After two years as the runner-up, Demi Vollering claimed her second victory of the 2023 WorldTour Sunday in the Netherlands’ souther region of Limburg, winning Amstel Gold Race Ladies to put SD Worx on the top step again. Her team has earned six of the last nine WorldTour rounds. The Dutch rider also took Strade Bianche in early March. Olivia Baril was top Canadian.
The Course
Dominated by numerous short climbs, the women’s race held four finishing circuits, each containing the Geulhemmerberg, 800 metres of 6.4 percent; Bemelerberg, 600 metres of 5.3 percent; and Cauberg, 600 metres of 9.2 percent. The final Cauberg peaked 2 km from the finish line in Valkenburg. The ninth edition was a wet one.
Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition WE 2023
🚩 Maastricht
🏁 Berg en Terblijt
🚴🏻♂️ 155 Km
Weather: 🌧 9°C, light rain
Route: https://t.co/p1pHsRszFT pic.twitter.com/1yUynTzeGb— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) April 16, 2023
Alison Jackson, who was 34th in Wednesday’s 1.Pro-rated De Brabantse Pijl after her famous Paris-Roubaix victory, headed up the Canadian contingent. Her EF Education-TIBCO-SVB teammate Magdeleine Vallieres was getting her first WorldTour start of the season. Olivia Baril was part of a UAE Team ADQ squad that included De Brabantse Pijl winner Silvia Persico.
After the early hills thinned out the peloton and elicited at least one crash, a nontet of fugitives including Marianne Vos and Lucinda Brand got clear. Just after the Keutenberg, Annemiek van Vleuten pulled a few others over. This new group didn’t survive for long.
Into the finishing circuits, Brand (Trek-Segafredo) and compatriot Sabrina Stultiens (Liv Racing TeqFind) took off in their own bid for glory, hopeful counterattacks being thwarted behind. By the time they hit the race’s third encounter with the Cauberg, they had a minute in hand.
#AGR2023
In the Women race, at 60kms to go 🏁 @lucinda_brand is one of the most active rider in the peloton. Now she’s on the front with Stultiens, 30” on the peloton pic.twitter.com/d8ZHGWQHst— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) April 16, 2023
The third passage of the Geulhemmerberg momentarily split the peloton and drew the intrepid Dutch duo closer. The penultimate trip up Bemelerberg saw Canyon-SRAM on point in the peloton. At the peak, the break was swept up by the 45-strong bunch. Baril was still there but not for long.
American Kristen Faulkner attacked over the…
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