With its narrow roads, dozens of short, steep climbs and constant twisting and turning, the Amstel Gold Race spring classic opens the trilogy of Ardennes classics. I rode the full 240km route in April 2019 and the finish up the Cauberg (12%), past hundreds of cheering spectators was truly breathtaking!
You can enter this epic event directly with the organisers (https://www.amstel.nl/amstelgoldrace), which involves entering a ballot to secure one of the 12,000 places. The ballot usually closes in mid November, and if you’re successful, it’s to get practicing. The 2022 Tourversion Amstel Gold Race takes place on Saturday, April 9th. With the Tourversion there are six route options available, ranging from the short 65km route to the full 240km route that the pros ride the following day, meaning that this is an event for everyone.
The Amstel Gold Race traditionally marks the turning point of the spring classics, with the climbers and stage racers replacing the cobbled classics riders as the favourites. It’s a great early season barometer of rider performance on the world tour, created in 1966 by Dutch sports promoters, Ton Vissers and Herman Krott (who ran a company called Inter Sport), who had the dream of creating a Dutch classic to compete with the monuments of Flanders and Italy.
Initially the Amstel Gold Race struggled to find its place on the international cycling calendar and had problems attracting the best riders. In 1973 however, race director Herman Krott agreed to pay a considerable fee to Eddy Merckx’s team, provided that he would win the race, which he did by more than three minutes. In the late 1970s, Dutchman Jan Raas won a record five times, with the Dutch media coining the phrase Amstel Gold Raas!
The most successful rider in recent years has been classics specialist Philippe Gilbert. With the Belgian winning four times since 2010, basing his victories on late bursts of speed and power over the Cauberg. In 2015 Michal Kwiatkowski became the first reigning world champion to win the race since Bernard Hinault in 1981. It’s a race that attracts the hardest riders and rewards them with the knowledge that they’ve beaten the best.
The Amstel Gold Race starts and finishes in Valkenberg (no transfers needed!), with the route going through the ‘Dutch hills’ in the beautiful countryside of Limburg. The 240km route is categorised as E – extreme terrain, with frequent steep hills and long sustained climbs. The route has 3,173m of elevation to overcome and twists through the rolling Limburg countryside, often turning abruptly to climb as many bergs as possible! If you’re training for it, pick a hilly location!
The hills of this corner of the Netherlands define the character of the route and they’re generally shorter and not as high as in the Ardennes, but come in much higher frequency than in Liège–Bastogne–Liège. The route consists of 30 short climbs which come in greater success as the ride progresses, giving little time to recover in between the hills. You’ll definitely ‘feel the burn’ as 25 climbs are covered in the last 165km, with 8 that feature in the final 45km. This equates to one climb every 5.25km or approximately each 10 minutes, which after nearly 200km in the saddle isn’t overly funny and definitely all business!
Personally, I found it to be a clearly navigated route and really enjoyed the Amstel Gold Race style decoration, ambiance and character, including a nice cold Amstel beer at the finish!
On the route itself, there are various care stations, with repair facilities, toilets, food and drink. Motorcyclists from Stichting Motard Stein are also present on the route to assist you. The support provided was particularly useful for me, as I punctured twice in the first 30km and enjoyed the full Motard puncture repair experience, including a pro-like push off! I only had two spare tubes and was able to purchase a couple of new tubes at one of the care stops.
You can download the route gpx at the foot of this page and ride it yourself.
I took the Eurotunnel from Folkestone to Calais with my bike in the back and drove four hours (326km) to Maastricht. I stayed at the Novotel, Maastricht Hotel (Sibemaweg 10, 6227 AH Maastricht) – cheap and cheerful, good restaurant, secure on-site parking and no problems with taking my bike into my room. I also enjoyed a nice sociable 10km ride to the start of the Amstel Gold Race in Valkenberg with a couple of French guys I met en route.
Another option is to stay in Valkenberg itself, whereupon you can soak up the atmosphere of the day, as well as the pro-race the following day. There are numerous hotel options in Valkenberg, but these do book up very quickly so you have to book ahead well in advance. The only other thing required is a strong heart and a sense of adventure – the classic beers aren’t the only liquids flowing during an early Dutch spring!
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