Another WorldTour podium for Alejandro in the Amstel Gold Race
Another WorldTour podium for Alejandro in the Amstel Gold Race
No win yet in Valkenburg but a 2nd place
Alejandro showed today he is in very big shape for the Ardens classics thanks to his second place in the 50th edition of the Amstel Gold Race behind world champion Polish rider Michal Kwiatkowski and ahead of Australian sprinter Michael Matthews.
The Spaniard achieved an excellent race. He was really attentive all the time since the start was given this morning in Maastricht till the top of the last ascension of the Cauberg where he jumped to bridge the gap with leaders Gilbert and Matthews.
Alejandro’s quotes:
“I think you can’t ask for a better result after what I did today; taking 2nd place, into a more open finish than the one on top of the Cauberg, with a field sprint like today’s and after all the hard work by the team… we did everything we could. The incident wasn’t a puncture, but a broken gear. An MTN rider got the radius of his front wheel into my rear one and I had to stop and take the spare bike. It’s true that the race was really on already at that point, but with my team-mates, it wasn’t a problem at all.
“I think I came into the Cauberg in good position, but after sprinting away from the turn, everyone stopped and I got boxed in. I was arguing to myself, ‘why again, why this always happens to me,’ but fortunately and even though I saw Gilbert opening a really big gap with his attacked, I had good legs and as soon as I saw a gap, I jumped and could reach him well. I did really think about keeping the effort and leaving Gilbert and Matthews behind when I caught them, and I accelerated in that moment, hoping that they’d look to each other, but there was no gap for me. I think I was one of the strongest today, I took 2nd, came really close, fought as usual… I think we must stay happy with that.
“For me, Liège is the race out of the three where I think I stand more chances, the one that suits me best, but of course we mustn’t rule anything out for Wednesday. The new climb [Cherave] with 5km to go should change the race and make the peloton ride faster and become a bit smaller at the end. I think there are many, many riders in similar form, I didn’t see anyone standing out – the battle will be close, as well on Wednesday as on Sunday.”