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Enrico Gasparotto wins the Amstel Gold Race

Gasparotto (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) made his winning move on the final climb of the Cauberg, taking Valgren with him. They chased down lone leader Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), who had a 17 second lead. Wellens had attacked the main bunch with around 7km to go but never really got too far ahead of the main peleton.

The peloton continued to chase the duo in earnest, with pre-race favorites such as Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge), Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-Quick Step) and Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida), not far behind.

Valgren realised and drove hard during the final kilometer. Fading in the last 100 meters, Gasparotto surged pased to take the final sprint, followed by Sonny Colbrelli (Bardiani-CSF) who took 3rd, after beating Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie) and Matthews in the bunch sprint.

Such was the overall pace, defending champion Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky), was dropped on the penultimate climb of the Cauberg while three-time winner Philippe Gilbert (BMC), was also dropped with around 30 kilometers to go.

A flurry of attacks on the Cauberg, saw 5 riders containing Matteo Bono (Lampre-Merida), Laurens De Vreese (Astana), Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r La Mondiale), Larry Warbasse (IAM Cycling) and Alex Howes (Cannonade) get a break.

However Orica-GreenEdge proceeded to take control of the bunch to keep Simon Gerrans and Michael Matthews in position to contest any likley bunch sprint. Gasparotto’s attack on Cauberg proved to be the decisive move of the day - which was never brought back!

Gasparotto dedicated his victory to his teammate Antoine Demoitié, who died last month from injuries sustained when he was struck by a motorbike during this month’s Gent-Wevelgem race. 

Enrico Gasparotto wins Amstel Gold Race

Amstel Gold Race 2016 Results (249km)

1. Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Wanty-Groupe Gobert, in 6-18-03
2. Michael Valgren (Den) Tinkoff
3. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bardiani-CSF
4. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Direct Energie
5. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
6. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx-Quick Step
7. Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida
8. Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar
9. Loic Vliegen (Bel) BMC
10. Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto-Soudal