Amstel Gold Race 2026: Favourites
fotobureau Cor VosThe rolling hills of Zuid-Limburg in the Netherlands are a recipe for thrilling racing. Evenepoel is determined to make amends after last year's third place, while Skjelmose would love to repeat his triumph. Pidcock, Healy, Wellens, Grégoire and Jorgenson are also aiming to excel. Who are the favourites to win the Amstel Gold Race?
Two former winners line up in starting venue Maastricht: Tom Pidcock (2024) and Michael Valgren (2018). Recently, the latter made his presence felt again for the first time in years with a stage win in Tirreno–Adriatico, but he is not expected to contend for the victory this time, as the field with talented young riders is simply too strong. Tom Pidcock, still only 26 years of age, is one of them. The Brit won a stage in the Ruta del Sol this season and impressed in Milan–San Remo by being the only rider able to follow Pogacar when he accelerated on the Cipressa and the Poggio. He then fell just a few centimetres short in the sprint.
After seven editions without the Cauberg in the finale, the famous climb returned last year as the final ascent of the day. For a long time, the organisers had avoided that scenario because the race used to stay tightly controlled right up to the final climb. But with the current generation of riders, there is no longer any need to fear that. Whatever the situation, they tend to animate races early.
So we can be sure that the Cauberg will not be tackled in the finale by a virtually complete peloton. Last year the race exploded as early as the Gulperberg, with 50 kilometres to go, when Julian Alaphilippe attacked and Tadej Pogacar followed his move. The Slovenian quickly went clear on his own and rode solo for dozens of kilometres before being joined by Remco Evenepoel and Mattias Skjelmose on the final lap. In the sprint, the Dane then took the better of the other two.
Pogacar may be absent this year, but riders such as Evenepoel, Pidcock and Healy also have a knack for opening races up early.
With or without the Cauberg, the Amstel Gold Race has produced nail-biting finales in recent years, often ending in a millimetre sprint from a small group. Five years ago, Wout van Aert bested Tom Pidcock in a photo finish (Max Schachmann was also sprinting but did not make the photo), and four years ago Michal Kwiatkowski did the same to Benoît Cosnefroy. We will leave the lack of suspense of Pogacar’s 2023 one-man show aside (solo from the Keutenberg), because the year after that Pidcock avenged his 2021 defeat (although he is still convinced that he was the rightful winne) by outsprinting Marc Hirschi, Tiesj Benoot and Mauri Vansevenant. And last year brought the finale in which Evenepoel and Skjelmose caught Pogacar from a winning position, after which the least likely of the trio took the spoils.
Favourites 2026 Amstel Gold Race
**** Remco Evenepoel, Tom Pidcock
*** Matteo Jorgenson, Mattias Skjelmose, Ben Healy
** Romain Grégoire, Tim van Dijke, Pello Bilbao, Kévin Vauquelin
* Tibor Del Grosso, Christophe Laporte, Maximilian Schachmann, Tim Wellens
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