Velominati Super Prestige: Amstel Gold 2015

The VSP must wearily pack its bags in Northern France and head over to the Netherlands. Hung over, you bet. After the Ronde and Paris-Roubaix, everyone is a little beat up. Those cobbles can wear a person down.

For those riders who can kill the short steep Limburg climbs, this is the beginning of their Spring Classics season. The profile of this race looks like a Japanese handsaw: if you are not going up, you are going down. This is the 50th edition of Amstel Gold and despite the race being named for a not entirely interesting beer, a lot of riders are keen for this.

Perhaps I point this out every year but a look at past winners of Amstel Gold makes it look like a race for the Pot Belge users of the peloton. Crank up every hill at maximum power and after thirty-something of them, gaps open up. When Stephan Schumacher won it in 2007 that should have been a tip off. Didn’t Lance do well in this race? Oh well, let’s not go down that rabbit hole.

Everyone knows the VSP deal: free entry and great prizes. No one has a commanding lead so everything is still up for the taking and bragging.

[vsp_results id=”32691″/]

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Gianni

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  • VSP PICKS:

    1. Michal Kwiatkowski
    2. Philippe Gilbert
    3. Michael Matthews
    4. Tom Dumoulin
    5. Wolco Kelderman
  • Need to check the spelling before hitting the button. Substitute Matthews for Weening. Home soil gives extra boost. (I hope)

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Michal Kwiatkowski
    2. Philippe Gilbert
    3. Peter Weening
    4. Tom Dumoulin
    5. Wilco Kelderman
  • @Rockkk

    it’ll seem strange not having krisstoff winning , shirley (sagan) choking and etixx looking at one another whilst someone breaks from the front

    VSP PICKS:

    1. kelderman
    2. rodriguez
    3. mollema
    4. gilbert
    5. kwiatkowski

    I saw a quote renaming the Etixx team:  "Tactixx-Misstep".  Clever.

  • @xyxax

    Crocs. Crocs are the 21st-century answer to Dutch clogs. At least that's what I thought we were talking about.

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