ángel
AG2R La Mondiale
131 BARDET Romain
133 DOMONT Axel
134 GAUTIER Cyril
135 GOUGEARD Alexis
136 MONTAGUTI Matteo
137 NAESEN Oliver
138 VANDENBERGH Stijn
FDJ
141 COURTEILLE Arnaud
142 EIKING Odd Christian
143 LE GAC Olivier
144 MOLARD Rudy
145 PINEAU Cédric
146 RÉZA Kévin
147 ROUX Anthony
148 VAUGRENARD Benoit
UAE Team Emirates
151 COSTA Rui
152 BONO Matteo
153 MARCATO Marco
154 MOHORIC Matej
155 MORI Manuele
156 PETILLI Simone
157 SWIFT Ben
158 ULISSI Diego
Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team
161 Alberto Bettiol (ITA)
162 Brendan Canty (AUS)
163 Simon Clarke (AUS)
164 Alex Howes (USA)
165 Sebastian Langeveld (NED)
166 Toms Skujins (LAT)
167 Tom-Jelte Slagter (NED)
168 Dylan van Baarle (NED)
Dimension Data
171 HAAS Nathan
172 FRAILE Omar
173 JANSE VAN RENSBURG Jacques
174 KING Benjamin
175 REGUIGUI Youcef
176 SBARAGLI Kristian
177 VAN ZYL Johann
178 VENTER Jaco
Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
181 VAN HECKE Preben
182 DECLERCQ Benjamin
183 DELTOMBE Kevin
184 LIETAER Eliot
185 SPRENGERS Thomas
186 VAN GESTEL Dries
187 DE GENDT Aime
188 VAN ROOY Kenneth
Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
191 WEENING Pieter
192 BUDDING Martijn
193 LIGTHART Pim
194 MEIJERS Jeroen
195 TUSVELD Martijn
196 VAN DER LIJKE Nick
197 VAN GINNEKEN Sjoerd
198 ASSELMAN Jesper
Wanty – Groupe Gobert
201 VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume
202 BACKAERT Frederik
203 BAUGNIES Jerome
204 DEGAND Thomas
205 KREDER Wesley
206 MARTIN Guillaume
207 ANTONINI Simone
208 VANSPEYBROUCK Pieter
Bardiani – CSF
211 BARBIN Enrico
212 BOEM Nicola
213 CICCONE Giulio
214 MAESTRI Mirco
215 MARONESE Marco
216 PACINOTTI Nicolò
217 RUFFONI Nicola
218 SIMION Paolo
CCC Sprandi Polkowice
221 PATERSKI Maciej
222 KUREK Adrian
223 PALUTA Michal
224 KOCH Jonas
225 PONZI Simone
226 SISR Frantisek
227 STOSZ Patryk
228 TRATNIK Jan
Direct Energie
231 COQUARD Bryan
232 CALMEJANE Lilian
233 BOUDAT Thomas
234 DUCHESNE Antoine
235 HIVERT Jonathan
236 OURSELIN Paul
237 SICARD Romain
238 TULIK Angelo