Remco Evenepoel wins the 60th edition of the Amstel Gold Race. The Belgian wins the Ardennes classic in a sprint against last year's winner Mattias Skjelmose. Mauro Schmid finishes sixth.
19.04.2026, 17:23
19.04.2026, 17:58
SDA
With his victory, Evenepoel took revenge for the defeat he suffered last year with third place at the same venue. Back then, Skjelmose beat the favorites Tadej Pogacar and Evenepoel in a three-man sprint. Now the Dane lost out to the Belgian, who attacked the sprint from the slipstream around 200 meters before the finish and left his opponent standing.
Schmid strong, Hirschi crashes
Third place was secured by Frenchman Benoit Cosnefroy in the sprint of the chasing group, which also included Mauro Schmid. He lost just under two minutes to the winner. Schmid, who showed a strong race, but had poor positioning after 257 km in Valkenburg, finished as the best Swiss rider in 6th place.
The Swiss Team Tudor had a race to forget. Team leader Marc Hirschi, who only just missed out on second place two years ago, crashed around 40 km before the finish and had to abandon the race. According to team owner Fabian Cancellara, Julian Alaphilippe was not in full possession of his strength. The Frenchman dropped out 72 km before the finish.
Surprise winner in the women's race
In the women's race, the Spaniard Paula Blasi from the UAE team surprisingly came out on top. The 23-year-old finished solo after launching the decisive attack 25 km before the finish. Behind the surprise winner, Poland's Kasia Niewiadoma won the sprint for second place after 158 km against European champion Demi Vollering from the Netherlands. The duo lost 27 seconds to Blasi. Noemi Rüegg missed out on the podium in fifth place by 16 seconds. Elise Chabbey finished in 20th place, around one and a half minutes behind the winner, while Steffi Häberli finished in 35th place.
The Amstel Gold Race is the first of three Ardennes classics. Flèche Wallone follows on Wednesday and the Monument Liège-Bastogne-Liège next Sunday.
