Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) won the Amstel Gold Race Women, soloing to the finish just seven seconds ahead of a group of four, where Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) came around Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) in the final metres to take the runner-up spot.
They had all been part of a 23-rider breakaway that formed at the start of the antepenultimate lap, following the second ascent of the Cauberg.
On the final lap, Pieterse forced a selection on the Geulhemmerberg that eventually led to a front group of five, also including Juliette Labous (FDJ-Suez) and Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ).
Van Dijk attacked inside 6km to go, Bredewold jumped across, and the other three couldn't or wouldn't close the gap.
After a high-speed descent into Valkenburg, Bredewold left Van Dijk behind on the Cauberg and held off the chasers both on the climb and the 2km run-in to the finish to take the biggest victory of her career so far.
"I had a rough week mentally, the team really pulled me through. Topsport is not easy. You put so much time and effort and emotion into it, and sometimes it doesn’t fall in the right place. It almost doesn’t feel fair, and it doesn’t work like that. It’s hard to win a race. You need a team, and that’s what helped me win today," said an emotional Bredewold after the race, before recounting how the race played out.
"This is how we race as a team. We can always attack, seize the opportunity, and this was perfect. In this breakaway, I was struggling so much. And then we did this little descent, I love that descent, we had a gap, and Puck and Juliette went.
"For some reason, I could not follow them, but I could stay really close, and Ellen [van Dijk] was the perfect companion. I said to her 'come on, we need to do it together, for sure they cannot pace harder than we can if we do it together.' I’m also happy she committed fully."
After chasing onto three lead trio, Van Dijk was instrumental to Bredewold’s victory in another way, spurring the 24-year-old into action with her attack.
"I’m glad she did [attack]. I was maybe too scared to attack. I thought I would gamble on my sprint, maybe I can follow them this time. Ellen went and I thought they would jump, [but] they didn’t. And then I thought 'it’s up to me.' Danny [Stam], behind me in the car, was saying 'now it’s all or nothing, just full gas together.' I hated this Cauberg, but I thought I just keep going and don’t look at the powermeter, just go," Bredewold said.
"This victory means so much. This is Amstel, it’s such a big race, and it’s in Holland. It’s just a fucking dream, honestly."
How it unfolded
An early breakaway of nine riders was reeled in before the first passage of the finish line with 73.4km to go of the 157.3km race, and Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) had to chase back after a crash.
On the lap of the finishing circuit that followed, Anna van der Breggen led the SD Worx-Protime team in splitting the peloton with a blistering pace.
Attacks on the Cauberg and the plateau afterwards led to a front group of 23 riders that consisted of Marion Bunel, Femke de Vries (both Visma-Lease a Bike), Blanka Vas, Bredewold, Lorena Wiebes (all SD Worx-Protime), Katrine Aalerud (Uno-X Mobility), Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal), Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Labous, Amber Kraak (FDJ-Suez), Pieterse, Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck), Anna Henderson, Van Dijk (both Lidl-Trek), Quinty Ton (Liv-AlUla-Jayco), Mareille Meijering, Paula Patiño (Movistar), Mara Roldan, Megan Jastrab (Picnic-PostNL), Brodie Chapman, Persico (UAE Team ADQ), Eline Jansen (VolkerWessels), and Alison Jackson (EF Education-Oatly).
As the break pulled away, Jade Wiel (FDJ-Suez), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), and Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly) formed a chase trio in an attempt to bridge to the front, but they were absorbed by the peloton with 30km to go. Van der Breggen, meanwhile, had abandoned the race after her earlier work.
By that point, the front group was 1:30 ahead, and when they climbed the Cauberg near the end of the penultimate lap, the attacks began. Labous was the first to make a move, then Pieterse countered, but things came back together on the plateau.
Further behind, Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) increased the pace as well, but as the peloton was 1:38 minutes behind entering the final lap, the victory was out of reach for most of the pre-race favourites.
Pieterse and Labous attacked again on the Geulhemmerberg to split the group for good. Persico, Van Dijk, and Bredewold managed to limit the gap, and Persico left the other two behind on the upper part of the climb to start a solo chase, bridging the gap with 16.8km to go.
Van Dijk and Bredewold returned with 12.3km to go and with only the relatively easy Bemelerberg and the final ascent of the Cauberg to come.
After Bredewold responded to Van Dijk’s attack 5.6km from the finish, the two riders worked together until early on the Cauberg, where Bredewold left Van Dijk behind.
In the group behind, Labous dropped Pieterse and Persico, picking up Van Dijk close to the top of the climb. Pieterse came back just after the climb and immediately accelerated past the other two, but could not get a gap.
Labous and Pieterse led the chase with Van Dijk sitting on, but Bredewold was still four seconds ahead going into the final kilometre and held on to win.
Persico returned with 500 metres to go but had nothing left for the sprint that was opened by Pieterse. On the final metres, though, Van Dijk came from behind with speed to finish second.
Results
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