Tadej Pogacar pipped to victory by Mattias Skjelmose in thrilling Amstel Gold Race
Danish youngster Mattias Skjelmose took the biggest win of his fledgling career, outsprinting Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel in a nail-biting photo finish at the Amstel Gold Race.
Pogacar went solo with over 40km to go, with the world champion's decisive attack in any race usually signalling the end of the battle for first place.
This time he had met his match. The chasing pair of Skjelmose and Evenepoel, who has been in blistering form since his return from a serious crash in December, reeled the UAE Team Emirates rider in with 8km to go in the hilly Limburg region of the Netherlands.
A cagey end to the 255km race was guaranteed as the trio rolled towards the finish in Berg en Terblijt, with Lidl-Trek rider Skjelmose just pipping Pogacar to glory in a photo finish, and Evenepoel a fraction further behind.
'I really don't [believe it], I was telling Remco all the time that I was f***ed, I was on the limit,' Skjelmose said afterwards. 'I was riding for the podium, a podium would be a really big result for me. I thought I was going to cramp or see them go on the horizon.
'In the end, I don't know what happened. I didn't believe it [when I passed Pogacar], I was like, something is wrong.
'It means so much, I had so much bad luck this season already and it was super hard mentally,' Skjelmose continued, becoming visibly emotional. 'I lost my granddad a bit more than a month ago and I really wanted to give him a win, so this is for him.'
It looked like the result was already set in stone when former world champion Julian Alaphilippe accelerated on the Gulperberg climb with just shy of 50km left to race, rolling back the years to his prime attacking form, with only Pogacar able to follow him. The pair pulled out a ten-second advantage over the chasing bunch, with many of the favourites, including Soudal Quick-Step's Evenepoel, caught out of position further down the climb.
Pogacar inevitably went solo shortly after, dropping Alaphilippe on the short, sharp slopes of the Kuisberg with 43km to go. The Frenchman was absorbed by the bunch and an elite group of chasers, including Skjelmose, Evenepoel, Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock, set off in pursuit of the 2023 champion. Skjelmose escaped up the road first, pulling out a small gap but unable to claw back much time on Pogacar, with Evenepoel joining him at the 25km to go mark.
The stage was set for a thrilling showdown between the world champion and the double Olympic champion, as Evenepoel - making his debut at Amstel Gold and in just his second race of the season - and Skjelmose caught Pogacar with 8km left to race to go. Behind them the group containing Pidcock and van Aert failed to cooperate, hovering around 50 seconds off the pace.
With the catch made the cat and mouse games began. Skjelmose refused to work in the closing kilometres, with his patience rewarded as he conserved his energy for the inevitable sprint finish. Evenepoel responded to Pogacar's acceleration but faded in the final metres as the Dane came round the left to nick victory on the line.
Van Aert was fourth for the third time this season after finishing just off the podium in Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, and Pidcock ninth, crossing the line 34 seconds back in the chasing group. Young British talent Joseph Blackmore was 14th, continuing an impressive start to his Ardennes Classics campaign after he was in the breakaway along with Van Aert and eventual winner Evenepoel at Brabantse Pijl on Friday.
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