Amstel Gold Race 2023 [FULL RACE] (ladies)

April 16, 2023

Amstel Gold Race 2023 WE – Maastricht – Valkenburg : 155,8 km

This one-day race held in the hilly province of Limburg is the biggest and most prestigious bicycle race in the Netherlands. It features no less than 17 leg-breaking climbs on a twisting and turning route that snakes its way from Maastricht to Valkenburg. The gaps between these climbs are small, giving riders zero respite and making for one incredibly attritional race. While endurance is a key quality needed for this race, it’s a rider’s tactical nous and racing judgement that will decide whether they cross the finish line in Valkenburg with their arms aloft, or at the back of the bunch. Amstel Gold is all about timing your race-winning attack to perfection, too soon and you’ll be caught by the chasers, too late and you’ll be swamped in the final sprint.

Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx) has finally won the Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition. Having been seventh in 2019 and runner-up in 2021 and 2022, the 26-year-old attacked on the top of the Cauberg and soloed to the finish as the riders behind her wouldn’t chase her with Vollering’s teammate Lotte Kopecky sitting on their wheels.

Kopecky beat Shirin van Anrooij (Trek-Segafredo) in the sprint for second place, completing yet another SD Worx 1-2.

“I cannot quite believe it yet. We executed our plan so well again. I knew I wanted to attack on top of the Cauberg, and I saw that a lot of riders were already finished there, so I thought, ‘okay, this is perfect for us’. I saw Lotte was super good still, she looked behind to see if I give the sign to go, and I said ‘yes, I go’,” Vollering relived her race-winning move.

On the final 1700 metres, Vollering put her head down and pedalled, only turning around to check the gap 100 metres from the finish.

“I didn’t dare to look behind, I was just thinking, ‘go as fast as I can’. They doubted a little bit behind, and then they will never get me back anymore with the watts that I was riding. It was a hard race, really cold, and I like cold weather, so I kept that in my mind all day,” she explained.

After two second places, Vollering was ready to go all-in for victory, safe in the knowledge that she had a strong sprinter in the group behind.

“It suited me that the race was a bit harder. I got inspired by what happened last year [when Marta Cavalli won with a similar attack, ed.], and now, I had Lotte in the group, so I know that I can really go for the attack, and if it’s not working out, then Lotte can still win the sprint, or the other way around,” Vollering finished.

HOW IT UNFOLDED
Compared to the previous year’s three laps, the riders had to do four laps of the finishing circuit with the Geulhemmerberg, Bemelerberg, and Cauberg, bringing the total distance to 155.8 km. The race featured 21 climbs, including five ascents of the famous Cauberg, the last one two kilometres from the finish line.

A group of nine riders that included Marianne Vos (Team Jumbo-Visma), Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo), and Sabrina Stultiens (Liv Racing TeqFind) took off after the Bergseweg climb with 107 km to go, but when Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team) and Vollering bridged after the Keutenberg, things came back together again.

On the first of the finishing laps, Brand and Stultiens broke away on the descent into the Geulhemmerberg and built a gap of up to two minutes. A flurry of attacks sped up the peloton, though, and with two laps to go, the pair was only 33 seconds ahead.

Dutch champion Riejanne Markus (Team Jumbo-Visma) had to change bikes and spent some time chasing back on, and 23 km from the finish, Brand and Stultiens were caught. Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx) led the peloton into the Cauberg, and Kristen Faulkner (Team Jayco-AlUla) attacked over the top of the climb.

Starting the final lap, Faulkner was seven seconds ahead of Wiebes who led the peloton and then bridged to the American on the descent.

Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM) made a move on the Geulhemmerberg with 15 km to go but was shut down by Van Anrooij. Paladin’s teammate Élise Chabbey was next to attack with Vollering and Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) on her wheel, but they did not get away.

After short-lived moves by Van Vleuten and Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), Mischa Bredewold (Team SD Worx) briefly got a gap. Chabbey attacked again when Bredewold was caught, Quinty Ton (Liv Racing TeqFind) countered, and when Ton was reeled in, Paladin went off the front 9 km from the finish.

Grace Brown (FDJ-SUEZ) went on a solo chase, followed by Bredewold, but only Brown could bridge the 15-second gap to Paladin with 5.5 km to go. They worked hard to keep a 10-second gap into the Cauberg where Paladin quickly left Brown behind.

In the peloton, Liane Lippert (Movistar Team) set the pace with Markus on her wheel and went past Brown before catching Paladin. When the Dutch champion took over from Lippert close to the top of the climb, only Niewiadoma, Kopecky, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick Step), and Vollering were still in their wheels.

Vollering nodded to her teammate and then launched her attack. Lippert could not close the gap right away and then looked around for help. The lurking Kopecky discouraged the others from chasing and thus setting her up for a potential sprint finale, and several dropped riders came back while Vollering was pedalling to victory. Markus made a last attempt to take second place but could not get away, and Kopecky won the sprint behind her victorious teammate.

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