Amstel Gold

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Still, it was a good race... :o

Still, it was a good race... :oYeah, it was a good race. Numerous unsuccessful attacks with small groups breaking away only to get caught in very short time. Then, there was that climb which split the peloton into multiple groups (spanning more than a minute) which is what ultimately spawned the winning breakaway of nine riders. I was a bit surprised that Dekker finished as high as he did, since he seemed to hang near the back of the break.

I was looking at some old Amstel results at this website (which has some very interesting articles BTW)
http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/classics/Amstel%20Gold%20Race/amstelindex.html
and came across these results
1996
1. Stefano Zanini 253 km in 5hr 56min 36sec 42.69 km/hr
2.Mauro Bettin@ 22sec
3. Johan Museeuw s.t.


1997
1. Bjarne Riis 6hr 11min 19sec 258 km 41.704 km/hr
2. Andrea Tafi @ 46sec
3. Beat Zberg s.t.

Did anyone ever see these races? Two incredible rides. I'm not sure I've seen too many rides like them. Extreme examples of the wonders of EPO.


I saw the 1997 Amstel Gold race which Riis won.
(I saw the 1996 race as well but I cannot recall the race as vividly).

The 1997 race was, as usual, held in very windy conditions.
Riis, if I recall correctly was wearing the Danish champion road race jersey in that race (or was that 1996????).

Tafi, as part of the powerful Mapei squad that included Museeuw, had started to assimilate wins from 1996 and had been probably favourite for the 97 Amstel.

The race split earlier on with a select group racing the last 50kms.
The group included Jalabert, Bartoli, Tafi, Gianetti, Sorensen : Riis went to the front of the bunch with about 10kms to go and literally burned the group off.
No one could get past Riis that day



http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26p%3D1997%2520amstel%2520gold%2520race%26y%3D13%26fr2%3Dtab-web%26fr%3Dyfp-t-501&w=632&h=377&imgurl=www.sykkeltrening.no%2Fbilder%2Fgrafer%2Fbjarne_riis_26041997.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sykkeltrening.no%2Fwatt_trening_proff_watt.html&size=42kB&name=bjarne_riis_26041997.jpg&p=1997%20amstel%20gold%20race&type=JPG&oid=5d0f0ee83f79297a&no=2&tt=13

I saw the 1997 Amstel Gold race which Riis won.
(I saw the 1996 race as well but I cannot recall the race as vividly).

The 1997 race was, as usual, held in very windy conditions.
Riis, if I recall correctly was wearing the Danish champion road race jersey in that race (or was that 1996????).

Tafi, as part of the powerful Mapei squad that included Museeuw, had started to assimilate wins from 1996 and had been probably favourite for the 97 Amstel.

The race split earlier on with a select group racing the last 50kms.
The group included Jalabert, Bartoli, Tafi, Gianetti, Sorensen : Riis went to the front of the bunch with about 10kms to go and literally burned the group off.
No one could get past Riis that day



http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26p%3D1997%2520amstel%2520gold%2520race%26y%3D13%26fr2%3Dtab-web%26fr%3Dyfp-t-501&w=632&h=377&imgurl=www.sykkeltrening.no%2Fbilder%2Fgrafer%2Fbjarne_riis_26041997.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sykkeltrening.no%2Fwatt_trening_proff_watt.html&size=42kB&name=bjarne_riis_26041997.jpg&p=1997%20amstel%20gold%20race&type=JPG&oid=5d0f0ee83f79297a&no=2&tt=13Zanini rode across a big gap, mowed them all down then rode away. Frightening, as was Riis.

A torrent of Amstel Gold is available at piratebay.