Three-way sprint taken by Italian after Oscar Freire caught in the final metres
Enrico Gasparotto (Astana) claimed victory in the closest Amstel Gold Race for many years, to go two places better than his third place of 2010.The 30-year-old Italian outsprinted Jelle Vanendert (Lotto-Belisol) and Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) on the Cauberg finish line, to take the biggest victory of his career. The three riders battled out the victory only after a late attack from Oscar Freire (Katusha) had been chased down, with the three-time World champion caught with just 90 metres to go.
Gasparotto, Vanendert and Sagan had all followed the attack of defending champion Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing), who seemed to have recovered some of his familiar form after struggling for most of the spring. The Belgian champion faded close to the top however, as Sagan surged past, but the Slovakian champion was also unable to sustain his pace; as the three leaders finally overcame Freire, Vanendert made a dash for the line but a late charge from Gasparotto overcame the Tour de France stage winner on the line.
“I knew I could do it,” Gasparotto told the TV cameras as he waited to go onto the podium, “because I got third here two years ago; it was possible to arrive second, but in the last twenty metres I went too slow.
“This year I remembered that, and I was really concentrated for today’s race because I feel that it is a race for me; perfect for me.”
“I think my teammates did a good job for me,” he explained. “They stayed all day with me; so, for me, after 2005, when I won the Italian championship, it’s another big victory.”
Freire, having jumped clear inside the final seven kilometres, managed to hold on to take fourth place, and Brabantse Pijl winner Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) outsprinted the struggling Gilbert for fifth.
“Oscar Freire was in the breakaway and, I think, Philippe closed the gap and started his sprint too early,” recounted Gasparotto, “Sagan was strong, but maybe because of the crash [the Slovakian came down mid-race – ed]… the last metre was a bloc and I stayed in the right wheels…”
The battle between the favourites came about only after the long break of the day was pulled back. Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale), Pello Bilbao (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Cédric Pineau (FDJ-BigMat), Raymond Kreder and Alex Howes (both Garmin-Barracuda), Steven Caethoven (Accent.jobs-Willems Verandas), Simone Stortoni (Lampre-ISD), Sébastien Delfosse (Landbouwkrediet) and Eliot Lietaer (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) escaped early in the race and managed to open up a lead that peaked at 13’20” in the first 100km.
The group was steadily reeled in by work from the Katusha and BMC Racing teams, but Bardet managed to hold out until seven kilometres to go; the 21-year-old Frenchman was only caught after the steep, penultimate climb of the Keutenberg, which led to Freire’s late bid for glory.
Rain and win welcomes the peloton to the southern Netherlands but the break goes anyway
The peloton set out from Maastricht in cold, wet and windy conditions and, after the usual flurry of early moves, Bardet, Bilbao, Pineau, Raymond Kreder, Howes, Caethoven and Stortoni managed to get away inside the first hour.
Delfosse and Lietar followed a few kilometres later, and managed to bridge across to complete the nine-man breakaway group. Once it was formed, the break was allowed to build huge lead over the peloton; BMC Racing and Katusha were setting the pace behind but, as they climbed the Cauberg for the first of three times – the seventh of 31 climbs after 72km – the nine leaders were 13 minutes clear.
The rain soon stopped falling, but the roads remained wet until late in the race, and occasional light drizzle continued throughout the day.
As RadioShack-Nissan sent men forward to join the working line at the front of the peloton however, the lead began to gradually come down. As the leaders hit the climb of the Loorberg after 97km, their advantage was down to 11’30” and was still falling; with 100km to go it was down to just 5’50”.
As the speed began to rise further, under the impetus of the same three teams, groups began to break off the back of the peloton. As the race hit the climb of the Sibbergrubbe with 80km to go, the gap to the leaders was down to 5’05”; more riders were shed by the peloton, with Tour de France champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) among those left behind.
First time over the Cauberg and the favourites are already getting nervous
Up the Cauberg and over the finish line for the second time, with 75km to go, the nine leaders were 4’37” ahead. RadioShack-Nissan, BMC Racing and Katusha were still leading the peloton, but Omega Pharma-Quick Step, Rabobank and Astana were beginning to lurk near the front in numbers.
With 62km to go Sagan came down in a small crash, but was calmly paced back up by teammate Daniele Ratto, and rejoined at the foot of the Bemelerberg; the gap was just 3’34” at the top, as Rabobank’s Matti Breschel dropped out.
A low speed crash at the top of the climb saw most of the Lotto-Belisol team come down, including team captain Jurgen Van Den Broeck. The Belgian had dropped his chain in the incident, and took a long while to get moving again; luckily it had happened at the top of the climb and the chase back on was not too difficult, and – with the aid of the Lotto-Belisol team car – Brian Bulgaç and Francis De Greef calmly paced him back over a number of kilometres.
With 45km to go the gap to the leaders finally dipped below three minutes, just as Van Den Broeck and his teammates made contact at last. BMC Racing was setting the pace but, as the Wolfsberg approached, the other teams began to bring their captains forward, with Gilbert’s Belgian champions jersey visible, as well as the golden helmet of Olympic champion Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), while Voeckler was moving up on the left side of the road.
The nine riders up ahead were still working well together, but their lead was down to 2’23” as they started the climb with 40km to go.
At this point Astana suddenly surged forward, putting almost all of its riders on the front. Many of the favourites began to nudge their way forward as the climb began, but the Kazakh team managed to regain control over the top, and the gap to the leaders had been slashed to less than two minutes.
The peloton is closing in and the break begins to fragment
This was a signal to those up front to end their day long cooperation and an acceleration from Bardet on the Loorberg, with 35km to go, pulled Stortoni, Howes and Bilbao away from the others. On the false flat that followed, Kreder and Delfosse managed to claw their way back up to the four leaders, but Pineau, Caethoven and Lietaer were now out of it.
BMC Racing was back in control at the head of the bunch and, with 30km to go – as the three riders dropped from the break were picked up – the gap was just 1’11”.
On the steep slopes of the Gulperberg, Bardet accelerated again, and this time only Howes was able to go with him. Liquigas-Cannondale led the peloton up the climb, with Sagan in second wheel, but Simone Ponzi (Astana) attacked over the top and managed to get away. The peloton was less than 35 seconds behind the two leaders with 25km to go, and was briefly gaining but, as Howes and Bardet began to work together one more the gap began to go out again.
Katusha pulled Ponzi back and GreenEdge came forward to help as they began to pick up the remains of the break.
Onto the Kruisberg – the fifth from last climb with 22km to go – BMC Racing came forward again, with Gilbert looking strong in fourth wheel. Several riders tried to come past on the steep slopes, but Greg Van Avermaet brought his captain through in the lead. The black and red team was now gaining on the narrow descent, and its pace had taken its toll on the climb; several riders had lost contact, with one group containing both Van Den Broeck and Sánchez.
The Olympic champion looked to have been caught out of position, rather than actually dropped, but faced a hard chase to regain the ever-shrinking peloton before the Eyserbosweg arrived.
Into the closing kilometres Bardet and Howes are still holding out
As the climb began, with 20km to go, the gap to the two leaders was still 28 seconds, but BMC Racing was up there in force once more. Bardet had looked the stronger on every climb until this point and, as the steepest part began, he left Howes behind.
Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) attacked behind them, with Van Avermaet and Gilbert bringing the peloton up behind him, and over the top they were just 18 seconds adrift, as Howes fought his way back up Bardet.
On the approach to the Fromberg the peloton had the two leaders in sight, as 2006 winner Fränk Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) showed himself at the front for the first time. Bardet and Howes took the climb together, but were watching one another all the way up, and had just a handful of seconds left over the top.
The pace set by BMC Racing saw Robert Gesink (Rabobank) and Andy Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) dropped on the climb but, over the top with 13km to go, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) attacked.
The Keutenberg, with its slopes of up to 22%, saw Howes attack Bardet, but he couldn’t force his way ahead of the Frenchman. Boasson Hagen was caught by the shattered peloton, which was still led by Van Avermaet, and it was bearing down on the two leaders as they crawled their way towards the top.
There were now just ten kilometres to go, and Bardet was finally alone as he sprinted along the narrow road towards Valkenburg. As Fränk Schleck hit the front again, Gasparotto attacked, but the peloton was on him straight away.
It’s all over for the breakaway but an old champion escapes
This saw Bardet’s slim lead disappear entirely, and it was finally all over for the Frenchman with nine kilometres to go. This led to an immediate attack from Voeckler, with Sagan in tow, but Katusha was closing every move down at this point, with Joaquim Rodríguez and Oscar Freire both still present in what was left of the peloton.
With seven kilometres to go though, as Voeckler and Sagan were caught, Freire himself attacked. Van Avermaet took up his station on the front again, but the four-time World champion had opened himself a healthy lead as he hit the outskirts of the finishing town.
With 5km to go Freire had a lead of 17 seconds, but this was down to 12 seconds with 4km to go. Inside the final three kilometres Terpstra attacked again, and began to reel in the lone Spaniard, but Freire was still clear as he hit the foot of the final climb to the Cauberg.
Freire was climbing out of the saddle, as was Terpstra behind him, but Gilbert had hit the front and the Dutchman was being reeled in. As he caught the Dutchman, the Belgian champion accelerated and, in the fight to follow his wheel, 2008 winner Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) and Lars Petter Nordhaug (Team Sky) came together and went down.
Gilbert was gaining on Freire with Gasparotto, Vanendert and Sagan glued to his wheel but, the winner of the last two editions of the race was clearly not in the form of previous years, and began to fade as they neared the top.
Sagan surged past Gilbert, and finally passed Freire with just 90 metres to go; Vanendert went to the Slovakian champion’s right, and looked as though he may have done enough, but Gasparotto sprinted on the left hand side of the Liquigas-Cannondale rider and hit the line just ahead of the Belgian, who brought his fist down on his handlebars in frustration.