Poor weather ensures Annemiek van Vleuten will end career without Amstel Gold Race victory: "I didn't expect it to get this cold"
Cycling
An eleventh-placed finish at her final Amstel Gold Race sadly means that Annemiek van Vleuten will finish her career without a victory at the Dutch classic. The 40-year-old believes the awful weather conditions were to blame.
"Halfway through the race I felt enough that it wouldn't be for today. The cold hit me and the legs were just completely exhausted," said a shivering van Vleuten immediately after the finish in her post-race interview. “You can see how cold I am. I didn't expect it to get this cold, my legs were just completely broken."
It was another dominant display for Team SD Worx as Demi Vollering took the race win ahead of Lotte Kopecky in second. With van Vleuten having to settle for eleventh, the Amstel Gold Race will now forever remain absent from her extremely impressive palmares.
"Usually I can get it a bit warmer with a raincoat," van Vleuten continues. "But now it just stayed cold. I also told the teammates to go for Liane, because it wouldn't be him for me anymore," she concludes, referencing Liane Lippert who eventually finished in fifteenth.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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Tough luck out there for our Blues in 🇳🇱 @Amstelgoldrace | #AGRwomen… 😥 We tried all sorts of moves to make the race selective, including the decisive acceleration up the Cauberg with @LianeLippert, but it wasn’t meant to be. @AvVleuten takes 11th behind solo winner Vollering
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