News Round-up: Flanders Classics take over Amstel Gold Race from 2025

Plus sprint action from the Tour de Luxembourg, Il Lombardia team news, and an update on Stefan Küng's condition following his ITT crash

16:30, Thursday 21st September 2023

Pete Trifunovic

Digital Content Creator

Tadej Pogačar stormed to victory at the 2023 Amstel Gold Race

Flanders Classics to take over organisation of Amstel Gold Race from 2025

Event organiser Flanders Classics, which runs a number of high-profile Spring Classics such as the Tour of Flanders and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, will add the Amstel Gold Race to its portfolio in 2025.

The move follows its current organiser and race director, Leo van Vliet, announcing his plan to retire in 2026. Van Vliet has been at the helm of the race for nearly 30 years and will remain as race director of the men's for the next three editions before bidding farewell to the sport.

Leo van Vliet embraces Philippe Gilbert after his 2017 Amstel Gold Race win

A former pro, with a stage of the 1979 Tour de France and the 1983 Gent-Wevelgem to his name, Van Vliet sees his 30th edition of the biggest race in Dutch cycling as the right time to call it a day. “When I took over the role from Herman Krott, he had organised no fewer than 30 editions of the Amstel Gold Race. I am now approaching that number, 2026 seems to me to be a wonderful time to stop,” he told Wielerflits.

The Dutchman continued: “In all these years, organising a cycling race has become more complicated. Flanders Classics has proven itself as a high-quality organiser. Just as important is that they have the same passion for cycling. These two qualities ensure that I can confidently hand over my beloved Amstel Gold Race to them. But I haven't left yet, we will work together in the coming editions and ensure a smooth transfer.”

Flanders Classics CEO, Tomas Van Den Spiegel, added: “This is a very important step for us. We further expand our international adventure with the Amstel Gold Race. Leo van Vliet has an incredible track record and we are very proud that we can continue to build on his success.”

Earlier this year, Flanders Classics also became a minority shareholder in the company behind the Tour de Suisse.

Biermans battles to sprint win at Skoda Tour de Luxembourg

Jenthe Biermans claimed the second win of his career in Luxembourg

Jenthe Biermans (Arkéa Samsic) claimed stage 2 of the Skoda Tour de Luxembourg after a long and drawn-out sprint in Mamer.

The Belgian held his nerve until the final 50m before opening up his sprint and passing Søren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Tim van Dijke (Jumbo-Visma) who took second and third respectively.

“Today was a hard race, with the rain at the beginning and end, the sprint was really hectic,” the 27-year-old admitted at the finish.

Biermans, who scored his first pro win at the Muscat Classic in February, added: “It's my second this year and the second of my career. It's been a good year so far. We knew before the start that this was a sprint for me, the finish was slightly uphill. This is what I like and in the end, I timed it perfectly.”

Despite being pipped to the stage victory, Kragh Andersen did enough to pull on the leader’s jersey by a margin of two seconds to yesterday’s stage winner Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech).

On a day that was always marked down as one for the sprinters, the break did their best to upset the status quo, with multiple incarnations forcing their way up the road in wet conditions.

King of the Mountains leader Mats Wenzels (Leopard TOGT Pro Cycling), Elias Maris (Team Flanders - Baloise), Lennert Teugels (Bingoal WB) and Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto Dstny) managed to build up a lead of over five minutes early on before it was rapidly cut down.

After the race came back together, Wenzels stayed out in front and was joined by Luca Van Boven (Bingoal WB) and Bastien Tronchon (AG2R Citroën). Not fancying their chances in a sprint, a number of riders attempted to counter-attack in the final 50km, with Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) one of those trying their luck. Eventually, just Tronchon, Van Boven and Teugels remained. The trio worked well together but could not stop the peloton from reeling them in with 20km remaining.

The bunch was strung out as it raced towards the line Mamer amidst heavy rain with Alpecin-Deceuninck and Soudal Quick-Step setting the pace for their quickmen. Yet the long, uphill finishing straight thwarted any leadout train from dominating, with the fastmen biding their time before launching their sprints.

Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) was the first to show his hand but could only tee up Kragh Andersen. The Dane looked to be the strongest as the line drew near until Biermans leapt out of the wheels at the last possible moment.

Season over for Stefan Küng following European Championships ITT crash

Groupama-FDJ have released an update on the condition of Stefan Küng following his heavy crash during the European Championships elite men's time trial.

In a press release, the French WorldTour team revealed that Küng suffered a minor concussion, a fractured molar bone and a fractured hand.

$Stefan Küng suffered a concussion and two fractured bones as a result of his crash$

Stefan Küng suffered a concussion and two fractured bones as a result of his crash

His team added: "He remains under observation in hospital but will be able to go home today. Unfortunately, his season is over. In view of the circumstances, Stefan would like to make it clear that his general condition is good."

The Swiss rider suffered the crash during the closing stages of his effort in the Dutch city of Emmen. With his head down in an aerodynamic position, the 29-year-old collided with metal barriers on the course.

Küng was thrown from his bike as a result of the crash, with his helmet broken and blood covering his face and torso. Remarkably, the TT specialist remounted his bike and crossed the line to finish 11th - 1:29 down on eventual winner Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers).

Team line-up announced for Il Lombardia

The teams taking to the start line of the final Monument of the season, Il Lombardia, have been revealed.

Seven ProTeams will join the 18 WorldTour teams to battle it out on the roads of Lombardy next month.

Alongside the home teams of EOLO-Kometa and Green Project-Bardiani CSF Faizanè will be Swiss squads Q36.5 Pro Cycling and Tudor Pro Cycling as well as Israel-Premier Tech, Lotto Dstny and TotalEnergies.

Tudor Pro Cycling will feature at the race for the first time, in their premier season amongst the ProTeam ranks.

Tadej Pogačar and Fausto Masnada tackle the Colle Aperto during the 2021 Il Lombardia

The route for this season’s ‘race of the falling leaves’ has also been confirmed recently with a return to the 2021 course, culminating in Bergamo.

After rolling out from Como, the race will tackle the Madonna del Ghisallo early on before a handful of other testing climbs. Although the final major climb, the Passo Di Ganda, comes with 40km left to race, the short Colle Aperto climb inside the last 5km does offer enough of a gradient to create gaps too - especially with 230km already in the legs.

France edges Italy in European Championships mixed TTT relay

By Matilda Price

The French team powered to victory in the European Championships mixed relay team time trial in Drenthe, earning a first gold medal in the discipline for Juliette Labous, Cédrine Kerbaol, Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Bruno Amirail, Rémi Cavagna and Benjamin Thomas.

The French outfit just edged out the Italians on the line to win by four seconds, whilst Germany rounded out the podium in third.

World champions Switzerland struggled after losing their powerhouse Stefan Küng to a nasty crash in the men’s individual time trial, opening up the door for Worlds silver medallists France to step up to the top spot of the podium, and win the European title for the first time.

A first gold medal in the discipline for the French team

“We knew that we had a really good [women’s] team,” France’s Benjamin Thomas said at the finish. “And the objective was to put them in the best condition, and they did really an incredible performance and gained like 25 seconds - in a race like this, it’s very impressive.

“It’s really special. For me it’s like the team pursuit on the track - it’s a really specific effort, you have to be really careful about the position, keep the speed, stay really grouped. We are really happy. It was more or less the same team as at Worlds, I came in [as a change], so it’s incredible.”

Ineos Grenadiers overhaul continues as Head of Performance departs

Ineos Grenadiers' Head of Performance has departed for QPR Football Club

By Dan Benson

Ineos Grenadiers’ transition continues with the cycling team set to lose, or having lost, several key members of staff, including Ben Williams, who until recently had been the Head of Performance and Support.

Williams has taken up a new role at Queen’s Park Rangers Football Club as the director of performance but GCN understands that several more senior members of staff are set to leave at the end of the season, with two experienced sports directors and a coach among the changes.

The team currently have fewer than 15 riders signed for next season, although a number of athletes including Geraint Thomas and Carlos Rodríguez are set to stay. However, Dani Martínez, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Pavel Sivakov and Ben Tulett form part of an exodus of stage racing talent. The team are also heavily linked with AJ August, a highly promising 17-year-old from the United States.

However, the departure of Williams also leaves a significant hole in the team’s staff structure, with no senior science practitioner at the top level.

“I’ve accepted a role at Queen’s Park Rangers Football Club as the director of performance. The last couple of weeks I’ve been transitioning out and doing handovers,” Williams told GCN in a phone interview on Wednesday.