01/03/2024

“Tom is somewhere on my list” - Tom Dumoulin could replace Leo van Vliet as the race director for the Amstel Gold Race after 2026

Having taken over from Herman Krott as the race director of the Amstel Gold Race in 1996, Leo van Vliet is now set to step down from the role thirty years on in 2026. The 68-year-old Dutchman’s departure leaves the door open for a new race director to assume the role.

In an interview on a talk show with RTL, where he was joined by Tom Dumoulin to talk about cycling in Limburg, Van Vliet said “this will be my 28th Amstel Gold Race. I will do two more as race director and then I will stop”.

Tom Dumoulin reacts to municipality of Vaals attempt to alter the course of Amstel Gold Race: "We are now at the end of the evening and I still don't understand it"

Dumoulin is a local in the Limburg region and has often been spotted as a roadside spectator at the Amstel Gold Race over the years. When asked who could replace him as race director, Van Vliet said “Tom is somewhere on my list”, to which the former Giro d’Italia winner responded “that’s what Leo is about, but I would like it”.

The Amstel Gold Race is by far the biggest one-day race in the Netherlands on the current calendar and in 2025 the organisation of the race is set to be taken over by Flanders Classics, the organisers of the Ronde van Vlaanderen and various other Spring Classics in Belgium.