Gilbert Wins Amstel in Familiar Fashion

Philippe Gilbert of BMC staged a very memorable and powerful repeat of his greatest glory on the Cauberg today, launching himself alone up the Cauberg and leaving his elite rivals far in his wake, to win the Amstel Gold Race. This effort almost exactly duplicated his victory in the 2012 World Championships, which used the Cauberg as its final climb more than a kilometer away from the finish line. Amstel Gold has also adopted this finish, after years of finishing on the top of the climb, and Gilbert -- twice a winner here in that format -- now has a second win on this line.

Jelle Vanendert of Lotto Belisol survived the chase of Gilbert to finish second, while Simon Gerrans of the very active Orica-GreenEdge squad, took third.

Christophe Riblon and Preben Van Hecke were away on the attack all day long, only caught on the final lap inside of 10km to go by Greg Van Avermaet and Jakob Fuglsang. Van Hecke disappeared on the Bemelerberg while the peloton closed in on the leaders, swallowing them with 8km remaining. Van Avermaet remained on the attack as long as he could, to spare Gilbert the chance of being forced to work in the peloton. The attacking seemed in vain, but the final result suggests he did his job.

For Vanendert, second matches his career best performance, also at the Gold Race. Results: