The season has turned a corner, with the cobbled Classics firmly in the review mirror and the Ardennes Classics kicking off at Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition on Sunday, April 16, in the Netherlands.
The race is back to its traditional spot on the calendar after switching weekends with Paris-Roubaix last year, and now all feels right in the world of professional cycling as Amstel Gold Race begins the three-race affair that runs straight into Flèche Wallonne on April 19 and Liège-Bastogne-Liège on April 23, both in Belgium.
SD Worx may have dominated the Spring Classics thus far with 10 victories, but a few riders have put a dent in their run of success, and the peloton heads into the Amstel Gold Race with a new opportunity.
The cobbled events are like none other, full of drama, luck and riveting race scenarios, but the Ardennes Classics have an ethos of their own that should not be missed.
Join Cyclingnews' live coverage of the Ardennes Classics, including the Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition, and check back after the event for the full race reports, results, photo galleries, storylines and race analysis.
To begin with, Cyclingnews highlights some of the biggest talking points ahead of Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition, and you can preview the major contenders and the route details all ahead of the 155.8km race from Maastricht to Valkenburg.
Don't underestimate Cavalli
Marta Cavalli's remarkable back-to-back victories at Amstel Gold Race and Flèche Wallonne last year have thus far marked the highlight of her career. Other powerful performances cannot be forgotten, too, with a fifth at Paris-Roubaix Femmes and second overall at the Giro d'Italia Donne, is there anything Cavalli can't do in pro racing?
Cavalli opted not to race Paris-Roubaix this year to focus on these next three races. FDJ-SUEZ teammate Grace Brown remarked upon her versatility ahead of the Hell of the North but also suggested that sometimes riders need to choose targets rather than spreading their efforts across too many races.
"Marta is focused on the Ardennes this year, after her success last year, and she decided with the team that it was better not to race Roubaix this year to focus on those other races. There are riders who can be good on every type of course, but they can't do every single race, so at some point, you need to decide and make tough decisions between multiple races that you could potentially do well in."
Cavalli took time away from racing due to lingering injuries and discomfort while riding in the peloton as a result of a crash at the Tour de France Femmes last year. But with careful guidance and support from FDJ-SUEZ, she has slowly returned to the peloton at Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Brabantse Pijl.
The team has stated that she is now ready to race at her full capacity beginning at Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition on Sunday, and we believe it. She seems to have made a full recovery, and even though she struggled in the crosswind and echelons at the UAE Tour earlier this season, she still had one of the fastest posted times on the Jebel Hafeet ascent.
She has been specifically training for the Ardennes Classics, and even though she hasn't competed in as many races this early season, it will be interesting to see how she performs at Amstel Gold Race. One thing that is certain is that her strength should not be underestimated.
SD Work juggernaut rolls into Maastricht
After a successful cobbled Classics campaign, SD Work rolls into Maastricht for the start of the Amstel Gold Race, once again, as the dominant team.
Tour of Flanders winner Lotte Kopecky may have been disappointed to miss out on the Flanders-Roubaix double after finishing seventh at the Hell of the North, but the bright side is that she comes into the Amstel Gold Race with impeccable form and a chance at another victory.
It's her first time competing at the Dutch round of the Ardennes Classics, and she will use her wildcard status at SD Worx in collaboration with all-rounder Demi Vollering, recently second at Brabantse Pijl, and sprinter Lorena Wiebes.
"My spring went perfectly, but in the Amstel Gold Race, I'm going to squeeze everything out once more," said Kopecky, who also won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Nokere Koerse.
"This is my first participation, so I have little experience with it. Some hills, I don't know. We are coming to the start with a strong collective. So again, several scenarios are possible. Nevertheless, I'm starting with healthy ambitions."
Amstel Gold Race will also mark her final race of the Classics season, and she will not compete at Flèche Wallonne or Liège-Bastogne-Liège, opting to turn her attention to the track where she will race at the Nations Cup in Milton on April 20-23.
"I am still fresh enough to pop one last time in this spring. Everything can come out. So I will really go flat out in this Amstel. We will try to make the race hard again."
Geulhemmerberg, Bemelerberg, Cauberg X 4
Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition, which starts in Maastricht and finishes in Berg en Terblijt, Valkenburg, has a few key route changes this year. The route details include four trips up the Geulhemmerberg, Bemelerberg and Cauberg, along with the total distance extended to 155.8km.
The race is 28km longer than last year, with Leontien van Moorsel, race director for the women's event, stating that the women's peloton requested the additional kilometres, which allows the race to fall in line with the lengths of some of the other big classics.
“We are going to take the next step with the women's race! The race will be extended by almost 30 kilometres to a total length of 156 kilometres. A consequence of the development of women's cycling," she said.
"You see that nowadays, more and more big races are over 140 kilometres. In addition, various top riders from the peloton have also asked if we could make the race a little longer.”
There are also a total of 21 climbs. The new opening route includes eight ascents, and then the peloton will reach the final 18km circuit that is routed over the trio: Geulhemmerberg, Bemelerberg and Cauberg, the latter an 800-metre ascent reaching 12.8% in gradient which peaks 2km from the finish line.
“The course is not only getting longer but also heavier. Three additional climbs bring the total to 21 climbs, and the number of altimeters rises to 1,700. In the initial phase, we will make an extra loop toward Sittard-Geleen. From Ubachsberg, the peloton drives to Simpelveld and Wahlwiller, where the Kruisberg, Eyserbosweg, Fromberg and Keutenberg are successively visited," she said.
"The well-known final loop of 18 kilometres with the Geulhemmerberg, Bemelerberg and Cauberg will be ridden four times instead of three from 2023."
The added distance and climb means the Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition has become more of a race to attrition.
New faces out to play
Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) threw a wrench into SD Worx's lead-in to the Ardennes Classics, beating Demi Vollering to win the mid-week Brabantse Pijl. The victory could mark a precursor of what we might expect at the Amstel Gold Race.
It is a longer and tougher route this year, but still, Amstel Gold Race has always been a much more open affair than the final two rounds at Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Persico and UAE Team ADQ are not the only rider and team to outdo SD Worx as Shirin van Anrooij (Trek-Segafredo) won at Trofeo Alfredo Binda, Pfeiffer Georgi (Team DSM) at Classic Brugge-De Panne, and Alison Jackson (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) at Paris-Roubaix.
Persico, Van Anrooij, Georgi and Jackson are all expected to start Amstel Gold Race, but there are also new faces that could come out to play with Fem van Empel making her classics debut with Jumbo-Visma alongside former winner Marianne Vos, Mavi Garcia will be a contender for Liv Racing TeqFind.
Juliette Labous is coming into top form for Team DSM at the Ardennes Classics, and Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Team Jayco AlUla) has had promising performances this spring, and of course, Movistar lineup with a trio of contenders in World Champion Annemiek van Vleuten, Liane Lippert, Floortje Mackaij and Arlenis Sierra, and Canyon-SRAM with former winner Kasia Niewiadoma.
Van Vleuten really wants to win Amstel
It's hard to believe that World Champion Annemiek van Vleuten has not won Amstel Gold Race, in part because she is one of the best hilly one-day racers on the planet and in part because it is her favourite of the Ardennes Classics.
She admitted that of the three races - Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège - Amstel is the one that suits her ability as an athlete the least. This is because the route is not quite as challenging as the other two, and the decisive Cauberg ascent, although climbed four times, does not offer her the same challenge in comparison to Mur de Huy of Flèche, a race she has finished runner-up three times, and La Redoute and the Cote de la Roche-aux-Faucons of Liège, where she has won twice.
"Flèche Wallonne suits me a bit more [than Amstel] because the effort on the Mur de Huy is four minutes, but there too, it depends on how tough the race has been," Van Vleuten said in her blog.
"Liège-Bastogne-Liège suits me best because the climbs are longer there. Then you can compare me a bit with Remco Evenepoel, who you don't have to register for the Amstel Gold Race either, because the climb of the Cauberg is only two minutes there. But La Redoute and the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons are still five minutes away, besides being a long race, which makes Liège-Bastogne-Liège the best of the spring races for me. I've already managed to win it twice, and I think it's a very nice match," Van Vleuten said.
"If you ask me which of the three I would prefer to win, it would be the Amstel Gold Race, but that is also the most difficult."
Van Vleuten noted that the distance increased to 155.8km, and the additional three ascents for a total of 21 climbs means the race suits her more this year than ever before. She will also have more support from the team and can play a better tactical game with teammates Floortje Mackaij and Liane Lippert.
Like all races this year, it will be Van Vleuten's final time lining up at the Amstel Gold Race and her last chance to win it before retiring at the end of the season.
