Vos snatches Amstel Gold Race win in dramatic circumstances after premature Wiebes celebration

Marianne Vos (Team Visma – Lease a Bike) won the 10th edition of Amstel Gold Ladies in a sprint finish, snatching the win from the grasp of Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) on the line.

Wiebes, who celebrated prematurely thinking she had won, was beaten by an impressive and perfectly timed bike throw from Vos.

Vos became the first woman to win the Amstel Gold race twice, having taken the title in 2021 as well.

The race was neutralised due to a serious incident involving a police officer after only three climbs, and re-started with 55km to go for three laps of the finishing circuit including the Cauberg, Geulhemmerberg, and Bemelerberg climbs.

A breakaway of Tour de France Femmes 2023 stage winners Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon//SRAM Racing), and Eva van Agt (Team Visma – Lease a Bike) led for much of the shortened race, but were caught with 2.1km to go.

An early group of Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl – Trek), Canyon//SRAM Racing riders, Kasia Niewiadoma and Elise Chabbey, Amber Kraak (FDJ – SUEZ), Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx – Protime), and Anna Henderson (Team Visma- Lease a Bike) held a gap after the first ascension of the Cauberg, and remained together until the 35km to go mark as Barbara Malcotti (Human Powered Health) led the peloton to chase them down.

Swiftly after, the trio of Kastelijn, Bauernfeind, and Van Agt staged the move that would send them clear until the final kilometres of the race.

Anouska Koster (Uno-X Mobility) went out in search of the front group, but despite her best efforts was not able to catch them and was caught by the peloton as they went into the final lap.

In the meantime before Koster was caught, the gap between the peloton and the breakaway group waxed and waned; and despite the best attacking efforts of many of those in the group behind, the front three continued to push on.

The gap began to drop as the race entered the 20km to go mark, with Lidl-Trek and Ellen van Dijk putting in a mammoth effort, as she had done similarly in Paris-Roubaix the week before, to reduce the time to the front group.

With 16.5km to go, the breakaway’s lead dropped to a nerve-wracking 15 seconds, but it would still be some time before the were caught. The gap went up again, and reached almost a minute while Ella Wyllie (Liv AlUla Jayco) attacked behind with 11.4km to go.

The trio kept the gap at around a minute as they entered the final 10km. Kastelijn looked to struggle at points and was momentarily dropped, but she dug deep to remain with Bauernfeind and Van Agt until they were all eventually caught.

Van Dijk sped up proceedings again as Lidl-Trek made the move that would see the peloton make contact when Amanda Spratt took over from the Dutch powerhouse to successfully bridge the gap to the front three with 2.1km to go.

Multiple attacks followed, but none were able to create enough to go clear as they went into the final two kilometres. Defending champion Vollering took over at the front as they reached the flamme rouge, and looked to be setting up an SD-Worx sprint until Visma-Lease a Bike took the reigns in the final 500 metres.

Wiebes found herself up against the boards as the sprint kicked into action, but she managed to put herself in contention. So much so in fact, she already initiated her celebration well before the line, seemingly aware of Vos on her left.

Vos, sensing the opportunity on the line, timed her bike throw to perfection as Wiebes held her hands up in the ill-fated celebration that cost her the victory on a day to somewhat forget for SD Worx-Protime.

It was a few seconds before the result was confirmed and Vos’s historic second Amstel Gold victory became reality for the rider who is hailed by many as the greatest of all time. The victory is the 36-year-old’s third in 2024 after conquering Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Dwars door Vlaanderen in her debut appearances in both.

A distraught Wiebes took second place before Ingvild Gåskjenn (Liv AlUla Jayco) clinched third. Pfeiffer Georgi (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), who the week before had snatched third place at Paris-Roubaix from Vos on the line, finished fourth in the sprint.

Italians Longo Borghini and Eleonora Gasparrini (UAE Team ADQ) took fifth and sixth respectively, followed by Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance – Soudal Team) and Amber Kraak (FDJ – SUEZ) in seventh and eighth.

The top ten was completed by Kastelijn and Soraya Paladin (Canyon//SRAM Racing). Last year’s winner Vollering finished 22nd, denying her a second Ardennes triple.