'Chance of women's race is 50-50,' says race director
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The peloton climbing during the 2015 Amstel Gold Race(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Amstel beer for the Amstel Gold Race podium(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Amstel Gold Race organiser Leo van Vliet has said that he has discussed the prospect of holding a women’s event in the near future. Speaking to Limburg television channel L1, van Vliet said that there was a 50-50 chance a race would go ahead.
"I personally am certainly no opponent and we are one of the few races that have not yet," van Vliet said. "We must also be ready, it's quite a burden for an organization. We think about it and have been there several people talked about, such as [Limburg Provincial Executive of Finance, Sports and Culture – Ger] Koopmans.”
Van Vliet added that the one sticking point could be the manpower required to put on an event of such size.
“The aging of the traffic controllers is a problem,” he said. “If we do it, we want to do well, but it is certainly not impossible."
It has become common for races to add a women’s event to their programme on the day before or day of the men’s race. Races such as the Tour of Flanders, Gent-Wevelgem, Strade Bianche and Fleche Wallonne all have women’s events. This year has seen the Tour de Yorkshire and RideLondon offer record amounts of money for their women’s races.
The Amstel Gold Race began in 1966 and celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. It takes the riders on several laps of the Limburg region’s climbs before finishing just after the iconic Cauberg. The men’s event will be held this Sunday with defending champion Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) leading the list of favourites.
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