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Video: Incredible finish to Amstel Gold Race - one of the best ends to a race ever?

Mathieu van der Poel tows chasers - then shoots past front three to win race

The finish of today’s Amstel Gold Race has set Twitter abuzz – with some viewers reaching for the smelling salts as they wondered whether it might be the best-ever finish of a one-day race.

A relative newcomer to the calendar compared to the five Monuments, each of which have now celebrated their 100th birthday,  –54th edition makes the Dutch race a stripling.

But the drama today was equal to anything we have seen in recent years at Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege or Il Lombardia.

World cyclo-cross champion Mathieu van der Poel has had a stellar debut Classics season on the road.

The big ones may have eluded him – though fourth at Flanders and, a week earlier, Gent-Wevelgem – suggests that the 24-year-old will be winning races of that stature over the cobbles before long.

However, victories at the Grand Prix de Denain, Dwars Door Vlaanderen and the Brabantse Pijl mark him out as perhaps the star of the past month’s one-day races – and all that while riding not for a megabucks outfit, but for a UCI Professional Continental team, the Netherlands-registered outfit, Corenden-Circus.

Today, the action switched from Flanders and Norrthern France to the trio of races that make up Ardennes Week (only the second and third of which are actually in that geographic area, we know, but that’s how they are collectively termed).

As it headed towards its conclusion, today’s 265.7 kilometre race from Maastricht to Berg en Terblijt seemed destined to end in a two-way tussle between Jakob Fuglsang of Astana and Deceuninck-Quick Step’s Julian Alaphilippe.

Coming towards the final half-kilometre, a third rider bridged across and entered the equation – former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski of Team Sky.

And then, incredibly, like a locomotive – pulling as he was a train of riders behind him, as he had done for the previous 7 kilometres as he pretty much single-handedly reeled in a deficit of almost a minute to the leaders – the young Dutchman, whose father Adri won the Amstel Gold Race 29 years ago today came through to take a victory for the ages.

What a finish. Twitter, as you can imagine - or at least the cycling part of it - went into meltdown.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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7 comments

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bigbiker101 | 5 years ago
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van der Poel did a brilliant job of not giving up, but  Fuglsang and Alaphilippe rode like idiots to give up their lead.

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Rapha Nadal replied to bigbiker101 | 5 years ago
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bigbiker101 wrote:

van der Poel did a brilliant job of not giving up, but  Fuglsang and Alaphilippe rode like idiots to give up their lead.

It may have looked like they gave up their lead but it could also be due to the inaccurate timing splits which have been documented.  Even Fuglsang said he was advised of a 20 sec gap only to turn around and see Kwiatkowski almost on top of him!

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Yorky-M | 5 years ago
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amazing. love it

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JCBaker | 5 years ago
2 likes

Incredible indeed. 10 minutes after the finish i was still standing in front of my telly with my hands on my head, wondering what the heck just went down.

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CXR94Di2 | 5 years ago
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One of. no, probably the best finish to a race I can remember.  Truly remarkable last moment charge!! laugh

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Chris Hayes | 5 years ago
3 likes

Du Moulin, Ajax and van der Poel, the Dutch are back! What a superb victory. Made a nation proud.

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JCBaker replied to Chris Hayes | 5 years ago
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Chris Hayes wrote:

Du Moulin, Ajax and van der Poel, the Dutch are back! What a superb victory. Made a nation proud.

The Dutch Telegraph wrote Ajax should buy VDP, then they will win the champions league for sure  1

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