Pidcock claims thrilling victory in sprint finish at Amstel Gold Race

Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) outsprinted Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) by inches to win Amstel Gold Race and right the wrongs of 2021 after an enthralling finale without Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin–Deceuninck).

Pidcock found himself in a group of 12 riders off the front of the race with 30km to go, made up of 11 teams, which contributed to a disjointed chase from the peloton behind despite the gap to the front never reaching a minute.

Van der Poel wasn’t in that selection though, finding himself isolated when the attacks started flying and refusing to pull the whole bunch back after winning the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in recent weeks.

Pidock eventually went clear with Hirschi, Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal Quick-Step) who sacrificed himself in the final kilometre to ensure a top-four finish while out of contention for the win.

Benoot was the first to open his sprint but Pidcock timed his run perfectly, sneaking through on the inside and just about holding off Hirschi to record Ineos’ first major one-day win of the season.

Pidcock was denied a victory in 2021 after the tightest of photo finishes against Wout van Aert amid speculation that the camera wasn’t positioned correctly at the line.

However, he made sure that there was no repeat of that heartbreak three years later in commanding fashion. After Van der Poel’s scintillating start to the 2024 season that consisted of three wins (including two Monuments) and a second place in just five days of racing, all eyes were on the Dutchman to see whether he could extend his golden run.

But after the early break was caught with plenty of the race remaining, there was a stalemate at the front until the final batch of nine climbs in the last 50km kicked off.

With no clear second favourite to Van der Poel but a whole host of contenders behind, Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) attempted to soften things up with a preliminary attack on the Gulperberg that drew Van der Poel out – but when the real haymakers started being thrown the Dutchman found himself isolated without any Alpecin-Deceuninck team-mates.

A former Amstel winner, Kwiatkowski was just the foil for Pidcock this time around and after Mikkel Honore (EF Education-EasyPost), Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step) and Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) broke away, the Brit was one of several riders to bridge across over the next 20km.

With so many big teams represented at the front and Van der Poel marooned without his team-mates, the peloton struggled to form a cohesive chase until Honore dropped from the front group, forcing EF – including 2023 runner-up Ben Healy – to hit the front.

However, it was a case of too little too late with the winning quartet simultaneously jumping from the front of the leading group and holding the rest of the field off until the finish line.

With Pidcock the favourite in the group he played the tactical battle perfectly and even attacked in the closing kilometres, but eventually it all came down to the bunch sprint and matter of inches that finally got the Brit an Amstel win.

“I was going to say ‘it’s great to win for the second time’ but that might create some controversy,” Pidcock said afterwards.

“It feels really good, this year’s been so tough. I made big sacrifices at the start of the year, been away from home so much, so now to finally put it together, to get the hands in the air means a lot.

“I always do a good race here and today with the team fully behind me… Kwaito is going really well but he fully committed to me, and to be able to repay them is really special.”

It marked a sensational return to form for Pidcock, who crashed out of the Tour of the Basque Country on a reconnaissance ride of the opening time trial before the race had even got underway.

He then rushed back for Paris-Roubaix and recorded a top-20 finish, but injured his hand in the process and said he wasn’t confident of victory on Sunday even after making the final four.

“My hand after Roubaix, this week I was struggling to sprint. I had a lot of shoulder pain so I couldn’t hold my bars properly so I was not so confident but it was how it was going to end up,” he said.

“Now the pressure’s off, we can just go and race and do our best and dare I say enjoy them [the remainder of the spring classics]. It probably won’t be so enjoyable but a big relief.”