Everyone was waiting for a victory Mathieu van der Poel on his land. In the end, nothing will happen. The victory of the Amstel Gold Race 2022 went to Michal Kwiatkowski at the end of an undecided final and a tiring race over the 33 mountains on the program for this 56th edition.
The Pole won in a two-man sprint against the French Benoit Cosnefroy with whom he had managed to isolate himself about twenty kilometers from the finish line, placed in Valkenburg. Like last year – with Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock protagonists – the first two had to be decided at the photo-finish.
Initially announced as the winner, Cosnefroy experienced a real emotional lift moments later when he learned that he was finally second.
Before arguing for victory, the two men had taken advantage of the mistrust that reigned between the 9 men launched in pursuit of them, among whom we found in particular Mathieu van der Poel and the Belgians Dylan Teuns and Tiesj Benoot.
The latter finally took 3rd place ahead of Mathieu van der Poel and Alexander Kamp. Dylan Teuns had to settle for 10th place.
Eagerly awaited by his audience, van der Poel seemed set back compared to what he had shown last week at the Tour of Flanders. However, he did not give up and tried everything in the last kilometers to catch up with the leading duo, in vain.
Very comfortable in this Dutch race, Michal Kwiatkowski won in Valkenburg for the second time in his career after 2015. The Pole also finished 2nd in the 2017 edition behind Philip Gilbert.