2023-04-16 07:00:04
Tadej Pogacar will race on Sunday after his first success in the Dutch classic. A week before diving into Liège-Bastogne-Liège…
A small precision to start. Tadej Pogacar did not complete the only Amstel Gold Race in which he participated at the height of his twenty years in 2019. We will excuse him. In the process, he had shown at the Flèche Wallonne, and especially at Liège-Bastogne-Liège (18e), what a handsome champion in the making he would be.
Four years later, here he is again adorned with such a prize list (two Tours de France, two Tours of Lombardy, a Liège-Bastogne-Liège and a Tour of Flanders) to present himself at the start of the Dutch classic as the only favorite. If, of course, he remains faithful to his principles observed in recent times, where he has transformed himself into a real ogre in each of the races, large or small, in which he starts.
This time, he seems to be alone in his costume since, quite logically after a long and tiring campaign of Flanders classics which ended a week ago in Roubaix with a famous duel, Wout van Aert and Mathieu Van der Poel are on rest. And will, without delay, project themselves towards a preparation for the Tour de France.
They will therefore not have to suffer new blows from the Slovenian who had humiliated them a little two weeks ago in the Tour of Flanders. Humiliated, the word is a bit too strong. Dominated and disgusted sound more apt.
What will Tadej Pogacar do without them? The question is important, since here he risks lacking a bit of adversity. Of course, he will recover those who, like him, skipped the Roubaix passage to better bridge the Amstel. Valentin Madouas, Neilson Powless or Tiesj Benoot style.
Until then, these three brave riders, with a view to the previous classics, have never been able to bend the Slovenian prodigy.
The big duel for the week after…
While waiting for the following week the big confrontation with Remco Evenepoel (23), defending champion in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, a confrontation which is already making many fans salivate since Tadej Pogacar (24) had won. the year before and that the two young men are not used to bumping into each other so often. In short, Pogacar would pay well for its first Amstel.
In the camp of punchers (Soren Kragh Andersen, Michael Woods, Alexey Lutsenko) or pure climbers (David Gaudu, Sergio Higuita, Jai Hindley), who can shine (remember Frank Schleck in 2006), we do not see well who could get in his way and support the comparison when Tadej Pogacar decides to screw his accelerator handle.
The fact remains that the Flèche Brabançonne allowed a French duo from the AG2R-Citroën team on Wednesday to recall their skills on this hilly terrain. Dorian Godon and, above all, Benoît Cosnefroy are full of confidence.
Moreover, Benoît Cosnefroy had lost a millimeter last year at the finish behind former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski, a man from Amstel, since he had won in 2015. Good , the last three outings (retirements on the Grand Prix E3, Gand-Wevelgem and the Flèche Branbançonne) of the Pole do not plead much in his favor, but you never know with this experienced man.
Geniets and Kluckers at the start
On the Luxembourg side, we will find two runners in good shape. Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ), who also logically skipped Paris-Roubaix, looks back on a classic he discovered last year (43e) and which had been quite successful for him when he was in the service of Valentin Madouas (14e).
On the recent Flanders classics, he was not varnished (puncture and fall which occurred in front of him in the E3 GP, allergy on the Tour of Flanders), but his propensity observed last year to pass from the cobblestone classics to the Ardennes makes of him a very appreciated basic man in his training. “He expresses himself as soon as it rises and makes a succession of intense effortssums up his trainer Julien Pinot.
And in the kind of classics that elicit a succession of intense efforts, the Amstel Gold Race lands there. It is even one of a kind, a perfect mix between a Tour of Flanders and a Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Finally, we will see Arthur Kluckers (Tudor Pro Cycling), who looked very good on Wednesday on the Flèche Brabançonne (28e) where, several times, he was seen going up to the front of the peloton. After Milan-Sanremo, the Luxembourger will offer himself a new great experience.
But to come back to Tadej Pogacar, for his second participation, he will surely do much better than finishing the Amstel Gold Race…
#Cyclisme #Amstel #Doyenne