Taking place on April 20, 2025, Amstel Gold Race kicks off the next phase of the cycling season: the Ardennes Classics. While still a challenging route in the Netherlands, Amstel Gold is the race of the week in which the sprinters have the most likelihood of victory. The final climb of the Cauberg, which comes just a few kilometres from the finish in Berg en Terblijt, is the last opportunity for those who don’t want a bunch finish to make their move, but every rider will be alert to this danger.
The undulating Amstel Gold Race terrain has led to some unpredictable and explosive racing in the past. Riders like Marta Cavalli, Anna van der Breggen and Demi Vollering have managed to win this race solo before with perfectly-timed attacks on the climbs, but last year’s edition ended in a reduced bunch sprint with Marianne Vos edging in front of Lorena Wiebes to take the win – the 37-year-old’s second Amstel win of her illustrious career. While there will be happy memories associated with this race for Vos, Wiebes will be coming back with a vengeance this season. The SD Worx-Protime rider celebrated too early last year which was what allowed her Visma-Lease a Bike rival to take victory – a rookie mistake from such an established sprinter.
Although Wiebes will be one fast finisher hoping to get another chance at success in 2025, there’s plenty of teams who won’t want to leave things down to a bunch gallop at the line. With 21 climbs across the twisting 157.3km route which starts in Maastricht, there are plenty of opportunities to put the sprinters under pressure. SD Worx in particular have a big decision to make: do they keep things together for Wiebes, or try and give their comeback queen and former winner of this race, Anna van der Breggen, a chance to attack? Teams such as FDJ-Suez, Lidl-Trek, Canyon//SRAM and Visma will all be doing their utmost to stop an SD Worx takeover with riders like Vollering and Tour de France Femmes champion Kasia Niewiadoma also targeting success in the Ardennes. It’s a star-studded line-up for the Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition in 2025, with all of the big favourites in the women’s peloton taking part.
Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition 2025 Contenders
Marianne Vos
With top-five finishes in Trofeo Alfredo Binda, Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix Femmes this season, Marianne Vos is showing no signs of slowing down as she enters her 19th year as a professional bike rider. The Visma-Lease a Bike is widely regarded as the GOAT of women’s cycling, and she’s won almost everything there is to win in the sport. It’s the punchy climbs of the Ardennes Classics which are best suited to Vos – she’s a five-time La Flèche Wallonne and two-time Amstel Gold race winner already. Despite the progression and increased competition seen in the women’s peloton over the last two decades, Vos’ experience continues to prove invaluable during races like this and she can rely on that in the 2025 edition of Amstel too, a race she goes to as defending champion.
Visma-Lease a Bike have a strong team for Amstel Gold Race, with Paris-Roubaix winner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot also taking to the start for the Dutch squad. This gives them plenty of options when it comes to the finish – Ferrand-Prévot can attack while Vos watches and waits behind, a tactic that paid dividends on the French cobbles last weekend. While Wiebes is undoubtedly a faster finisher than Vos, the outcome of sprints can be very different after long, tough, hilly races, as Vos proved last year when she managed to beat her SD Worx rival.
Demi Vollering
After skipping both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, FDJ-Suez’s frontwoman Demi Vollering returns to competition for the Ardennes – the races which she loves most. The Dutch rider’s breakthrough results have come on the hilly roads of her home country; she made history in 2023 by doing the Ardennes triple and winning Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Flèche Wallonne and Amstel Gold. Things have got trickier for Vollering over the last few years as she has become a heavily-marked rider in the bunch – a victim of her own success. Her performances at the Ardennes were still strong in 2024 with second and third places in Liège and Flèche, respectively, but Vollering will not be happy with anything less than the top step of the podium in 2025.
Amstel Gold Race is going to be one of the toughest races for her to win of the three due to the terrain towards the finish not quite being hard enough for her attacks to put enough pressure on the peloton. However, FDJ-Suez will do everything they can to make the likes of Lorena Wiebes suffer – riders like Juliette Labous are going to be invaluable to ensuring Vollering is well-positioned for attacks.
Elisa Longo Borghini
Another rider returning to the peloton after time away is Elisa Longo Borghini of UAE Team ADQ. The Italian champion had a superb start to the season with her solo win at Dwars door Vlaanderen a few weeks ago being especially impressive (she managed to ride away from an entire SD Worx team on the climbs). However, Longo Borghini’s crash at the Tour of Flanders a few days later left her with a bad concussion, which meant some time off the bike. It is yet to be seen how this enforced rest will have impacted Longo-Borghini’s form, but if she is back firing on all cylinders, then Amstel Gold Race should be one that suits her.
Like Vollering, the Italian rider will need to make the race hard in order to drop some of the sprinters, and we can expect to see some big attacks if she is at her best (she was fifth here in 2024, so the course is well-suited to her). One problem that Longo-Borghini could face is a lack of team support during the race compared to the likes of FDJ Suez and SD Worx – it is going to be hard for her to go up against them if she is isolated in the finale.
Lorena Wiebes
Lorena Wiebes will need to do everything she can to respond to the attacks of climbers in the peloton on Sunday if she wants a chance of righting her mistakes in this race. Her second place finish in 2024 after that dreaded early celebration will have given the SD Worx-Protime rider confidence that she does have the climbing ability to make it to the end of Amstel Gold Race and her seven wins already this season will give her belief that she can win the sprint if she gets herself in the right position. Paradoxically, the strong team that SD Worx-Protime brings to Amstel could also be Wiebes’ biggest obstacle when it comes to taking victory here.
As usual, the Dutch squad has a plethora of options with world champion Lotte Kopecky and former winner of this race Anna van der Breggen both taking to the start. Kopecky’s Tour of Flanders win just a few weeks ago showed how well she is climbing and Van der Breggen will be a good option for the team when it comes to following early attacks on the climbs. Should Kopecky and Wiebes both come to the finish line in the front group, the team will have choices to make regarding who goes for the victory, a problem that SD Worx haven’t navigated particularly well in the past. Although having such a strong line-up of potential winners could be an asset, it could also be SD Worx’s downfall this weekend.
Elisa Balsamo
Another rider who will have their fingers crossed for a bunch finish is Elisa Balsamo of Lidl-Trek. She is one of the few sprinters able to challenge Wiebes at the end of a tough race and has had a spectacularly strong season so far. Her most recent victory came at the Belgian semi-Classic, Scheldeprijs, where she outsprinted Charlotte Kool after a flat day in Flanders. However, Balsamo’s climbing ability has also impressed this year – she made it over the undulating course of Trofeo Binda to win there a few months ago and also looked good on the bergs of Dwars door Vlaanderen where she was rewarded with a podium finish.
Balsamo opted to skip the Ardennes last season but has finished in the top-10 of Amstel Gold Race before. Balsamo has a strong team supporting her with the experience of Lizzie Deignan expected to be crucial, while riders such as Lucinda Brand and Anna Henderson are also potential winners in their own right. It is likely that Lidl-Trek will be focused on keeping things controlled to give Balsamo a chance to sprint, but they will need to be alert to attacks and be prepared to alter their strategy as needed.
Kasia Niewiadoma
Tour de France Femmes champion Kasia Niewiadoma has had a complicated start to her season which has been marred by crashes and injury. However, the Canyon//SRAM-zondacrypto rider looked to be back to her best at the Tour of Flanders last weekend, narrowly missing out on the podium after a strong, attacking race. One of the biggest wins of Niewiadoma’s career came at Amstel back in 2019, when she beat Annemiek van Vleuten in a two-up sprint to the finish line. Since then, Niewiadoma has been close to success again on multiple occasions, but has often made tactical errors or lacked the team support to finish it off. With Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig as a teammate in 2025, who has finished in the top-10 at Amstel before, Canyon//SRAM have more cards to play during the race – the likes of Neve Bradbury and Soraya Paladin could also be options for the German team. After a lacklustre start to the season, Canyon//SRAM will need to hold on to the belief that they can be up there with teams like FDJ Suez and SD Worx in this race.
Other contenders
Third place finisher at Milan-Sanremo, EF Education-Oatly’s Noemi Rüegg is a rider to keep an eye on in Amstel Gold Race. She is able to finish strongly after a tough day out as well as make it over the climbs. Likewise, Puck Pieterse of Fenix-Deceuninck should not be counted out in the Ardennes – the Dutchwoman rides with experience beyond her years and has consistently performed well on undulating terrain. She is yet to finish outside the top-10 this season despite riding every major Classic aside from Roubaix. Kim Le Court from AG Insurance-Soudal Team is another dark horse for Amstel Gold Race and the entire Ardennes week following her fifth place finishes at both the Tour of Flanders and Milan-Sanremo.
Movistar will be a team which we can expect to animate this race too, Liane Lippert and Marlen Reusser are attacking riders who will be looking for their opportunity. Lippert especially will be confident after her third place at the Tour of Flanders a few weeks ago.
Prediction
While the Amstel Gold Race is notoriously difficult to get right, we think that Demi Vollering is going to return to racing in flying form and take the first victory of the Ardennes week with her FDJ-Suez team.
