An upbeat Amstel Gold Race favourite Mathieu van der Poel has described the Dutch Classic as being a "bit like a mini-Tour of Flanders", and after taking back-to-back editions of De Ronde and Paris-Roubaix, is looking forward to tackling a race on home soil.
Van der Poel harked back to his victory in Amstel in 2019, calling his triumphant last-metre blast past his rivals to the Valkenburg finish line "my first really big win on the road."
The Alpecin-Deceuninck leader also pointed out that the last few weeks could not have gone better for him, and said "Now it's a question of keeping that form for the next ten days. And that will be necessary because both in Amstel and next Sunday in Liège-Bastogne-Liège we will have a field of competitors with other, perhaps fresher riders."
