The Women's Amstel Gold Race is the
women's event of the
Amstel Gold Race, the most important annual
road cycling
Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes Recreational cycling, recreational, Road bicycle racing, racing, Bicycle commuting, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, ...
event in the
Netherlands. Held in mid-April, it is organized on the same day as the men's race at approximately half the distance.
Like the men's event, the race starts in
Maastricht and finishes in
Berg en Terblijt,
Valkenburg. It features 17 categorized climbs, including four ascents of the
Cauberg.
History
Pioneering years and reboot
From 2001 to 2003, three editions of the Amstel Gold Race for elite women were held. In 2003, it was part of the
UCI Women's Road World Cup
The UCI Women's Road Cycling World Cup was a season-long road bicycle competition for women organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale between 1998–2015. This competition consisted of a series (which has varied from 6 to 12 events) of rac ...
. The race started in Maastricht 30 minutes after the men's. It was run over 114 km, taking in nine climbs and similarly finishing on top of the Cauberg. The race was discontinued after the third edition, because organization on the same day and on largely the same roads as the men's race was considered too difficult on the irregular circuits.
The event was rebooted in 2017 after a 14-year hiatus. Olympic road race champion
Anna van der Breggen won the race with an attack at 8 km from the finish.
Chantal Blaak won the
2018 race as ruling world champion.
Holland Hills Classic
During the discontinuation of the Amstel Gold race for women, another women's elite professional cycling race, the
Holland Hills Classic
The Holland Hills Classic was a women's elite professional road bicycle racing, road bicycle race held annually between 2004 and 2016 in Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg, the Netherlands. The race was categorised as a 1.1 UCI category race, and was ...
, was held in
Limburg. The first years the race was held in August,
before moving to the spring in 2011. It had a similar route as the Amstel Gold Race and, likewise, finished in
Berg en Terblijt,
Valkenburg.
It was organized by the Stichting Holland Ladies Tour, which also organizes the
Holland Ladies Tour
The Holland Ladies Tourhttp://www.hollandladiestour.nl/ Official site is a women's elite professional road bicycle racing stage race held annually in September since 1998 in the Netherlands. It's a tour with 6 or 7 stages. For sponsorship reasons ...
. The race was a 1.1 UCI event and was discontinued after the
2016 edition when it became apparent there would be a rebooted Amstel Gold Race in 2017.
won the event three times.
Winners
Wins per country
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition
UCI Women's World Tour races
Recurring sporting events established in 2001
Cycle races in the Netherlands