Racing
Going for gold at Amstel
Squads roll into the Ardennes full of optimism
April 18, 2025
On Sunday, we’re going to kick off the Ardennes classics at the Amstel Gold Race.
Vincenzo Albanese, Samuele Battistella, Alex Baudin, Ben Healy, Neilson Powless, Harry Sweeny, and Marijn van den Berg will race the Dutch classic for EF Education-EasyPost.
Veronica Ewers, Kristen Faulkner, Alison Jackson, Cédrine Kerbaol, Noemi Rüegg, and Magdeleine Vallieres will attack the hills of South Limburg for EF Education-Oatly.
Starting in Maastricht in the south of the Netherlands, Amstel rolls into the hills of the region, zigzagging up and down across the countryside. The race course is like a rollercoaster through blooming apple and cherry orchards, turning and twisting into small towns and forests and out into open fields on narrow lanes. In the peloton, the race is a constant fight for position, especially if the wind is blowing, as the hills come one after the other and if you get caught too far back before one, it costs a huge amount of strength to push your way back to the front, as the peloton accelerates over the top of every climb and sprints into corners in a long, wriggling line.
The Amstel Gold Race is Marijn van den Berg’s home classic. He is looking forward to showing his teammates his favorite cafés on the course and the roads where he has been racing since he was a junior. Once the commissaire’s flag drops on Sunday and the Easter crowds have waved the peloton out of the city, he and his teammates won’t let their focus waver until they have hit the finish line at the top of the Cauberg.
“It is always really nerve-racking racing in Limburg,” Marijn says. “You always know that the next climb is coming up and you need to be at the front. That was the same when I was a junior and under-23. It’s always hectic racing, but that's what I'm good at and what I like the most.”
Cédrine Kerbaol loves that style of racing, too. She hopes that the women’s race goes flat out from the gun. The harder, the better for Cédrine.
“I really like Amstel,” Cédrine says. “People say that it is a good race for puncheurs, but I think with the wind and the right conditions, it can become a really open race. I hope it's going to be really hard. I am excited to have a role that is not completely scripted and just race by feeling, with the hurt and the fun.”
Cédrine will look for opportunities to launch off the front, knowing that her EF Education-Oatly teammate Noemi Rüegg has the power to finish off the job if the race comes down to a final sprint up the Cauberg. Noemi has been targeting this week of Ardennes classics ever since her win at the Tour Down Under.
“It’s a big week with a lot of opportunities for our team,” Noemi says. “At Amstel, we have another chance to show what we can do after this already very successful classics season. It is a nice course that suits me really well and we have a strong team, so I think we can play our cards well. Everyone is super motivated. You can feel how we came together this spring and with every race got better and better together. Letizia’s second place at Roubaix boosted everyone’s motivation and just showed how much we're capable of when we work well as a team. Our team spirit is really high at the moment. At Amstel the last few years, a breakaway has always gone on the circuit. I think we need to be attentive there and put someone in that breakaway, because it can go pretty far, or stay until the end. And then for me, I think I'll just try to save my legs until the final climb up the Cauberg.”
Neilson Powless gets goosebumps every time he hits the final climb up from Valkenburg onto the plateau where the finish line is waiting. He cut his teeth as a bike racer in Limburg and still knows all of the Amstel Gold climbs like the back of his hand.
“That area of the Netherlands is very beautiful and incredible for riding a bike,” Neilson says. “ I spent a lot of time racing and training there as a junior and under-23 on the national team. On rest days, I would take the train into Maastricht to spend my rest days at a café or go check out a museum. I have really nice memories of spending a lot of time around there. Getting to race there now as a pro is something that I dreamed of pretty much every day that I was there. Hitting the Cauberg is always an adrenaline rush. I've watched it so many times on TV, and I've watched it in person as well. Before I raced up it myself, it almost felt mythical. And then, once you are in the race yourself, you just kind of get chills as you're going up.”
Harry Sweeny reckons that the Cauberg is one of the greatest climbs in cycling, because of the Dutch crowds and the huge fight for position on the downhill run into it.
“It is such an iconic part of the race,” Harry says. “Having the fans there and knowing the history with all of the racing that has gone on there – it is just a really special part of the world. You get a similar feeling of goosebumps on the Cauberg as you do on the Oude Kwaremont. It is hectic. It is not only about strength. It is always about timing and picking your moment, because you're basically in a washing machine, going around and around. Come to the front even 50 meters too early, and you can hit the corner at the bottom in a hundredth wheel, even though you were first just half a second ago.”
The fight for position is like that from the start to the finish of Amstel. Alison Jackson lived in Limburg for a year earlier in her career. After her fifth place at Roubaix, she is excited to return to her old home roads and all of the climbs that she knows so well.
“Amstel is a really dynamic course and we've got a good team for it,” Alison says. “We have had such a strong spring campaign, so I think we have to really believe in our strength as a team and individuals and be in the action and make things happen. The Cauberg is obviously iconic for all the races that it's been in. It always creates a lot of drama, but each climb is a hard moment.”
Kristen Faulkner is ready. After a big altitude camp with her teammates in Sierra Nevada, the American and US champ is looking forward to getting back to racing. Like Cédrine, she will look for chances to attack during Sunday’s race. Amstel suits her well.
“There are a lot of really narrow climbs, where positioning is really important because it gets really strung out on the climbs, even more so than Flanders,” Kristen says. “You have to be able to do a lot of repeated efforts back-to-back. There is a lot of climbing, but then it finishes on a flat at the top. You have to know how to play the finish. You have to be a climber that can make it with the front group, but then you have to really play your cards in the finale.”
Our team will have strong hands to play in both the men’s and women’s races. Just as Cédrine, Kristen, and their EF Education-Oatly teammates will look to attack, knowing that Noemi is ready to go for the final sprint, our EF Education-EasyPost squad has Marijn for the final kick up the Cauberg.
“We have got a super strong team in every aspect,” Marijn says. “With the guys we have, Neilson and Ben especially can follow the big attacks and then for me personally it depends on how the race plays out. I will fight hard to be there for the finale, and if it comes back, I can go for a result.”
Neilson Powless wants to race Amstel from the front. Offence is the best defence, he reckons.
“The race is easier the better the position you're in, but you have to use a lot of energy to get there,” he says. “And it is like that for the last 150 kilometers of Amstel. That makes it one of my favorite styles of racing. It's just constant positioning, constant focus, and eventually a moment comes where you need to lift your butt and go, and then hopefully it works out in your favor. The race profile suits aggressive racing. Individual riders can go a long way. The year Ben finished second solo, Tadej finished alone. There were a lot of ones and twos. By the end, it was a slug fest. I think that really benefits our style of racing. I like to go early. Ben likes to go from a long way out, as well. And then we have guys like Marijn, who are not afraid to go with attacks either and can be up there in the sprint. So, we have a lot of good cards to play. We don’t have a single clear leader for these races, which I think is a really good thing because most of the time these races are quite chaotic. We've got a team of hungry riders who want to attack and want to have an opportunity to try to win and I think that is the best team you can have, because you are only going to succeed if you are offensive. If you're trying to play defence the whole day, you are almost always going to get caught out. It is always better to be in front, and our whole team wants to be in front.”
Watch out for EF Pro Cycling jerseys flying ahead of the peloton at the Amstel Gold Race this Sunday!