PG - Amstel Gold Race

Not sure who this guy is. Maybe moua can help?

There was no edition in 2020 and 2019 was such a forgettable race, you've really got to go back to 2018 to find a winner to talk about.

The Course

You want circuits? We've got circuits.

You can blame Coronavirus for the changes to the parcours but I managed to get Covid-19 on the phone and asked why the race was changed to 216.7 km from 260km and it answered; "don't blame me. I'm just a single celled microorganism, a bit like some of your politicians brains."

Stats wise it's all a bit confusing. There's less distance, three different circuits, more climbs and less altitude gain. With just over 3000m of climbing it's not what we're used to but hopefully the smaller gaps in between the smaller climbs makes up for that.

First off there's a 14.9 km lap which takes in the Geulhemmerweg, the Bemelerberg and the Cauberg. It then moves on to a 16.9 km circuit of 11 laps which features exactly the same 3 climbs but a different route between the first two. Why have they done this? Who the hell knows!

We finish with a similar circuit to the one we've got used to. 15.9 km long (they like the 900 metres don't they...) it takes out the climb of the Cauberg and instead stays on the plateau winding around after the Bemelerberg which peaks with 6 km remaining. The only difference to 2019 is the finish is 200 metres shorter. (Again, no idea why).

The Weather

Looks like it will be a cool and cloudy day with the risk of light showers. A risk that diminishes as the day wears on. The wind shouldn't be too strong and it looks like crosswinds and headwinds on the run in. The last 900 metres with crosswinds. Something to remember if it ends in some sort of bunch sprint and maybe with headwinds, a more likely occurrence.

The Favourites

Let's get the easy stuff out of the way. At the moment only a few teams have confirmed their line ups so the startlist should be checked again closer to the race. PCS and Cycling Fever have differences too. For example, I've 12 for VDS on both but there's 14 different names across the two but back to the easy stuff. There's no MvdP. No Pogacar and Woods is on CF but I think unlikely to start. There is however pretty much everybody else that you'd want there.

The course changes for the last few years have usually made it a very tactical race but on this new course, we're a bit in the dark. It still seems like though that we end up with smaller groups chasing a lead group till the end. That normally means that numbers count so teams like Jumbo and The Steppers that have a lot of options, will probably dictate how it all plays out. If you've got Ala or Mauri (or both!) or Roglic or Wout and you think you've got points already on the board, I'm sorry to say that if Vinegar and Honore, for example, are up the road, both teams might be happy enough. I could rattle off 20 names and still not have mentioned 2nd from the last time it was raced in Simon Clarke or Paddy Bevin who was climbing so well in the Basque Country. I'd not have written the names of Old Greg, previous winner Valgren, Carapaz, Lutsenko, Chaves, Sep, Sonny or a particular Mr Hermans either. Pick most letters in the alphabet and you're a good chance of finding 4 guys here who's names start with that letter and could score a top ten finish.

I hope that's been a help...

The Rules

In this game, only the race results matter. You're not committed to keeping the same riders throughout the series, you make fresh picks before every race. Our overall competition is just the sum of individual race scores. You're eligible for the overall even if you miss some races.

Pick 4 riders for the upcoming race. The order of your picks doesn't matter. All of your riders can score.

Riders score points down to 10th place. Less popular riders score more points than heavily-picked favourites. See below for scoring details.

The strict entry deadline is the official start time of the race, the neutralized roll-out or Départ Fictif. Be warned - if your post is timestamped one minute late your entry won't count! So do remember that there's no disadvantage to getting an entry in early, even the day before, because you may always change your picks up until the deadline. Feel free to rethink your picks when it emerges which riders are more or less popular with other players. If you make changes, post your revised 4 picks in a reply to your original post.

The Scoring