Mathieu van der Poel won an extraordinary sprint finish in the Amstel Gold Race 2019, leaving it until the finishing straight to catch up to the front of the race before sprinting ahead to take his first ever Ardennes Classics victory. Julian Alaphilippe and Jakob Fuglsang had looked like they would fight it out between themselves, opening up a 40 second advantage with 3km to go. That was before Van der Poel led a large group seemingly from nowhere back to the business end of the race before sprinting for the win. >>> Five talking points from the 2019 Amstel Gold Race The Dutchman had originally tried to animate the race up the Guiperberg, with 43km remaining, but it was a few kilometres later when a crash split the peloton, with Alaphilippe and Fuglsang taking full advantage and going on the attack. The pair looked like they would be the only two in contention for the win before the race unexpectedly came back together and a frantic sprint finish ensued with Van der Poel proving the strongest. The 24-year-old adds victory in the Amstel Gold Race to a sensational debut spring Classics season that has seen him pick up wins in Dwars door Vlaanderen and De Brabantse Pijl. How it happened The 54th edition of the race featured the same narrow roads, short, sharp ascents, twists and turns we’ve come to expect from the Amstel Gold Race, with the 265.7km route remaining unchanged from the 2018 race. After rolling out of Maastricht, the peloton faced three big loops through the South Limburg hills. The final loop contains ascents of the Geulhemmerberg and Bemelerberg, but not the Cauberg, which the peloton will have already ascended three times. The day's breakaway went clear after 25km of racing, just after the peloton hit the Lange Raarberg, the third climb of the day. The breakaway consisted of 11 riders: Michael Schär (CCC Team), Nick van der Lijke, (Roompot-Charles), Paolo Simion (Bardiani-CSF), Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo), Thomas Sprengers (Sport Vlaanderen Baloise), Aaron Verwilst (Sport Vlaanderen Baloise), Grega Bole (Bahrain-Merida), Jimmy Janssens (Corendon-Circus), with Tom Van Asbroeck (Israel Cycling Academy), Marco Minnaard and Jérôme Baugnies (both Wanty-Groupe Gobert) joining a few kilometres later. The breakaway's advantaged reached a maximum of 7-30, eventually dropping with Astana doing a lot of the work to get the breakaway's gap back in to just a couple of minutes. Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus), clad once again in his white shorts, has started to make it a habit of his to animate races far out from the finish, and he treated his debut Amstel Gold Race no differently. The Dutchman attacked with 43km to go up the Guiperberg, taking Spanish champion Gorka Izagirre with him. But their move only lasted for 4km, when they were brought back into the bunch, denting the breakaway's lead to only 35 seconds. Soon after Van der Poel was brought back in, there was a crash as the peloton curved round a bend, with Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) going down. This split the peloton, with Deceuninck - Quick-Step driving the front group to take advantage of the situation. Alaphilippe and Van der Poel then launched an attack, taking the chance afforded to them by the confusion of the crash, with the pair quickly joining the breakaway which was at that point starting to splinter. The front end of the race was all back together for the start of the Kruisberg, until Alaphilippe attacked again, with 36km to go, with Jakob Fuglsang and Matteo Trentin following. Fuglsang joined Alaphilippe on the Eyserbosweg, with Trentin dropping back and forming a chase group with Michał Kwiatkowski. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) was dropped from the main bunch with 35km remaining, as the Slovakian continues to struggle for form this spring. As Sagan reached the finish line to start the final lap, the race clearly gone for him, he climbed off and headed for an early shower. Michał Kwiatkowski was doing a great job to pull Alaphilippe and Fuglsang back in, getting the gap down to 15 seconds as the Polish champion tried to distance Trentin on the Guelhemmerberg, the penultimate climb of the day. Alaphilippe started to test the legs of Fuglsang on the Bemelerberg, but Fuglsang then tried to go too, as the pair began to think about their duel for the win as Kwiatkowski's gap drifted to 40 seconds with 3km left to race. Max Schachmann, who had launched from the peloton as the race looked like it was over for the bunch, joined Trentin, with Kwiatkowski only just ahead, 20 seconds behind the leaders with 2km to go. Seemingly out of nowhere, the camera panned around in time to see a large chase group, headed by Van der Poel, catching Trentin and Schachmann, with just over 1km remaining. At this point, Kwiatkowski had finally managed to bridge to Alaphilippe and Fuglsang, with Van der Poel's chase group catching, and Kwiatkowski then taking his chance, launching an early attack towards the finish line. On the finishing straight, Van Der Poel had caught up with the front of the race, and Alaphilippe started his sprint. Mathieu Van der Poel then launched and came past Alaphilippe to take his first ever Amstel Gold Race victory. Results Amstel Gold Race 2019: Maastricht to Berg en Terblijt (265.7km) 1 Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Corendon-Circus, in 4-35-11 2. Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First 3 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana 4 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck – Quick-Step 5 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 6 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto-Soudal 7 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) CCC Team 8 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 9 Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale 10 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott, all at same time<doc-sep>Mathieu van der Poel won the biggest race of his career on Sunday to leave the cycling world stunned with the manner in which he overhauled Julian Alaphilippe and Jakob Fuglsang who had looked certain to win the Dutch hilly classic. "I can’t believe it," the Corendon-Circus rider said afterwards. "I didn’t believe I could win. I didn’t expect that at all. I still can't understand what has happened." He was not the only one left bemused by his win. The world cyclo-cross champion arrived at his home race in fine form having won the midweek De Brabantse Pijl in neighbouring Belgium, however with just five kilometres of the 265.7km race from Maastricht to Berg en Terblijt remaining the Dutchman trailed the leading pair by almost a minute. Van der Poel, though, did what he has repeatedly done throughout the season and fought his back into contention. After crashing heavily on the cobbles in a high-speed sprint at last month's Danilith Nokere Koerse most had thought the 24-year-old's classics campaign had ended prematurely. However, days later the Dutchman bounced back in emphatic style to win the Grand Prix de Denain. The following week he finished fourth at Ghent-Wevelgem. Another win followed at Dwars door Vlaanderen in the countdown to the Tour of Flanders, a race his Pro-Continental team had hoped would suit Van der Poel. His race in Flanders though had looked over before the Dutch national champion showed incredible powers of recovery. After crashing and falling off the back of what turned out to be the select group of riders that went on to contest the race, Van der Poel worked his way through the field before claiming an impressive fourth place.<doc-sep>A thrilling day of racing Not so long ago, the Amstel Gold Race was a predictable, somewhat bland affair. A gradual whittling down process would take place in the peloton over the route’s many hills, before a climactic sprint among the remaining riders on the Cauberg. Not any more. Since an inspired revision to the route in 2013, the race has become much more exciting, with this year’s edition probably the best yet. >>> Mathieu van der Poel ambushes Alaphilippe to win Amstel Gold Race 2019 The action kicked-off early, with one of the major favourites, Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), making his move with nearly 40km still to ride, prompting a flurry of activity in the final hour of racing as the other favourites attempted to make up the lost ground. But it’s the ending of the race that will live long in the memory. Alaphilippe and his breakaway companion Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) looked certain to contest a two-man sprint for the finish, until suddenly, out of nowhere, Michał Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) appeared from behind. Alaphilippe was able to latch onto Kwiatkowski’s wheel, but then another, even more stunning twist occurred as Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) - having virtually single-handedly lead a chasing group for the last 7km - also closed the gap, opened up his sprint, and somehow had the strength to claim a breathtaking victory. The women’s race was similarly loaded with action, with Kasia Niewiadoma’s (Canyon-SRAM) on the final ascent of the Cauberg the strongest of several attacks. A tight, tense finished recalled the memorable climax of last year’s La Course as a pursuing Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) brought Niewiadoma within her sights as the finish line approached, only this time the Dutchwoman couldn’t quite make the junction in time. Mathieu van der Poel wins Amstel Gold Race 2019 (Photo by Luc Claessen/Getty Images) (Image credit: Getty Images) Van der Poel works another miracle The Netherlands’ eighteen-year wait for a winner of Amstel Gold came to an end in spectacular fashion, as Mathieu van der Poel produced yet another jaw-dropping performance. When a rider is as strong as the 24-year-old has been this spring, they don’t necessarily need to make the right tactical moves to win, as Van der Poel bounced back from what had seemed a fatal error earlier on. Just after having burnt some matches in an unsuccessful attack of his own 44km from the finish, he failed to react when Alaphilippe instigated what appeared to be the decisive selection. With the gap out to over a minute, the Dutchman was forced to take it upon himself to chase, and somehow, despite receiving no assistance, made the catch on the finishing straight. Usually at this point you’d expect one of the other presumably fresher riders, who had been towed along, to sneak past his wheel in the sprint. But Van der Poel is no ordinary rider, and once more defied logic to storm to a sprint victory. It was a truly astonishing performance, and yet more evidence that Van der Poel is a once-in-a-generation talent. Mathieu van der Poel at the 2019 Amstel Gold Race (Photo by Luc Claessen/Getty Images) (Image credit: Getty Images) Kasia Niewiadoma takes long-awaited victory She may still only be 24-years-old (the same age, incidentally, as Mathieu van der Poel), but Kasia Niewiadoma’s victory at Amstel Gold felt overdue. The Pole has been a consistent feature in the Classics for several years now, but has more often than not had to settle for runner-up finishes. She’s made the podium of Strade Bianche four times already, and has five top five finishes in the Ardennes Classics combined, yet only has one WorldTour Classic (the 2018 Trofeo Alfredo Binda) to her name. She achieved victory without compromising her commitment to attacking racing, attacking on each of the last two ascents of the Cauberg, and making the latter one stick to claim a solo victory. This could prove to be the result that sees her elevated to the very elite level - with La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège to come. The question now is whether she can repeat Anna van der Breggen’s 2017 hat-trick of Ardennes Classics. Katarzyna Niewiadoma wins the women's Amstel Gold Race (Photo by Marcel van Hoorn/ANP/AFP/Getty Images) (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images) Alaphilippe blows it For all of Mathieu van der Poel’s brilliance, it’s also true that Julian Alaphilippe made a costly error to lose what had looked like certain victory. Despite being very likely to beat his breakaway companion Fuglsang in a two-man sprint, he was still anxious enough to want to force the Dane to keep making turns, thereby slowing the pace and allowing the chasers back into contention. What had been a comfortable 30-second lead ahead of a chasing Michał Kwiatkowski with just 2km to go - and a whole 45 seconds ahead of a still further adrift group of the eventual winner - rapidly diminished. And though Alaphilippe looked like he might still salvage victory when he latched onto Kwiatkowski’s wheel on the finishing straight, he had no answer to Van der Poel’s sprint. Still, Alaphilippe’s initial bold attack so far from the finish demonstrated what great form the Frenchman is on, and he still looks the hot favourite to win La Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday. Jakob Fuglsang looks rounds at Julian Alaphilippe during the 2019 Amstel Gold Race (Photo by L'Équipe-Pool/Getty Images) (Image credit: Getty Images) Big names missing in action For all the exciting racing among a selection of the sport’s most entertaining riders, there were also a few big name absentees in the climax of both races. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) endured another off-day, climbing off his bike after being dropped from the peloton as Alaphilippe made his attack. Sagan racing in the Amstel Gold Race 2019 (Photo by Luc Claessen/Getty Images) (Image credit: Getty Images) World champion Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) was also conspicuously absent, failing to get involved in any of the attacks or chases that characterised the final hour of racing.<doc-sep>Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) has admitted to making "a huge mistake" as the Dane looked nailed on for one of the two top spots of the podium after going clear with Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) before Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) came through in extraordinary fashion to snatch victory. Fuglsang managed to hang on to third place on the podium, as Alaphilippe slipped to fourth, but said "the tactic was wrong to risk it" as the pair began to play cat and mouse after the Astana team car told them at 5km to go that no-one would catch them. >>> Full race report: Mathieu van der Poel ambushes Alaphilippe to win Amstel Gold Race 2019 Speaking in the post-race press conference, the 34-year-old said: "I didn't believe with 5km to go they would come back. The information I got on the radio was that Michał Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) and those guys were too far behind and so the team orders were they didn't want me to pull anymore so I said 'ok but you're going to need to keep me updated with the timings'. "And then suddenly Kwiatkowski closes the gap and he pulls through and then there's some some shadow behind us so I turn around and it's those guys coming. "I'm happy that I still managed to get third but I still believe we made a huge mistake or the tactic was wrong to risk it because it was basically a safe win or second place and then to gamble it like that to almost lose was a bit risky I think." Van der Poel seemingly came from nowhere, dragging a large chase group with him, to bring the race back together at the death and proved himself strongest in the sprint to continue his sensational debut spring Classics season, having also won Dwars door Vlaanderen and Brabantse Pijl. When asked to explain what happened, the young Dutchman said: "It's difficult to explain actually, I thought the riders in front were gone, they had a one minute lead in the last lap. I don't think anyone really believed we could win from our group, and it's just the last straight that I see the guys in front ahead of us." Amstel Gold Race 2019 podium (Photo by Luc Claessen/Getty Images) (Image credit: Getty Images) Simon Clarke (EF Education First) completed the podium, finishing second in a race he was anonymous in up until the line. The Australian attempted to unpick the hectic final few kilometres, telling Cycling Weekly: "It's difficult to get clear information [during the last part of a race] because someone has to see it on a television, then they have to say it on a radio, and that has to come through to our directors in the car and then they say it on our radio. When the situation was changing so quickly in the final there it was difficult to know time gaps, so actually my director was really smart in that he just gave me the names of who was in front. So I'm just going through my head ticking them off as we were catching them, and that way I knew just by who he'd told me: Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott), Alaphilippe, Fuglsang, and all the guys who were ahead on the road, so when we caught them I knew we were racing for the win. "In the end it was an emotional rollercoaster for us so I can't imagine what it was like on TV but I'm going to have to go back and watch that final again."<doc-sep>
It had looked for most of the final hour of racing as though it would be a straight shootout between Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck Quickstep) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), but van der Poel put in a Herculean effort to charge across with about 1km to go, leading to a chaotic bunch sprint. What made his victory all the more impressive was that van der Poel not only won the sprint, he also led it out, and closed the gap to the leading pair. And the 24-year-old, a winner at the 74th Dwars door Vlaanderen and Brabantse Pijl already this year, still had the legs to outsprint Simon Clarke (EF Education First) and Fuglsang to take the biggest win of his career. ‘The greatest ambush ever’ - Mathieu van der Poel takes impossible Amstel Gold Race win Amstel Gold Race ‘The greatest ambush ever’ - Mathieu van der Poel takes impossible Amstel Gold Race win 21/04/2019 AT 15:13 The five-kilometre sprint In a performance that ranks among the most impressive of the last decade in cycling, the Dutchman did what seemed to be impossible, frustrating the hopes of Alaphilippe and Fuglsang who, with five kilometres to go, had seemed certain of victory. Julian Alaphilippe launches an attack Questions will be asked about the tactics of Deceuninck and Astana to let him back into the race, but there's only so much that can be done in the face of such an inspired, virtuoso ride. His effort began as far out as 5km from the line and he pulled six riders who had up to that point been out of contention, right back into the race. Simon Clarke was the biggest beneficiary on the van der Poel train, sitting on the Corendon - Circus rider's wheel all the way to the line for a second place that will rank among his most impressive career results. Fuglsang was vivibly furious to come away with third, while Alaphilippe and Max Schachmann (Bora Hansgrohe) closed out the top five. Instigator, firestarter Mathieu van der Poel attacks at Amstel Gold Race Van der Poel had looked bullish from about 40km to go, when he attacked solo to try and force a selection. As it transpired, this was just a teaser of the explosive power he was to unleash later in the day. That early sortie led to the defining move of the race, when Alaphilippe and Fuglsang went clear together a few moments later. The duo worked beautifully together until around three kilometres to go, when Fuglsang, expecting to be the slower in the sprint, started to skip turns - refusing to bring Alaphilippe to the line. It was this hesitation that opened a tiny chink of light, into which the charging van der Poel was able to storm. The wins keep coming Van der Poel can now add the Amstel Gold Race to his already impressive palmares and it will come as some comfort to the rest of the peloton to know the young Dutch phenom is not scheduled to compete at next week's Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. However, there will be a huge battle for the Dutchman's signature ahead of next year's road season and we could very well see him in a WorldTour team's colours - and at that point, you have to fear for the hopes of everybody else in the one-day classics. Words by Tom Owen.