Less than three kilometres from the finish, Philippe Gilbert's searing attack on the Cauberg looked like a virtual replay of the move that had netted the Belgian his third Amstel Gold Race victory last April. But instead of another triumph, the BMC Racing leader was foiled in the very same scenario where he had seen off the opposition in such a commanding style twelve-months before.
Perhaps the biggest factor playing against the Belgian was that as his Spanish teammate Samuel Sanchez had warned him on Saturday, Gilbert's all but unbreakable status of top favourite meant it would be increasingly difficult to catch the peloton out on the Cauberg.
BMC Racing had done exactly that to superb effect in 2014, with Sanchez darting out of one side of the pack and unsettling Gilbert's rivals as they swarmed up the Cauberg. This year, as Belgian television reminded the public as the peloton sped down towards Valkenberg for the last time, too, "Gilbert's attacks will no longer surprise anyone."
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One BMC rider, Brabantse Pijl winner, Ben Hermans, did make a longish drive a la Sanchez in 2014, but this time although it stretched the field, it was by no means an unexpected opening gambit. As a result, when Gilbert made his trademark attack, for all he was perfectly positioned and could open up some daylight, his move up the Cauberg was not the same kind of knockout blow it had been in 2014 - to the point where Matthews, despite a few wobbles, was all but glued to his back wheel.
Once the tide had turned, albeit slightly, against Gilbert, the setbacks came thick and fast. By the time Matthews had recovered enough on the sweeping and slightly uphill right hand bend that followed and started taking a turn, Valverde had already bridged across and joined the leading duo.
Then in no time at all along came more trouble for Gilbert as Kwiatkowski, sitting on Giampaolo Caruso's back wheel, came on board, as well and behind the Pole half a dozen more riders. By this point in the Amstel finale in 2014 Gilbert had been all but home: this time he was facing a mass of rivals with rising morale and in the finish he was swamped.
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