The Amstel Gold Race is an annual one-day classic road cycling race held in the province of Limburg, the Netherlands. It traditionally marks the turning point of the spring classics, with the climbers and stage racers replacing the cobbled classics riders as the favourites.
Jan Raas is a Dutch former professional cyclist whose 115 wins include the 1979 World Road Race Championship in Valkenburg, he also won the Tour of Flanders in 1979 and 1983, Paris–Roubaix in 1982 and Milan–San Remo in 1977. He won ten stages in the Tour de France. In six starts, Raas won the Amstel Gold Race five times. In his entire career he competed in 23 of the highly contested "Monument" Races and he finished on the podium in almost half of them: 3rd place six times, 2nd place zero times, and 1st place four times.
Hendrikus Andreas "Hennie" Kuiper is a Dutch former professional road racing cyclist. His career includes a gold medal in the Olympic road race at Munich in 1972, becoming world professional road race champion in 1975, as well as winning four of the five “Monument” classics. He rode the Tour de France 12 times, finishing second twice and winning the stage to Alpe d'Huez on two occasions. Kuiper, Ercole Baldini and Paolo Bettini are the only riders to have won both the Olympic road race and the world professional road race.
Steven Rooks is a former Dutch professional road racing cyclist known for his climbing ability. His professional career ran from 1982–1995.
Claude Criquielion was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer who raced between 1979 and 1990. In 1984, Criquielion became the world road race champion in Barcelona, Spain on a gruelling course. He had five top-ten finishes in the Tour de France.
The 1982 Amstel Gold Race was the 17th edition of the annual road bicycle race "Amstel Gold Race", held on Saturday April 24, 1982, in the Dutch province of Limburg. The race stretched 237 kilometres, with the start in Heerlen and the finish in Meerssen. There was a total of 152 competitors, and 39 cyclists finished the race.
The 1977 Amstel Gold Race was the 12th edition of the annual road bicycle race "Amstel Gold Race", held on Sunday April 9, 1977, in the Dutch province of Limburg. The race stretched 230 kilometres, with the start in Heerlen and the finish in Meerssen. There were a total of 145 competitors, while 54 cyclists finished the race.
The 2008 Amstel Gold Race is the 43rd edition of the Amstel Gold Race classic cycle race and took place on April 20, 2008. It was held on a 257.4 kilometres (159.9 mi) course from Maastricht to Cauberg as the fifth event of the 2008 UCI ProTour. Italian rider Damiano Cunego of Lampre won the event after sprinting past Luxembourger Fränk Schleck of Team CSC in the final 200 metres. Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde of Caisse d'Epargne finished third.
The 2011 Amstel Gold Race was the 46th running of the Amstel Gold Race, a single-day cycling race. It was held on 17 April 2011 over a distance of 260.4 kilometres and was the tenth race of the 2011 UCI World Tour season.
The 2012 Amstel Gold Race was the 47th running of the Amstel Gold Race, a single-day cycling race. It was held on 15 April 2012 over a distance of 256.5 kilometres and was the eleventh race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.
The 2013 Amstel Gold Race was the 48th running of the Amstel Gold Race, a single-day cycling race. It was held on 14 April 2013 over a distance of 251.8 kilometres and it was the eleventh race of the 2013 UCI World Tour season.
The 2014 Amstel Gold Race was the 49th running of the Amstel Gold Race, a single-day cycling race. It was held on 20 April 2014 over a distance of 251 kilometres and it was the eleventh race of the 2014 UCI World Tour season. It was won for the third time by Belgium's Philippe Gilbert, ahead of countryman Jelle Vanendert and Australia's Simon Gerrans.
The 2015 Amstel Gold Race was the 50th edition of the Amstel Gold Race one-day race. It took place on 19 April and was the eleventh race of the 2015 UCI World Tour. The Amstel Gold Race formed part of the Ardennes classics season, although it took place in the Limburg region of the Netherlands rather than in the Belgian Ardennes. It took place in the week before La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, the other principal Ardennes classics. The defending champion in the 2015 edition of the race was Philippe Gilbert, who had won the race three times and had also won the 2012 world championships on a very similar course.
The 2016 Amstel Gold Race was a one-day classic cycling race that took place in the Limburg region of the Netherlands on 17 April 2016. It was the 51st edition of the Amstel Gold Race and the eleventh event of the 2016 UCI World Tour. It was also the first of the Ardennes classics, although it is technically not in the Ardennes region. The race took place over a 258-kilometre (160 mi) route that starts in Maastricht and ends in Berg en Terblijt on the outskirts of Valkenburg. The key difficulty in the race came from the 34 short but steep climbs. The central climb, the Cauberg, was crossed four times, with 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi) between the final summit and the finish line. The favourites for victory in the race included the three-time winner Philippe Gilbert (BMC), the defending champion Michał Kwiatkowski (Sky), and Simon Gerrans and Michael Matthews.
The 2017 Amstel Gold Race was a road cycling one-day race that took place on 16 April. It was the 52nd edition of the Amstel Gold Race and the sixteenth event of the 2017 UCI World Tour.
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 and the sixteenth event of the 2018 UCI World Tour. The race started in Maastricht and finished in Berg en Terblijt, containing 35 categorised climbs, covering a total distance of 263 kilometres.
The Women's Amstel Gold Race is the women's event of the Amstel Gold Race, the most important annual road cycling event in the Netherlands. Held in mid-April, it is organized on the same day as the men's race at approximately half the distance. Like the men's event, the race starts in Maastricht and finishes in Berg en Terblijt, Valkenburg. It features 17 categorized climbs, including four ascents of the Cauberg.
The 2019 Amstel Gold Race is a road cycling one-day race that took place on 21 April 2019 in the Netherlands. It was the 54th edition of the Amstel Gold Race and the 18th event of the 2019 UCI World Tour.
The 2021 Amstel Gold Race was a road cycling one-day race that took place on 18 April 2021 in the Netherlands. It was the 55th edition of the Amstel Gold Race and the 14th event of the 2021 UCI World Tour. Although Wout van Aert was declared to have defeated Tom Pidcock in a photofinish sprint with Maximilian Schachmann completing the podium, it was speculated that the photofinish camera had been focused on a point approximately 26.86 cm forward of the true finish line, making the true victor unclear.
The 2022 Amstel Gold Race was a road cycling one-day race that took place on 10 April 2022 in the Netherlands. It was the 56th edition of the Amstel Gold Race and the 14th event of the 2022 UCI World Tour. The race was won by Michał Kwiatkowski in a photo finish with Benoît Cosnefroy.
Phil Anderson (AUS)
Jan Bogaert (BEL)
Jan Raas (NED)
Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle (FRA)
Jonathan Boyer (USA)
Stefan Mutter (SUI)
Stephen Roche (IRE)
Jostein Wilmann (NOR)
Gregor Braun (GER)
Gabriele Landoni (ITA)
Harald Maier (AUT)
Robert Millar (GBR)
Joaquim Agostinho (POR)