[UCI World Tour] Amstel Gold Race 2018

Amstel Gold Race

Also running: Chinese Grand Prix 2018

How it works

Predict who is going to win the race; that's all. :)

Entries close when the race starts (Sunday morning).

Race Preview

It's the start of the Ardennes Classics triple: Wednesday La Flèche Wallonne, and next Sunday Liège–Bastogne–Liège. (Last year Anna van der Breggen won all three on the Women's Tour; Philippe Gilbert did the same thing in 2011.)

Let me quote a cycling site:

The time-honoured comparisons between half-eaten plates of spaghetti and Amstel Gold's route map will continue to hold true this year, as the race route weaves and darts around the Limburg region on a never-ending labyrinth of narrow and winding country roads for 262.6 kilometres. And, for a third time in six years, the finale has been altered.

And another site:

Much of the course is urban, with speed bumps, bollards, ramps and lots of road furniture within that scary saw tooth profile. Scotland’s Tour de France star, Robert Millar referred to it as ‘The Tour of the Roundabouts!’

This is one race where you need to have your wits about you from start to finish; not something all riders are good at. We don't finish up the Cauberg anymore but the final kilometres are through narrow streets. It's going to be quite an adventure to get into a good position to even attempt a breakaway, let alone succeed at one.

Sites
Official Site
Wikipedia

Favorites

• I'm not starting with Quick-Step today because there's only one man I want to win on Sunday: Alejandro Valverde. It seems time has no hold over this likeable Spaniard; he'll be 38 next week and he's still winning left and right (nine wins this year already!). But here we come to a weird anomaly; he has never won the Amstel Gold Race. He won La Flèche Wallonne five times, including the last four years, and Liège–Bastogne–Liège four times, including last year. Since 2014 he has won 50% of all Ardennes races... This weird gap on his palmarès can't be allowed to remain!
• On to the Quick-Step wolfpack then; Philippe Gilbert, Julian Alaphilippe, and Niki Terpstra have been named co-captains for Sunday but Gilbert, with four victories here already, is the man to watch. If he wins he would equal the record held by Jan Raas (those days people referred to this classic as the 'The Amstel Gold Raas').
• It's been a while since Peter Sagan raced the Amstel but he's back this year, fresh of his Roubaix win. There's no one more nimble on a bike; look at how he almost always manages to avoid crashes and road furniture by jumping over stuff and whatnot. This could suit him very well here.
• Tim Wellens won De Brabantse Pijl / La Flèche Brabançonne quite convincingly on Wednesday. He or Tiesj Benoot could do it for Lotto-Soudal.
• Michael Valgren has been having a good spring season so far; he finished second in 2016, can he do one better?
• Team Sky needs a win and Michal Kwiatkowski has won here before and was second last year; this is his kind of race. It was very heartening to read that Wout Poels is back from his injury and will be starting on Sunday.
• Sunweb today announced they are opening a "Keep Challenging Center" in Limburg; a place to run their team more like a football club; developing talents, etc. A win by Michael Matthews here would be a great way to really bring home the point.
• If it does come to a sprint, Sonny Colbrelli could well be there.
• Daniel Martin hasn't been doing great at his new team but the Ardennes are his terrain. And if not him then UAE Team Emirates also has Diego Ulissi and Rui Costa to save the family silver.
• We've got a few more former winners in the mix; Roman Kreuziger won in 2013.
• Two time winner Enrico Gasparatto is 36 now; could he make it three?
• Damiano Cunego (also 36) won in 2008; he will be retiring at the end of the season.
• I'll mention Greg Van Avermaet; his season has been poor so far. This is his last spring classic and a win here would make up for it at least a little. I don't see it happening though; if anyone at BMC is going to win it's more likely to be Dylan Teuns.

Giveaway

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