Amstel Gold Race
Local name:	Amstel Gold Race
Region:	Mostly Limburg (Netherlands)
Date:	Middle of April
Type:	One-day race
History
First Edition:	1966
Editions:	41
First Winner:	Jean Stablinski (  France)
Most Recent:	Fränk Schleck (  Luxembourg)
Most Wins:	Jan Raas (  Netherlands), 5 wins

The Amstel Gold Race is a road bicycle racing race held (mostly) in the southern part of the province of Limburg, The Netherlands. It is held every spring. From 2005 it has been part of the UCI ProTour. Before that it was part of the Road Cycling World Cup. Capital Maastricht Queens Commissioner L.J.P.M. (Leon) Frissen Religion (1999) Roman Catholic 80% Protestant 3% Area  â€¢ Land  â€¢ Water   2,153 km² (9th) 56 km² Population (2005)  â€¢ Total  â€¢ Density 1,135,962 (6th) 528/km² (4th) Inclusion 1839 Anthem In t Bronsgroen Eikenhout ISO NL-LI Official website... Jean Stablinski (May 21, 1932) was a French cyclist of Polish origin. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_France. ... Fränk Schleck (born 15 April 1980) is a Luxembourgian professional road bicycle racer currently riding for Team CSC. Before the 2005 season, Fränk Schleck got the company of his kid brother Andy Schleck on Team CSC, and they split the 2005 national championships between them, Fränk winning... Image File history File links Flag_of_Luxembourg. ... Jan Raas in 1983, his final year with TI-Raleigh. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Netherlands. ... Road bicycle racing is a popular bicycle racing sport held on the road (following the geography of the area), using racing bicycles. ... Capital Maastricht Queens Commissioner L.J.P.M. (Leon) Frissen Religion (1999) Roman Catholic 80% Protestant 3% Area  â€¢ Land  â€¢ Water   2,153 km² (9th) 56 km² Population (2005)  â€¢ Total  â€¢ Density 1,135,962 (6th) 528/km² (4th) Inclusion 1839 Anthem In t Bronsgroen Eikenhout ISO NL-LI Official website... Motto: Je Maintiendrai (Dutch: Ik zal handhaven, English: I Shall Uphold) Anthem: Wilhelmus van Nassouwe Capital Amsterdam1 Largest city Amsterdam Official language(s) Dutch2 Government Parliamentary democracy Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Beatrix  - Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende Independence Eighty Years War   - Declared July 26, 1581   - Recognised January 30, 1648 (by Spain... The UCI ProTour logo The UCI ProTour is a competition under the International Cycling Union (UCI). ... The UCI World Cup was a season-long competition for European professional racing cyclists, organised by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing body of competitive cycling. ...

The name does not directly refer to the river Amstel, which is far away from the course, but to the sponsor, the Amstel brewery. The Amstel Length 12  km Elevation of the source -  m Average discharge -  m³/s Area watershed -  km² Origin  Amsterdam Mouth  Bullewijk Basin countries Noord-Holland Amstel is the river in the Netherlands from which Amsterdam took its name. ...

History

The first race, on April 30 1966, was organised by two Dutch sports promoters, Ton Vissers and Herman Krott, who together ran a company called Inter Sport.

Vissers was a house decorator and hockey player from Rotterdam whose break in cycling came in 1963 when a friend asked him to manage a minor team in the Tour of Holland. Those who were there say he was as hopeless as his riders. Officials banished him after he did a U-turn and drove back towards the oncoming race after hearing that one of his riders had punctured. Three years later, in 1966, he became manager of the Willem II professional team that at one time included the classics winner, Rik van Looy of Belgium.

 Krott's background in cycling was scarcely deeper. He ran a car-parts dealership called HeKro and, because he admired the Dutch rider Peter Post, worked as his personal assistant. He had also worked as a salesman for Amstel. Together, Krott and Vissers organised small races across the Netherlands. Krott also used his contacts at Amstel to start an Amstel professional team and then the sponsorship to run an international professional race bigger than the round-the-houses events Inter Sport had been promoting until then. 

Krott's background in cycling was scarcely deeper. He ran a car-parts dealership called HeKro and, because he admired the Dutch rider Peter Post, worked as his personal assistant. He had also worked as a salesman for Amstel. Together, Krott and Vissers organised small races across the Netherlands. Krott also used his contacts at Amstel to start an Amstel professional team and then the sponsorship to run an international professional race bigger than the round-the-houses events Inter Sport had been promoting until then. The first Amstel Gold Race was announced for April 30, 1966, the national day of the Netherlands. The plan was to start from Amsterdam and follow a 280km loop round the east of the country before finishing in the south-east at Maastricht. There would be prizes of 10,000 guilders - about €5,000 - of which a fifth would go to the winner.

Things started going wrong from the start. Krott and Vissers had announced the start, the finish and the distance without taking into account the many rivers and the zigzags needed to cross them. The course would be far longer than 280km. Further plans were made to start in Utrecht, then in Rotterdam. The finish was moved from Maastricht to the unknown village of Meerssen. Less than three weeks before the start, the organisers realised they had not obtained permission to cross the Moerdijk bridge, the only way out of Rotterdam to the south. The route had again to be redrawn and the start moved to Breda in the south.

The problems had not ended. Whatever the police thought of the constant changes they were asked to approve, they now had bigger concerns. The Provos, militant hippies, had declared Holland a state of anarchy. At the other end of the social scale, Dutchmen were also protesting against the marriage of the queen's daughter, Beatrix, to a German, Claus von Amsberg. The police feared that a race organised on the royal family's big day would bring uprisings and possibly attacks.

On April 26, Vissers and Krott called off their race. But still there was a twist. A press conference to break the news had just started when the Dutch roads ministry in The Hague called to say the race could be run after all - provided it was never again scheduled for Koninginnedag.

The race was run, there were no serious protests, and the conditions set by the roads minister lost their significance. The Amstel Gold Race has never started in Amsterdam, Rotterdam or Utrecht and it never again started in Breda. The finish was moved to Maastricht from 1992 and after 1998 the race also started there.

Inter Sport ceased trading in 1970 and Herman Krott ran the race by himself until 1995. It was then taken over by the former professional Leo van Vliet.

Course

As is not unusual for road cycling races, the course has changed many times over the years. In 2005 the race took place almost entirely within the boundaries of the province of Limburg, but there have also been editions that covered significant parts of Belgium. Since 2003 the finish is at the top of the Cauberg hill, in the Valkenburg municipality. Before 2003 the finish used to be in Maastricht. 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Cauberg is a hill in Valkenburg aan de Geul, a city in the Netherlands. ... Valkenburg aan de Geul is a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. ... Flag of Maastricht. ...

The race is the Netherland's largest professional race but is frequently criticised for the danger of its course. The Netherlands is a densely populated country and the race runs through many suburbs and villages. With pressure on land being so great, many Dutch houses do not have garages and cars are left parked in the street. There are also many traffic-calming obstacles such as pinches, chicanes and speed humps, and further obstacles such as roundabouts and traffic islands.

Winners

The Amstel Gold Race 2006 is the 40th edition of the road bicycle race Amstel Gold Race held on April 16, 2006. ... Fränk Schleck (born 15 April 1980) is a Luxembourgian professional road bicycle racer currently riding for Team CSC. Before the 2005 season, Fränk Schleck got the company of his kid brother Andy Schleck on Team CSC, and they split the 2005 national championships between them, Fränk winning... Image File history File links Flag_of_Luxembourg. ... These are the results for the 2005 edition of the Amstel Gold Race cycling classic, which gave Liquigas-Bianchi its first major classic win. ... Danilo di Luca, born on 1976 in Spoltore, is a professional Italian cyclist. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Italy. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Devide Rebellin is a cyclist, who was on the Gerolsteiner team in the Tour De France. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Italy. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Alexander Vinokourov, also written Alexandre Vinokourov, (born 1973) is a Kazakh cyclist. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Kazakhstan. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Categories: Possible copyright violations ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Italy. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Erik Dekker (born August 21, 1970, Hoogeveen) is a Dutch professional cyclist since 1992. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Netherlands. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Erik Zabel (born July 7, 1970, Berlin) is a German professional racing cyclist. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Germany. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Michael Boogerd (born May 28 1972, The Hague) is a professional Dutch bicyclist. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Netherlands. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Switzerland. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bjarne LykkegÃ¥rd Riis (born April 3, 1964), nicknamed the Eagle from Herning (Danish: Ørnen fra Herning), was a Danish professional road bicycle racer who won the 1996 Tour de France, and is now the team owner and manager of Danish UCI ProTour outfit Team CSC. Other career highlights include... Image File history File links Flag_of_Denmark. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Stefano Zanini (born January 1969, Varese, Lombardy) is an Italian cyclist, the leadout man for Liquigas-Bianchi in 2006, after riding for Mapei, Saeco, and Quick-Step. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Italy. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mauro Gianetti is currently a directeur sportif and was a former rider in professional road bicycle racing from Switzerland. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Switzerland. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... Johan Museeuw (born October 13, 1965) is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer. ... 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Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Netherlands. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Netherlands. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Phil Anderson (OAM) (born March 20, 1958) is an Australian retired professional road bicycle racer who holds the unique honour of being the first non-European cyclist to wear the yellow jersey (or maillot jaune) of the Tour de France. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Australia. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jan Raas in 1983, his final year with TI-Raleigh. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Netherlands. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bernard Hinault (born 14 November 1954) is a French cyclist best known for his five victories in the Tour de France. ... 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Image File history File links Flag_of_Belgium_(civil). ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Georges Pintens (b. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_France. ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Belgium_(civil). ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Netherlands. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Netherlands. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... Jean Stablinski (May 21, 1932) was a French cyclist of Polish origin. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_France. ...

References

• ↑ Graat, John (April 16, 2005). De Gold Race is allang geen 'poenkoers' meer. Trouw (newspaper), p. 21.

External links

• Official site