The Ardennes Classics are upon us and, even if Amstel Gold Race doesn't technically take place in the Ardennes, it still represents the first instalment of the so-called 'hilly classics' of the Spring.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège is the major prize next Sunday, with La Flèche Wallonne a punchy mid-week offering, but the Amstel Gold Race stands as a historic event, the only one-day Classic in the Netherlands and so a major prize of the Spring swing.
