After a race of attrition throughout the day at the Amstel Gold Race, Tom Pidcock emerged victorious as he took the victory from the breakaway, beating Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates), Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal Quick-Step) in the final sprint.
This victory has been a long-held ambition for the 24-year-old British rider, as he narrowly missed out on the win in the photo finish behind Wout van Aert in 2021 and finished in third place last year behind Tadej Pogačar and Ben Healy.
As attacks went with around 30km to go, Pidcock was quick to react and make a move to bridge across to the front group, as they caught the breakaway and worked well together to hold off the peloton.
He then went clear with Hirschi, Benoot and Vansevenant over the top of the Geulhemmerberg, in a move that would stay away until the finish, with the four riders battling it out for the win in a thrilling finale.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The day began with a four-man breakaway forming inside the first 35km of the race, with Tosh van der Sande (Visma-Lease a Bike), Enzo Leijnse (dsm-firmenich PostNL), Alexander Hajek (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Zeb Kyffin (TDT-Unibet) going clear at the front of the race.
Their gap would go up to around four and a half minutes at their maximum advantage, with Alpecin-Deceuninck and Ineos Grenadiers setting the pace in the peloton behind as they tackled the opening climbs of the race.
There were a few crashes in the bunch throughout the day, as the narrow and twisty country roads of the Limburg region proved to be quite treacherous for some riders.
With around 75km to go, the early breakaway were caught by the peloton, as they began to hit several climbs in quick succession.
A counter-move then went with Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step), Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost) and Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) going off the front with around 60km to go.
They were not allowed much of an advantage by the peloton, as the favourites’ teams continued to whittle down the main group, with Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) putting in a small acceleration on the Gulperberg, which the pre-race favourite Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was quick to follow.
On the Eyserbosweg climb, Vervaeke was dropped by the front group and was quickly caught by the peloton, leaving just Honoré and Lapeira alone at the head of the race.
Having burned through all of his teammates, Van der Poel was isolated in the peloton, which meant that when the likes of Tom Pidcock, Tiesj Benoot and Marc Hirschi went off the front in a group of ten riders, he had nobody left to chase them down.
The small group then linked up with Honoré and Lapeira with around 30km to go, forming a group of twelve riders at the front of the race. The chase behind were struggling to get organised with no teams having the numbers to bring it back and the newly formed breakaway quickly had a gap of around 45 seconds.
As they hit the foot of the final ascent of the Cauberg with just under 19km to go, Hirschi came to the front of the group and accelerated out of the left turn, sprinting up the first hundred metres of the climb.
Honoré was immediately dropped from the front, with the rest of the group managing to hold on over the top of the climb.
An attack from the peloton by a group containing Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) then went, with Van der Poel eventually reacting and coming to the front of his group in an attempt to stay in contention and bridge the gap.
As they went through the finish line and took the bell for the final lap of the finishing circuit, the gap to the breakaway sat at just under half a minute.
Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) then put in an attack, but was unable to maintain his effort, as Hirschi, Benoot, Pidcock and Mauri Vansevenant got a small advantage over the rest of the group at the top of the Geulhemmerberg.
With Honoré dropped from the head of the race, EF Education-EasyPost came to the front of the peloton to chase down those out front as Van der Poel stayed in the wheels, patiently waiting in the hopes that they could bring the leading quartet back.
Pidcock then attacked with 6km to go, with Vansevenant briefly dropped before managing to bridge across and rejoin the group.
Under the flamme rouge with 1km to go, Benoot accelerated into the final straight, but knocked off his effort, with Vansevenant coming to the front of the group to lead out the sprint.
The Belgian rider was the first to launch but quickly faded, with Benoot coming around him as Pidcock opened up his sprint on the barriers, boxing Hirschi out. The Swiss rider then found a gap to come through, but it was all too late, as Pidcock held him off to take the victory on the line.
Behind them, the chasing group nearly made it on to the back of the leaders, but it was all too late from them in the end as Lapeira crossed the line in fifth place. Meanwhile, in the peloton Michael Matthews won the sprint for tenth, whilst Van der Poel finished safely in the bunch in 22nd place.
RESULTS - AMSTEL GOLD RACE 2024: MAASTRICHT > VALKENBURG (253.6KM)
1. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, in 5:58:17
2. Marc Hirschi (Swi) UAE Team Emirates
3. Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike
4. Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step
5. Paul Lapeira (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
6. Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
7. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Lidl-Trek
8. Quentin Pacher (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
9. Pello Bilbao (Esp) Bahrain Victorious, all at same time
10. Michael Matthews (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +11 seconds
