Marianne Vos snatches dramatic Amstel Gold Race win after premature Lorena Wiebes celebration

Updated 14/04/2024 at 21:39 GMT

There was heartbreak for Lorena Wiebes at Amstel Gold Race when Marianne Vos snatched victory on the line. Wiebes had looked like she had timed her move to perfection as she burst towards the finish. However, she sat up too soon, allowing a Vos bike throw to seal the win in the most dramatic of circumstances. Stream the cycling season live on discovery+.

Watch highlights from Women’s Amstel Gold Race as Vos pounces after Wiebes’ premature celebration

Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) snatched victory at Amstel Gold Race after Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) celebrated prematurely thinking she had won.

Wiebes found herself up against the boards as the sprint kicked into action, but managed to put herself into contention - so much so that she initiated her celebration well before the line.

Vos, sensing the opportunity on the line, timed her bike throw to perfection as Wiebes held her hands up on a day to forget for her and her team.

Amstel Gold Race Women

Watch highlights from Women’s Amstel Gold Race as Vos pounces after Wiebes’ premature celebration

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14/04/2024 at 13:27

The Dutch star, seemingly ageless as her career continues at 36, became the first woman to win the race twice, having taken the title in 2021 as well.

Wiebes celebrates early, as Vos launches late thrust to win Women's Amstel Gold Race

The race was neutralised due to a serious incident involving a police officer after only three climbs, and restarted with 55km to go for three laps of the finishing circuit featuring the Cauberg, Geulhemmerberg, and Bemelerberg climbs.

A breakaway of Tour de France Femmes 2023 stage winners Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon//SRAM Racing), and Eva van Agt (Visma-Lease a Bike), led for much of the shortened race.

Anouska Koster (Uno-X Mobility) went out in search of the front group, but despite her best efforts was not able to catch them and was caught by the peloton as they went into the final lap.

Before Koster was caught, the gap between the peloton and the breakaway waxed and waned - despite the best attacking efforts of many of those in the group behind, the front three continued to push on.

The gap began to drop as the race entered the 20km to go mark, with Lidl-Trek and Ellen van Dijk putting in a mammoth effort, as she had done similarly in Paris-Roubaix the week before, to reduce the time to the front group.

With 16.5km to go, the breakaway’s lead dropped to just 15 seconds, but it would still be some time before they were caught. The gap went up again and reached almost a minute before Ella Wyllie (Liv AlUla Jayco) attacked behind with 11.4km to go.

The trio kept the gap at around a minute as they entered the final 10km, before Van Dijk sped up proceedings again as Lidl-Trek made the move that would see the peloton make contact. Amanda Spratt took over from the Dutch powerhouse to successfully bridge the gap to the front three with 2.1km to go.

Multiple attacks followed but none were able to create enough to go clear. Defending champion Vollering took over at the front as they reached the flamme rouge, and looked to be setting up an SD Worx sprint until Visma-Lease a Bike took the reigns in the final 500 metres.

Then the drama kicked off as Vos snatched victory from Wiebes. The victory was the 36-year-old's third in 2024 after conquering Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Dwars door Vlaanderen in her debut appearances in both.

A distraught Wiebes took second place before Ingvild Gaskjenn (Liv AlUla Jayco) clinched third. Pfeiffer Georgi (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), who the week before had snatched third place at Paris-Roubaix from Vos on the line, finished fourth in the sprint.

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Amstel Gold Race Women