The 2018 Amstel Gold Race was a road cycling one-day race that took place on 15 April 2018 in the Netherlands. It was the 53rd edition of the

Amstel Gold Race The Amstel Gold Race is an annual one-day classic cycle races, classic road bicycle race, road cycling race held in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg, Netherlands. It traditionally marks the turning point of the Classic cycle races#S ...

and the sixteenth event of the

2018 UCI World Tour The 2018 UCI World Tour was a competition that included thirty-seven road cycling events throughout the 2018 men's cycling season. It was the tenth and final edition of the ranking system launched by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in ...

. The race started in

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

and finished in Berg en Terblijt, containing 35 categorised climbs, covering a total distance of . The race was won by Michael Valgren () in a two-up sprint with 's

Roman Kreuziger Roman Kreuziger (; born 6 May 1986) is a Czech former professional road bicycle racer, who last rode for UCI ProTeam . His father, Roman Kreuziger Sr., was also a bicycle racer who won the Tour of Austria in 1991 and the Cyclocross Junior World ...

. 's Enrico Gasparotto finished third, two seconds behind the front pair.

Route

The race started on

's ''Markt'', the city's central market square, and finished in Berg en Terblijt, totaling . The route, similar to the 2017 edition, was made up of four sinuous loops centering around Valkenburg in the south of Limburg. Only the final loop, long, was modified in order to search for more narrow roads. Organisers intended to make the race finale harder for a peloton to control. Maastricht and Valkenburg have been the start and finish locations of the Amstel Gold Race since 1998 and 2003, respectively, and engaged themselves to host the race until 2022. The route contained 35 categorised hills, usually short but with a varying gradient and coming in quick succession throughout the race. Since 2017, the uphill finish on the Cauberg was abandoned, after it had been the last climb of the race for 14 years. Nonetheless, the Cauberg, the difficult and most iconic passage, was addressed three times during the race. The third crossing of the Cauberg came at to go and was followed only by the Geulhemmerberg at and Bemelerberg at from the finish.

Teams

As the Amstel Gold Race was a

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour (2009–2010: ''UCI World Ranking'') is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an ann ...

event, all eighteen

UCI WorldTeam A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road cycling, the UCI World Tour or UCI ProTour ...

s were invited automatically and obliged to enter a team in the race. Seven UCI Professional Continental teams competed, completing the 25-team peloton.

Result

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Amstel Gold Race, 2018 2018 UCI World Tour 2018 in Dutch sport Amstel Gold Race April 2018 sports events in the Netherlands