Neither Evenepoel nor Pogacar. Mattias Skjelmose wins the Amstel Gold Race on the same finish line

When everything pointed to yet another exhibition by Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel, in a powerful pursuit, managed to neutralize the Slovenian's escape and, in a sprint with three, his companion, Mattias Skjelmose, surprised everyone and managed to beat both of them, leaving them with a surprised look on their faces in an exciting conclusion to the 2025 Amstel Gold Race.

Remco Evenepoel manages to stop Tadej Pogacar but doesn't get a prize in the Amstel Gold Race

Incredible outcome of the 2025 Amstel Gold Race where the script took an unexpected turn in the end, with victory falling to an outsider like Mattias Skjelmose who was in the right place at the right time to seize a golden opportunity that he did not miss. A remarkable achievement for the Danish cyclist, as there are not many cyclists who can boast of beating two monsters like Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel in a race.

At the beginning of the story, it seemed like another crazy ride by Tadej Pogacar who, 47 kilometers from the finish, on a 12% ramp in the ascent to Gulperberg, took advantage of a move by a Julian Alaphilippe eager to relive old times. Pogacar followed the Frenchman with the added value that the other favorites either couldn't respond, like Pidcock and Healy, or were poorly positioned in the middle of the group, as happened to Remco Evenepoel.

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Thus began a ride, first in the company of Alaphilippe and, after the ascent to Kruisberg, solo after he was dropped. With his solid riding style, Tadej Pogacar managed to open a gap of about 40 seconds, but unlike other occasions, the gap would not extend beyond that point.

Meanwhile, Remco kept his cool and, first with the help of Van Wilder and later setting his characteristic relentless pace, the Belgian kept the time gaps below the one-minute mark, waiting for the tough Keutenberg climb, where several attacks were made in the chasing group, all of them unsuccessful. Up ahead, on the false flat that follows this climb, Mattias Skjelmose took advantage of a slight pause to open a fifteen-second gap and go on an impossible pursuit behind Tadej Pogacar.

At this point in the race, no one doubted that this 2025 Amstel Gold Race was already decided in favor of the UAE Team Emirates-XRG cyclist. However, no one expected that, a couple of kilometers later, Remco would try to break away solo with an attack on a flat section. Initially, he was caught, but on the second attempt, he managed to prevent anyone from catching his wheel and started the motor, showcasing his time trial skills that currently make him one of the best time trialists in the world.

He easily caught Skjelmose and both of them started riding at a furious pace, with more weight on the relays for the Belgian, as expected, aiming to reduce the gap with Tadej Pogacar.

As they approached the second ascent of Cauberg, alarms started to go off as the time gaps began to close, in fact, at the finish line, the advantage of Tadej Pogacar over his pursuers was barely 13 seconds. Throughout the final circuit, this gap gradually decreased thanks to Remco Evenepoel's relentless pace until, with just over 7 kilometers to go, on the downhill stretch towards Valkenburg, the starting point of the Cauberg climb, Pogacar decided to stop delaying the inevitable and allowed himself to be caught to recover a bit before the decisive final kilometers.

Remco set the pace on the ascent to Cauberg, trying to drain the energies of his rivals but without achieving the desired effect, so, seeing that they had a comfortable lead over the chasing group, he began to watch out for the sprint.

Evenepoel, trusting in his abilities, entered the final straight in the lead and was the first to launch his sprint, just like the other day in the Brabantse Pijl, 200 meters from the finish. However, Tadej Pogacar's form is not the same as Van Aert's, and the Slovenian easily came out of his slipstream and managed to overtake him. But Pogacar didn't count on the third party, Mattias Skjelmose had made exactly the same move and, in a powerful sprint, managed to beat both of them, taking an unexpected win.

The chasing group arrived just over thirty seconds later, where, this time, Wout van Aert managed to win the sprint, adding another fourth place to his list of honors, this time achieved in the Amstel Gold Race.

2025 Amstel Gold Race Classification

1. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) 5h49'58''
2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +00''
3. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +00''
4. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) +34''
5. Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) +34''
6. Louis Barré (Intermarché-Wanty) +34''
7. Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) +34''
8. Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike) +34''
9. Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5) +34''
10. Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) +34''