Tom Pidcock finally wins the Amstel Gold Race

After a 3rd place last year and a controversial 2nd place in 2021, the Brit finally takes his well-deserved Amstel beer, were happy for him. Hirschi and Benoot complete the podium

Britain's Tom Pidcock made a strong finish to the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday to win the prestigious one-day classic for the first time.

Pidcock stormed to the front during a sprint finish and held off Marc Hirschi, with Tiesj Benoot in third.

Victory in the Netherlands was the first on the road this season for the Ineos Grenadiers rider, 24.

Marianne Vos snatched victory in the women's race when Lorena Wiebes thought she had won and celebrated too soon.

In the men's event, Pidcock, Hirschi and Benoot were part of a quartet that escaped from a late breakaway on the twisty, hilly 253.6-km run from Maastricht to Valkenburg.

Mathieu van der Poel, the Dutch rider who has dominated the last two Sundays with wins at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix monuments, was content to wait in the pack.

The breakaway reached the line just ahead of the chasing pack, with Mauri Vansevenant hitting the front before Pidcock stormed past the Belgian and held off Swiss rider Hirschi of UAE Team Emirates.

Pidcock was second behind Wout van Aert in 2021 and third last year as Hirschi's team-mate Tadej Pogacar won the Gold Race for the first time.

Slovenia's two-time Tour de France winner, 25, is skipping the spring classics to focus on preparing for a Giro d'Italia-Tour de France double.

Earlier, the women's race was held up for an hour and shortened, after an accident involving a police motorbike escorting the peloton. During a sprint finish in Berg en Terblijt, Wiebes raised her arms a few metres short of the line to celebrate, which allowed Vos to lunge forward to snatch victory from her Dutch compatriot.

This is the 36-year-old's second victory in the women's race, which returned in 2017 having previously been staged from 2001-2003, while Wiebes, 25, has yet to win it.

A policeman "was injured following a collision with a car on the Bergseweg while supervising the Amstel Gold Race", the Limburg police said on X.

The race was held over a shortened route that avoided the crash site, with Vos - who rides for Visma-Lease a Bike - exploiting the error by SD Worx's Wiebes to win the sprint, while Britain's Pfeiffer Georgi was fourth behind third-placed Norwegian Ingvild Gaskjenn.

HIGHLIGHTS: Men's 2024 Amstel Gold Race

2024 Amstel Gold Top 10

1  PIDCOCK Thomas INEOS Grenadiers 5:58:17
2  HIRSCHI Marc UAE Team Emirates 0:00
3  BENOOT Tiesj Team Visma | Lease a Bike 0:00
4  VANSEVENANT Mauri Soudal Quick-Step 0:00
5  LAPEIRA Paul Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team 0:00
6  MADOUAS Valentin Groupama - FDJ 0:00
7  MOLLEMA Bauke Lidl - Trek 0:00
8  PACHER Quentin Groupama - FDJ 0:00
9  BILBAO Pello Bahrain - Victorious 0:00
10  MATTHEWS Michael Team Jayco AlUla 0:11

2024 Amstel Gold Women's Top 10

1  VOS Marianne Team Visma | Lease a Bike 2:35:02
2  WIEBES Lorena Team SD Worx - Protime 0:00
3  GÅSKJENN Ingvild Liv AlUla Jayco 0:00
4  GEORGI Pfeiffer Team dsm-firmenich PostNL 0:00
5  LONGO BORGHINI Elisa Lidl - Trek 0:00
6  GASPARRINI Eleonora Camilla UAE Team ADQ 0:00
7  MOOLMAN Ashleigh AG Insurance - Soudal Team 0:00
8  KRAAK Amber FDJ - SUEZ 0:00
9  KASTELIJN Yara Fenix-Deceuninck 0:00
10  PALADIN Soraya Canyon//SRAM Racing 0:00