"This race is just under the monuments..." - Remco Evenepoel takes great pride in maiden Amstel Gold Race win

Remco Evenepoel has taken the win at the 2026 Amstel Gold Race, fruit of a race where Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe did everything they could to prepare the terrain for the Olympic Champion. Evenepoel made the difference where it mattered and won the Dutch classic through a complete performance.

"It means a lot. I've had a pretty good last month - the month fo April with Catalunya and Flanders but to take a win is always a bit different," he said in a post-race interview. The Belgian entered the race as the main favourite and man to beat, which can be treacherous in this classic, which lacks the brutal climbs of some of its peers.

But these are climbs that suited him very well. "I think I mentioned already that I love this race, I like the short/hard climbs. The race opened more or same in the same place. I was really confident, I felt much better than last year in the final and that showed in the sprint, my sprint was much better - I had something left".

Evenepoel was part of the decisive six-man attack with just over 40 kilometers to go and then stayed upright when a crash split the group in half. Through endurance, his hard pace then caused the initial attackers Romain Grégoire to get dropped, as well as breakaway survivor Marco Frigo.

The win was his first in two months. "I'm proud to finish all the team work. Danny van Poppel Tim van Dijke had to control the whole race alone, my other teammates dropped me off in perfect position always. With the rain it was not always easy to stay calm. Like I said this is one of my favourite races in the season and winning it feels amazing".

Only Mattias Skjelmose, defending champion and a man who beat Evenepoel in last year's final sprint, had the legs to follow him on the climbs. But in a sprint, the advantage was on the BORA rider's side.

"I had more confidence now, I felt on the climbs that I was probably the strongest today so I felt he was a bit on the limit when taking the pulls. I thought he wasn't as strong in the beginning when we were gone so I had a lot of confidence in the sprint". It proved to be the correct bet. "So I'm happy with the result of course".

It is so far the highlight of his season, he assures. "It's the most beautiful win of the season that's for sure, but every win is a new one and is a beautiful one. Like I mentioned a few days ago this race is just under the monuments so its high on my ranking - on my Top8 of wins in my career, probably. I'm one of the lucky guys to win quite a lot, so to win this one means quite a lot and I'm proud of this one".

Liège-Bastogne-Liège will be a major goal where he will face Tadej Pogacar and Paul Seixas, but this Wednesday the Flèche Wallonne is also on the calendar, a race which he will decide soon on whether he will race or not.

"We're going to analyze the race and then decide it tomorrow. It's on the list but it's not confirmed yet. We'll see how I recover from today but I felt pretty strong, I hope to race they predict some nice weather and it's always nice to have some nice weather in Flèche Wallonne but first I'm going to enjoy this one".