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."
Van der Poel's comments have therefore removed any lingering doubts over whether the Dutchman would race in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with the Flanders and Roubaix champion now turning his attention to the last Monument of the season.
"Of course, I like to return to the Amstel Gold Race," Van der Poel who has raced the Dutch Classic twice said. "My victory in 2019 is one I will never forget.
"The spectacular outcome still appeals to fans' imagination, and it was also my first really big win on the road. Those are moments you cherish."
Finishing fourth in 2022, Van der Poel added, just served to confirm that the race had a lot in common with the Tour of Flanders – technical, sometimes very rugged terrain, which he has won three times, "with lots of turns and steep hills, but without cobblestones."
At the risk of stating the obvious, he then pointed out that the season had gone very well to date, but also argued that he would perhaps be at a disadvantage in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where many of the Ardennes specialists would not only be fresher than he was after his long spring Classics campaign, but that they also "climb better than me."
While Liège's 11 categorised climbs and 4,100 metres of vertical climbing could yet be a major challenge for Van der Poel, first comes Sunday and Amstel Gold Race, and the Dutchman went to check out the course on Wednesday.
"Not that that was much needed, because I obviously know the roads in Dutch Limburg," he argued. "But it was good to refresh the memory, and that can never be a bad thing."
Perhaps unsurprisingly for a rider who has stood head and shoulders above the opposition in the three Classics he has won this season, Van der Poel said he was "not too concerned" about who his rivals were.
"Who I consider my main rivals? As you know, I'm not very concerned with that. Neither have I looked at the participants list yet. It may sound cliché, but I mainly go by my own strength and that of our team," he said, noting that his own team – which will include Søren Kragh Andersen, Quinten Hermans, and Gianni Vermeersch – has proven what they can do, regardless of opposition.
"We have proven in recent weeks that as a team we can take control of the race when necessary," Van der Poel indicated, and Alpecin-Deceuninck's stranglehold on Paris-Roubaix last Sunday, culminating with the Dutchman's devastating attack at 60km to go was a case in point.
"Also on [this] Sunday I will be well surrounded, with guys who have all proven that they are in good shape," he said, "And we've got a lot of positive momentum. I think we can travel to [the start at] Maastricht feeling confident."
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