K
Kenny
Guest
How big was my deception while seeing the Amstel Gold Race. After an excellent Tour of Flanders and
Paris-Roubaix this race had realy nothing to offer. This race has no identity. Changing the course
every few years makes it that this worlcup race has no points of recognition. In Flanders we have
the same final for 30 years. Hills are added in an amount of time of several years but the major
hills are always part of the race. Same in P-R with the finish on the track of roubaix and the most
famous cobble-zones. I don't know why they want the Gold Race to be more and more a copy of
Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Is it to give Boogerd better chances to win the race? I wonder had will happen
to the course if boogerd has retired and there is no Holland rider left to win it. Are they going to
change the track again because, let's face it, there is no other rider than Boogerd capable of
winning on this circuit. Changing the track so heavily lead to a race which is closed during 230 of
the 250km. Boring.
Second thought. Though this race is a Wordcuprace it isn't by far a Classic. It was only the 38th
edition. In comparison to the real classics (Sanremo, flanders, roubaix, L-B-L, tours, lombardy and
zurich) it doesn't even deserve the name of wordcuprace. Not only because the track is allways
different but also because the terrible organisation. There are cars standing on the most dangerous
places, cars parked on one half of the road. You hardly see those things in the other WCraces. An
other point of aversion is the fact that several hills are climbed twice. Why the hell is that? It
happens in no other major classic (it happens in HEW too but that's even less a WC race than the
Gold Race is) It's just an artificial way to make the race harder but once again this doesn't result
in attractive racing and it's a WCrace unworthy. It's like climbing the Poggio twice before
finishing on the Via Roma. Last thing. Now the finish
Tour-finish on top of a col. This is so artificial and there is no other WC races with such a stupid
finish. Even Lombardy or L-B-L don't have a finish that is a sprint uphill.
All these things make that the Gold Race has no identity and does not deserve the word "classic".
It really doesn't fit in the list of WC races in comparison to the real momuments. Gent-Wevelgem or
the Fleche Walonne should deserve the label of worldcup race more than the Gold Race. These are
reel classics.
Paris-Roubaix this race had realy nothing to offer. This race has no identity. Changing the course
every few years makes it that this worlcup race has no points of recognition. In Flanders we have
the same final for 30 years. Hills are added in an amount of time of several years but the major
hills are always part of the race. Same in P-R with the finish on the track of roubaix and the most
famous cobble-zones. I don't know why they want the Gold Race to be more and more a copy of
Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Is it to give Boogerd better chances to win the race? I wonder had will happen
to the course if boogerd has retired and there is no Holland rider left to win it. Are they going to
change the track again because, let's face it, there is no other rider than Boogerd capable of
winning on this circuit. Changing the track so heavily lead to a race which is closed during 230 of
the 250km. Boring.
Second thought. Though this race is a Wordcuprace it isn't by far a Classic. It was only the 38th
edition. In comparison to the real classics (Sanremo, flanders, roubaix, L-B-L, tours, lombardy and
zurich) it doesn't even deserve the name of wordcuprace. Not only because the track is allways
different but also because the terrible organisation. There are cars standing on the most dangerous
places, cars parked on one half of the road. You hardly see those things in the other WCraces. An
other point of aversion is the fact that several hills are climbed twice. Why the hell is that? It
happens in no other major classic (it happens in HEW too but that's even less a WC race than the
Gold Race is) It's just an artificial way to make the race harder but once again this doesn't result
in attractive racing and it's a WCrace unworthy. It's like climbing the Poggio twice before
finishing on the Via Roma. Last thing. Now the finish
Tour-finish on top of a col. This is so artificial and there is no other WC races with such a stupid
finish. Even Lombardy or L-B-L don't have a finish that is a sprint uphill.
All these things make that the Gold Race has no identity and does not deserve the word "classic".
It really doesn't fit in the list of WC races in comparison to the real momuments. Gent-Wevelgem or
the Fleche Walonne should deserve the label of worldcup race more than the Gold Race. These are
reel classics.