Confirmation for Di Luca, disappointment for Boogerd, satisfaction for Celestino

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Watching...(Image credit: Elmar Krings)

An interview with the Amstel Gold Race podium, April 18, 2005

There were, as always, mixed emotions among the three place getters after Sunday's 40th Amstel Gold Race, which finished in an uncharacteristic 30 rider bunch sprint on the Cauberg. But there were some similarities to last year's race, where Michael Boogerd was outgunned by a very strong Davide Rebellin in a two man sprint after Boogerd had led out from a long way out. This year, eventual winner Danilo Di Luca came off Boogerd's wheel with 150m to go, after the Dutchman had led out from 300m, and again made it look easy as he crossed the line with a few bike lengths to spare on Boogerd. And last year, Di Luca was fourth, whereas this year it was Rebellin's turn to finish fourth.

Both Rebellin and Di Luca said that their respective Amstel Gold Race wins were proof that they were back in business after previous seasons of health problems. "Of course [this was special] because last year I had a very bad year," said Di Luca. "In the Tour of the Basque Country, I was in excellent condition - the time trial there was the best one I have done since I was an amateur. So it was already a new start in the Basque Country, but today is really the day. I hope now for my future that it's on again."

Although the results and the final 300 metres of the last two years looked similar, the lead-up to the finishes was quite different. Last year, Rebellin and Boogerd had escaped on the Fromberg with 17 km to go, and finished 18 seconds clear of the Bettini/Di Luca led chase group. This year, Boogerd, Di Luca (and Rebellin) were relatively sheltered by their teams until the foot of the last climb. Despite his good record here, Boogerd specified that he was working for the team's World Champion sprinter Oscar Freire.

After Dekker and Kroon had pulled the bunch up the first half of the Cauberg, it was Boogerd's job to launch Oscar to the line with a lead out. The first half of the climb went according to plan, but then Slovenian champion Uros Murn (Phonak) made a pre-emptive move at 500m to go, forcing Boogerd to accelerate after him and causing Freire to be dropped, with Di Luca taking his place on Boogerd's wheel. The Rabobank plan was contingent on Freire being able to finish it off, and on a rare occasion, he let the team down.

Sipping on a glass of the sponsor's product post-race, Michael Boogerd admitted there were similarities with his two second places in two years, adding, "Except this year I was stronger than last year...I felt very strong the whole day, but I had no possibility to break away even if I wanted to, because we had Kroon in the lead [Kroon was in a break that got caught with 4 km to go - ed.]. On the other hand, I was feeling very good at the foot of the final climb of the Cauberg because I just waited the whole race in the wheels.

"Maybe somebody will do that but I think we'll have to wait many years before seeing that again," said the Liquigas rider. "It's very difficult because what I saw today is that there are so many riders in top condition. What I want to do most of all is to win Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Because I won today, I will be very calm and I won't put any pressure on myself. It would really be a dream to win Liege-Bastogne-Liege, because from when I was a young rider, I thought it was the most beautiful of all the classics."