Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition

Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition is the women's WorldTour classic, a one-day bike race held each April in Limburg. First run from 2001 to 2003 and back since 2017 as part of the Women's WorldTour, it threads through rolling terrain and repeated short climbs that reward tactical sharpness over a single explosive effort.

Amstel Gold Race Women is the Dutch hill classic for the women’s peloton, run from Maastricht over the climbs of South Limburg to a finish in Berg en Terblijt, beyond the top of the Cauberg. Officially the Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition, it was held from 2001 to 2003 and has been back since 2017.

Mansveld, Van Moorsel and Cooke: the editions of 2001 to 2003

Debby Mansveld won the first women’s Amstel Gold Race in 2001, ahead of Mirjam Melchers and Leontien van Moorsel. Van Moorsel won the next year, again with Melchers second, and Nicole Cooke won in 2003.

Then the race was dropped. The women had raced slowly in 2003 and the men fast, the two races threatened to run into each other on the road, and the organizer cut the women’s race. When it came back, Van Moorsel was its race director. “I still consider my own win at the Amstel Gold Race in 2002 one of the greatest victories of my career,” she wrote in the 2025 race guide.

The 2017 return: Van der Breggen alone and a tie for third

The fourth edition came 14 years after the third, on April 16, 2017, over 121 kilometers and 17 climbs. A women’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège was new that spring and La Flèche Wallonne already existed, so the women had a full Ardennes week for the first time. Annemiek van Vleuten had been a professional for ten years and was riding Amstel for the first time.

Van Vleuten attacked on the third climb of the Bemelerberg, and Anna van der Breggen went with her across to a front group that became six riders. Less than a kilometer later Van der Breggen attacked, reached the foot of the last Cauberg 30 seconds ahead and finished alone. Her Boels-Dolmans teammate Lizzie Deignan won the sprint for second, and Kasia Niewiadoma and Van Vleuten were given a tie for third.

The Cauberg and the 1.8 kilometers after it

The Cauberg climbs out of Valkenburg, and the finish is 1.8 kilometers beyond its top. In 2019 Niewiadoma rode away from a group of 15 on the last ascent. Van Vleuten, then the world time trial champion, closed on her all the way to the finish and was on her wheel when Niewiadoma sat up to celebrate in the last 15 meters.

Marta Cavalli waited until the top in 2022. Seven riders came together as the climb flattened out, and she attacked 1,800 meters from the line and won by three seconds. She had planned it: “We spoke about this moment on the recon,” she said, and the plan was to attack from the back of the group when the riders at the front slowed after the Cauberg.

Demi Vollering was second in both 2021 and 2022. In 2023 she attacked at the top of the Cauberg herself and rode the last 1,700 meters alone, while her teammate Lotte Kopecky sat on the chasers and then won the sprint for second. In 2025 Mischa Bredewold dropped Ellen van Dijk on the Cauberg and held on to win by seven seconds from four chasers, with Van Dijk second.

Marianne Vos, the only two-time winner

Through 2026 Marianne Vos was the only rider to have won the women’s race twice, and both wins were sprints. The 2021 race was seven laps of a circuit around Valkenburg, 116.3 kilometers in all. Niewiadoma and Elisa Longo Borghini went clear on the last climb of the Cauberg and were caught 350 meters from the line. Vos raised her arms 20 meters before the finish and still beat Vollering by a wheel’s length. She had won the 2012 world championship in Valkenburg on a similar course.

The 2024 race was stopped after 46 kilometers because of an accident involving a police motorcycle outrider, and after an hour’s break three laps of the finishing circuit were left. Nineteen riders were together at the top of the last Cauberg. This time Lorena Wiebes sat up to celebrate before the line, and Vos threw her bike past her.

Paula Blasi’s 2026 solo on a longer course

The 2019 race was 126.8 kilometers with 19 climbs, and 2022 was 128.5. In 2024 the organizer lengthened it to 157 kilometers, which Van Moorsel put down to the growing depth of the women’s field. The 2026 edition was 158.1 kilometers with 21 climbs, five of them the Cauberg.

Paula Blasi, 23, rode it for the first time in 2026 and had been dropped five minutes before she made her move. She bridged to Nienke Vinke with 25 kilometers to go, left her on the Cauberg with a lap of 20 kilometers still to ride and built a lead of more than a minute. Niewiadoma and Vollering attacked on the final Cauberg, and Blasi still won by 27 seconds. “I wasn’t even supposed to be here,” she said. “I just signed up yesterday because we had some injuries and sickness.”

This race has crowned some of the most complete riders in women's cycling. Marianne Vos, Anna van der Breggen, and Demi Vollering have all won here, often by making the right move at the right moment rather than simply overpowering the field. The nine editions from 2017 to 2026 had eight different winners, which makes it one of the more open spring classics. It opens Ardennes week, ahead of Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, which means form is peaking and pressure is high.