Still only 24 years of age, Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) is marking himself down as not only one of the strongest in the peloton but one of the most tactically adept too. On the Saturday before the Amstel Gold Race, Kwiatkowski told journalists that he had learned from his mistakes of last year when he hitched his cart to the wrong BMC rider on the Cauberg. He showed that to be true as he bided his time before claiming an experienced win over two riders with proven track records in the sprint.
"Experience is really important in such races especially and you cannot try doing the same effort on the Cauberg in training because you need to ride 250 kilometres at that speed to learn how to manage your acceleration on the climb," Kwiatkowski said in the post-race press conference.
BMC used a similar tactic to last year, sending a rider up the road before Philippe Gilbert launched his move. Initially only Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) was able to go with the Belgian, with Kwiatkowski hovering about 10 metres behind before they regrouped over the top.
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"I was not really directly on Gilbert’s wheel, I was more behind him compared to last year when I launched my effort on the Cauberg and I paid for it on the top. It was a better idea not to be excited and have some energy left for the sprint so I could be fresher for the last metres."
While he won the prologue of Paris-Nice, this is Kwiatkowski’s first victory in the discipline that he is world champion in. Added to that, Kwiatkowski is only the fourth rider to take victory at Amstel Gold during their reign in the rainbow stripes, with Eddy Merckx, Jan Raas and Bernard Hinault the others to have accomplished it. As he sat in the press tent that flanks the finish straight the realisation of what he had done was slowly sinking in.
"I cannot describe my emotions, it’s really great and I really want to enjoy it," he said. "I was really pushing for it from the start of the season. I was close in Paris-Nice and in Algarve and the classics. It’s not an easy thing to do and it’s an amazing day to win a classic that I was aiming for."
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