2025 Amstel Gold Race

The Amstel Gold Race marks the beginning of the Ardennes classics, which typically favor puncheur riders who excel on short steep climbs. Tadej Pogačar was seen as the top favorite for the 2025 edition, having won the race in 2023 and having shown strong form by winning the 2025 Tour of Flanders. The other top contenders were Tom Pidcock, the reigning champion from 2024, and Remco Evenepoel, who was racing the Amstel Gold Race for the first time but had won other hilly classics like Liège–Bastogne–Liège in previous years. Other riders mentioned in pre-race analysis were Wout van Aert, Michael Matthews, Ben Healy, Romain Grégoire, Tiesj Benoot, Neilson Powless, Thibau Nys, Maxim Van Gils and Alex Aranburu. == Teams ==

All eighteen UCI WorldTeams and seven UCI ProTeams participated in the race. UCI WorldTeams • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • UCI ProTeams • • • • • • • == Race summary ==

The 2025 race course was and featured 34 climbs. An eight-rider breakaway went in the opening , and gained a gap of over four minutes from the main peloton. The gap was slowly reduced over the next , with the final member of the breakaway being caught with 69 km remaining. The first major action from a top contender came with to go when Julian Alaphilippe attacked off the front, only followed by Tadej Pogačar. The pair built a 13 second gap before Pogačar dropped Alaphilippe to go solo. Remco Evenepoel attacked multiple times from the peloton, eventually forming a chase group with Mattias Skjelmose. With 8 km to the finish, Evenepoel and Skjelmose caught Pogačar, forming a group of three with a single climb remaining. Evenepoel started the sprint, with Pogačar coming around him before Skjelmose accelerated and beat Pogačar on the line in a photo finish. The result was widely seen as an upset, with CyclingNews calling Skjelmose's sprint "a true David and Goliath performance". Skjelmose himself admitted after the race that he didn't believe he could win, and was only riding for a podium place, saying "I really didn't believe it" when he crossed the line ahead of Pogačar. == Result ==