Amstel Gold Race, Vince Pidcock, Van der Poel solo 22°

This time he didn’t win Mathieu Van der Poel. The world champion betrays right atAmstel Gold Race, the home race: never in the thick of the action, always indoors, Vdp doesn’t find the winning edge on any of the 33 côtes of the Beer Classic, 254 km from Maastricht to Berg en Terblijt. And yet it is Tom Pidcock to settle the score with the Dutch race, a score opened in 2021, when he was burned in the photo finish by Van Aert (but for many the victory was his). The English of Ineos Grenadiers he beat the Swiss Hirschi and the Belgians Benoot and Vansevenant in a four-man sprint. At 11” the main group regulated by Michael Matthews. The best of the Italians was the national champion Simone Velasco, 18th. Van der Poel even finishes 22nd. A training session, in practice, for the world champion, who will close his spring season on Sunday with the Liège-Bastogne-Liège before dedicating himself to the Tour and the Olympics. “I didn’t have the super legs of the last few weeks,” explained the world champion at the end.