Leading Ardennes Classics contender Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) has said that the newly redesigned finale of the Amstel Gold Race is not to his liking and that he preferred the route when it finished, as it has done for over a decade, on or near the summit of the Cauberg.
Valverde has had a superb spring season, winning the Volta a Catalunya and the Vuelta al País Vasco, and he will be one of the big favourites on Sunday in a race that he has three podium finishes in but has never won.
However, the new 2017 finish sees Amstel Gold return to the flatter finale format that it last used in 2002. Although it will tackle the traditional last climb of the Cauberg three times, after its final ascent, 18 kilometres from the finish, the route will change.
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The 2017 261 kilometer route will then go over the last two of its 35 ascents, the Geulhemmerberg at 14 kilometres from the finish, then the Bemelerberg with a little over five kilometres to go, before flattening out and finishing in the town of Valkenberg.
"It’s a worse route for me," Valverde told Cyclingnews during the Volta a Catalunya, "there won’t be such a harsh selection process as when it finished on top of the Cauberg or just beyond it.
"It’s still a hard race now, but it’s not so demanding."
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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