Evenepoel sprints clear to claim his first Amstel Gold Race victory in impressive style

Red Bull – BORA – Hansgrohe team leader Remco Evenepoel delivered a perfectly timed ride to claim his first victory in the Amstel Gold Race cycling classic on Sunday, out-sprinting defending champion Mattias Skjelmose from a two-man breakaway in Valkeburg, Netherlands. Here is all you need to know:

– Two weeks after finishing third in the Tour of Flanders, 26-year-old Evenepoel led the Red Bull – BORA – Hansgrohe squad at the 60th edition of the 257.2km one-day race around the Limburg province, which featured no less than 33 separate climbs along the route, including the famous Cauberg inside the final two kiliometres.

– Evenepoel finished third on his Amstel Gold Race debut in 2025 behind Skjelmose and Tadej Pogačar, and with the likes of the Slovenian, Mathieu Van der Poel and the previous weekend’s Paris-Roubaix winner, Wout van Aert, not on the starting list, the Belgian started as the clear favourite for victory. He duly delivered on that favourite status.

– Evenepoel’s Red Bull – BORA – Hansgrohe team-mates worked hard to put him in position to join a five-man breakaway that went clear of the peloton on the Kruisberg climb just over 42km from the finish. The lead group was further whittled down to three as Evenepoel pushed a hard pace until 32km to go. There he turned up the power even further on the first ascent of Cauberg at the start of the short final loop around Valkeburg, leaving only defending Amstel Gold Race champion Skjelmose able to stay with him.

– From there, the race for victory came down to a final sprint to the line and Evenepoel was clearly the stronger man as he powered away from the Dane to victory by a few bike lengths. French rider Benoît Cosnefroy claimed third place from the chasing group, 1m 59s behind Evenepoel.

– “I really love this race. Lots of short, hard climbs and, actually, the race more or less opened on the same place this year again, so I was really confident. I felt much better than I did last year in the final. For sure, it’s the most beautiful victory of the season. For me this race is just under the monuments, so it’s really high on my ranking. It’s in my top eight victories in my career, probably.” said Evenepoel at the finish.

– Evenepoel and Red Bull – BORA – Hansgrohe will now turn their attention to the oldest of the Ardennes Classics on the calendar, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, which the Belgian star won in both 2022 and 2023. This year’s edition will take place on April 26.

2026 Amstel Gold Race result

Photo credit: Twila Federica Muzzi / Red Bull Content Pool