Remco Evenepoel accelerates up the Cauberg. Both he and Mattias Skjelmose are looking at the road ahead but Romain Grégoire is fixated on the two riders in front of him as he is about to be dropped. With Evenepoel able to ditch the Frenchman finisseur here, all that would be left would be to out-sprint Skjelmose and this time there was no surprise. This was the moment the race was won.
An early breakaway of nine with Huub Artz (Lotto-Intermarché), Filip Maciejuk (Movistar), Marco Frigo (NSN), Warren Barguil (Picnic-PostNL), Siebe Deweirdt (Flanders-Baloise), Xabier Mikel Azparren (Pinarello-Q36.5), Joseba Lopez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Valentin Retailleau (TotalEnergies) and Abram Stockman (Unibet Rose Rockets).
RedBull-Bora-Hansgrohe led the bunch for a long time but less of a pursuit and more a chaperone role, containing their advantage with Tim van Dijke and Danny van Poppel on hand to prevent the lead going beyond four minutes. Textbook stuff.
Indeed by the time the TV coverage started the status quo persisted. Having been spoilt by long range moves in the Ronde and a relentless Paris-Roubaix this was more subdued.
With less than an hour to go Romain Grégoire attacked on the Kruisberg. Remco Evenepoel followed and along came Mattias Skjelmose, Matteo Jorgenson, Kévin Vauquelin, plus Mathieu Burgaudeau who soon vanished. It saw four of the top-five picks from this blog’s preview were going clear. This isn’t to seek applause for perception, more that the obvious names in the action.
The plot twist came when Kévin Vauquelin crashed, seeming to resume pedalling too soon after taking a left hand bend and grounding his pedal causing him to wash out. This took out Artz – who’d come back from the early breakaway – and Matteo Jorgenson to crash, the American broke a collarbone, ruining his long-held plans for the Ardennes. A surprise but not a shock on a tight course that often feels like it’s one turn away from taking an alley behind a row of houses.
This left Grégoire, Skjelmose and Evenepoel clear. With the Frenchman the fastest on paper for a sprint, Evenepoel rode hard the penultimate time up the Cauberg to eject him. This climb is unremarkable but after 230km it was a mountain to climb for Grégoire. Evenepoel did not need to attack, just set a pace too high for Grégoire. Having been on the receiving end of this in the Ronde now it was Evenepoel’s turn to look back and adjust his pace accordingly to keep the rival at bay.
It was déjà vu with Evenepoel and Skjelmose away again in the finish of the Amstel. But how could the Dane win this time? His turns were looking shorter and less applied. They rode together up the Cauberg with nobody behind in sight to panic their sprint.
Evenepoel had Skjelmose in front and as the finish got closer, a flicker of doubt: what if Skjelmose’s lighter build could be an advantage in a late sprint, to go from low speed to high. Evenepoel was leaving it late but with 150m he launched in a low gear, almost too low for a sprint but this saw him accelerate, pass and go clear while Skjelmose looked to have the same kind of spaghetti legs endured by Pogačar in Roubaix and could barely sprint.
Benoît Cosnefroy won the sprint for third, he joined a counter-move and was the quickest. This group eased on the last lap to give the lead two almost two minute’s lead. A nod to Marco Frigo of NSN who was away all day but still able to latch onto this group and even had the audacity to launch the sprint.
The Verdict
The course had plenty of twists and turns, alas the racing did not. The early break went, it splintered and Remco Evenepoel won from the breakaway. The host production seemed to have limited means – one helicopter, fewer motos – as well which meant viewers saw less of the other parts of action at times.
If Evenepoel made it look easy, it’s a credit to him and his team. They controlled before he rode the perfect race, covering Grégoire’s move, towing the break clear, ejecting Grégoire on the part of the course where their differences were exposed the most and then sapping Skjelmose to ensure the sprint was barely contested.
Evenepoel was expressing an interest in the upcoming Flèche Wallonne, and having worked on his sprint and short efforts over the winter it’ll be interesting to see what he can do, does he bank on this or is his speciality of going clear before a tactic to be tried even in the Flèche, a race that has ended more often in a bunch sprint this century than the Scheldeprijs? Trying to convert the Amstel’s plan into next Sunday’s Liège will be harder too given more opposition. All this though feels eminently possible but he’s changed teams over the winter with the stated aim of tackling the Tour de France.
Skjelmose is in a similar situation to Evenepoel only with a fraction of the pressure and public scrutiny. A career project on the team to take him towards grand tour success has been derailed by injury but also results and now he’s on a team invested in Juan Ayuso so has to find results at other times too.
Grégoire impressed for the audacity to launch the move but seems to have a ceiling when it comes to competing with the very best but if the team wanted more they’ll bank on his fourth place and the 275 UCI points with a further 100 for Ewen Costiou covering in ninth place. Cosnefroy put UAE on the podium again and having been plagued by knee injuries apparently it’s all gone. Albert Withen Philipsen made the counter move and the finished 8th, impressive for a 19 year old even in these times.
Sadly, the beer won.
The Vauquelin/Jorgenson crash more or less sucked the oxygen out of this one.
Bring on the Mur de Huy …
Agree, I was a little surprised how favourable the general reaction I saw after was to the race, as it was interesting enough but having had weeks of race days kicking off from 100km out this didn’t quite have the same magic? Still good enough though.
I’m a big Vauquelin fan, he seems to have a lot of grit and always fights to stay in contention even when Onley has a stolen his thunder at Ineos. I see him being Ineos’ top finisher at TDF personally, despite Onley seeming to have a slightly higher ceiling? I bet they form a great double act this summer – repeating their top5s though will be tough with the calibre of riders heading to France this July.
Heart break for Jorgenson. He’s been pretty unlucky recently but sadly I wonder if he’s plateaued given the talent in this era peloton.
I’m not as optimistic about Onley and Vauquelin’s Tour hopes as you seem to be. I’d love to be wrong but I don’t think Onley will ever go higher in GC than last year, unless there’s a surprising transition period between eras in a few years (and even then it’s probably only the slimmest of slim chances).
oh sorry I firmly agree – I was saying both will struggle to repeat last years results, this year is going to be stacked with Pog, Vin, the ever improving Seixas and Del Toro, plus Remco, Lipowitz – it’s hard to see Onley nor Vauquelin beating any of those if they avoid mechanicals or bad luck.
That list then also missing Jorgenson, Almeida, Pidcock, who all have the potential to Top5/10 if they ride, as well as the other possible top10 contenders Rodriguez, Gee, Riccitello, Yates, Tiberi, Ayuso… if they all ride and finish this will likely be the most impressive Top10 at the Tour I can remember since maybe 2009 or 2018 (both Top10s were stacked those years even if there’s a few forgotten names in there still!)
I just meant that I like both and want to see them doing well, and by well I mean Top10 at Tours and the odd stage or one day race.
Got you. GT 5-10 is possible, without troubling the big names. Maybe higher for Onley in a weak Vuelta.
Re: Jorgenson, this year’s Ardennes was designated as the test for his level, but the brutal nature of cycling ended that possibility painfully prematurely. One wonders if another individual goal will be identified this season or if he will slot back into the role of luxury domestique. Vauquelin’s split-second error ends up having a massive impact on Jorgenson’s year and our ability to know his ceiling.
As for Vauquelin and Onley, it also seems to me that we’ve already seen their best in the Tour. Sometimes the race situation works out so that a rider ends up higher up the gc than one would expect based on their known abilities. Only the elite of the elite find their way into those positions year after year.
Kevins ride during the horrendous day in Paris-Nice, Stage 4 was incredible. Brave and as you say, full of grit.
Would have been fun to see what happened with two extra riders, especially as Jorgenson had to make a move before a sprint and Vauquelin is becoming a dangerous rider for a finish these days… in the positive sense.
Good point on TV coverage. Many interesting things were happening behind for the long kms when the difference was kept around 20″. The chasers had the head of the race in sight many times, so there was a lot to wonder about. One could see Cosnefroy working a huge lot, Izagirre taking a big big turn in a key moment but nobody else building on that, Baudin lending a hand from time to time… it would have been interesting to have longer shots on the chase to better understand tactics and dynamics. Less resources for the production? Less skills or a different attitude for the new generation in the production truck?
It’s true that the current generation of athletes (and DSs) looks quite lacking from a tactical POV, perhaps not having forged those skills among U23 (the athletes) or as racers now in the team car (when racing, “just do what the radio says”); or maybe because everybody is now so used to racing for second (or third, or fourth…) that fighting to keep the race for victory open seems a masochist luxury, even more so as nowadays you can keep the management happy just grabbing points. Yet, I’d like all the same to watch what really happens… who’s refusing to work when Izagirre’s work is over? We’re told more by interviews, Del Grosso saying “I’m no Mathieu” and giving up on leadership as he hadn’t great legs (Alpecin had manpower and didn’t use it).
Plus, once again, a certain absence of big talent in this specialty, worsened by Healy or Pidcock taking care of their injuries.
Curiously, we sometimes complain about “talent concentration”, but if cyclists aren’t able to make the best of cooperation among rivals (the “A” letter in cycling A-B-C), no better racing is granted, quite the other way around. 11 different teams for the first 13 places, and those who “double up” don’t matter because they both had an athlete ahead (and podiumed, indeed) – while it’s not like the rest couldn’t work being afraid of W. Philipsen or Costiou (a great race for both, of course).
However, I also enjoyed some “expectant watching” of the front of the race, truth to be said. Less interesting with hindsight, but watching it live had one wondering what Remco would do, to attack or not to attack the psychological factor of having a rematch for last year’s sprint or trying to avoid it… the moments when he looked less energic, spinning a low gear, and you asked yourself if he was less at ease or just saving efforts for the finale – or next races. Generally speaking, I find it more satisfactory from a “sadistic spectator” POV, to watch as Remco drops everybody from his wheel out of mere exhaustion, or they resist but on the very limit, rather than the “single attack style” by Pogi (or Vingo – or A. Yates at Gran Camiño’s penultimate stage) when they go solo at a random point of a climb then cruise high speed to the finish. Roubaix’s pavé also offers that nice effect of “look as the rubber band snaps (or not)”. And it’s also different, equally good, when it’s on a wall or a short climb, because in that case there’s the factor “you have to drop them in a short space”.
Maybe if Grégoire had been more sparing of his efforts when away with Evenepoel and Skjelmose he could have survived a little longer and saved a podium position, though it’s hard to criticise such positive racing.
I think it’s easy to criticize some positive racing. If Remco’s not gesticulating angrily at you, you’re doing it wrong!
Great comment made me laugh.
I’ve never liked Remco as I’ve always thought he was arrogant despite respecting his talent. I went through a phase of being more willing to forget his faults and think of his qualities but his gesticulating recently with Jonas felt particularly obnoxious. I would even go so far now as to say Remco’s idea of himself is actually inhibiting his progress, although since Pogacar’s emergence it’s long felt like Remco wouldn’t achieve his goals so maybe it’s hard for him to progress beyond where he is.
I suspect Paris will be his pinnacle of his career with a few more one day wins to come unless there’s some Tours with illness or crashes.
Jonas had deserved it, although of course he was totally entitled to wheelsucking – and receive the corresponding appropriate appreciation ^____^
So nice to see a great race without the Pog-MvdP show. But I would have expected RE to be more dominant. Yes, he won but not as I expected. If Jorgenson and Vauquelin hadn’t crashed, and if others besides Izagirre and Cosnefroy had worked to chase down Skjelmose and RE, the outcome might have been very different. RE was definitely the strongest on Sunday, but showed he’s still human. No surprise he’s skipping Fleche. Which leaves that pretty much up to Seixas…
It’s such a shame Larry T’s left us – I was a bit worried he may have bitten the dust but had a check on his site and found he’s still alive and kicking and enjoyed the Olympics recently:
https://cycleitalia.blogspot.com
I always remember his take that Amstel a few years back that MVDP won was ‘far from the best race’ when it was and is still very close to the greatest race I’ve ever seen – went back into the archives to pull a quote from the man himself and was interested to see his take that MVDP doesn’t radiate happiness? I think this has changed now, although I can understand those who feel he still has a terminator quality:
LARRY T 2019 (AMSTEL GOLD REVIEW COMMENTS SECTION):
“I think you nailed this one. The finish might end up in one of those compilations of “watch how these guys blew it” in addition to the highlights of MVdP’s career but otherwise it was far from the best race ever. I really though Kwiato was going to blow past the two joking around to win rather than MVdP’s group coming past, though there’s no doubt something special about the kid winning the same race as dad all these years later and in a similar fashion.
I’ve been attacked about saying this kid doesn’t really radiate joy at winning (or racing) so I couldn’t help noticing your podium photo kind of illustrates this, no?”
let’s let Larry T. be. He’s liable to come back and bring RonDe as his dance partner. I do miss “eskerrik asko” from those days.
(Larry is likely preoccupied with the passports of motoGP riders right now…)
Random aside, but thinking about the subspecies of riders who come out of the woodwork for one week of the year to concentrate on the three Ardennes Classics ~ riders like Skelmose perhaps harshly, Jelle Vanendert probably most famously, Cosnefroy maybe ~ reminded me of the rider who’s nickname was ‘The Mushroom’ because he only appeared in Autumn at Lombardia and the Worlds… who was that?!
Pierino Baffi?
Nah, like 2005-2015 sort of time.
Kolobnev?
Yes, I think thats the one! A bit harsh maybe as he was pretty handy in the Ardennes too.
“A surprise but not a shock on a tight course that often feels like it’s one turn away from taking an alley behind a row of houses….” Great sentence – delivers the thought concisely with perfect imagery. Journalistic souplesse.
That Raleigh team car is to die for. Looking for for Jan Raas I’d guess, but maybe Phil Anderson? Probably a diesel, and the ashtrays are full, but hey…