"That's not true at all" - Amstel Gold Race Director Leo van Vliet denies his car gave Tadej Pogacar slipstream boost

While everyone should have been talking about the brilliance of Tadej Pogacar's Amstel Gold Race win following the race, a social media controversy over a perceived slipstream boost given to the Slovenian was taking hold. Unsurprisingly van Vliet denies the allegations.

"That's not true at all," van Vliet responded to AD. "Go look at the images. We do drive for it, but that is of no use to him I cycled myself, I can't imagine anything', Van Vliet persists. What benefit will I gain from doing that? We drove far enough from him," says the race director.

However he does admit the clip on social media doesn't look good. "Yes, if you take a picture when we pass," he says before clarifying. "We were behind him and at some point you're short on it and you have to get past. And I know, the road is only getting narrower. You also have to be careful. It wasn't that wide there and if someone takes a picture there and says car in front... What am I supposed to do with that? I think we better talk about what a nice race it was."

Indeed the Slovenian was powering to an inevitable victory. Any slipstream given to Pogacar likely wouldn't have made much difference to the chase being given by Ben Healy. Nevertheless in cycling and especially the Amstel Gold Race you never know as seen by Mathieu van der Poel's incredible comeback victory in 2019.