Upcoming: 43rd Amstel Gold race, April 20, 2008

Bring on the hills, bring on the beer! The 43rd Amstel Gold race, sponsored by the popular light beer, winds through the Valkenburg zone of Holland this Sunday. A tough, technical course, the Amstel is a highly coveted classic as it begins the Ardennes classics, those hilly races that take place in late April each year. Last year’s winner Stefan Schumacher will be back again to defend his title in 2008, and the 2006 winner Frank Schleck will hope to turn the screws on the field on behalf of his CSC team.

Other favorites for the Dutch classic include Schumacher’s teammate Davide Rebellin, recent winner of Paris-Nice, and Fabian Wegmann, reigning German national champion. Caisse d’Epargne’s Luis Leon Sanchez and Alejandro Valverde will contend for Spain, as will Oscar Freire Gomez, as the Rabobank sprinter turned everyman has made it clear to the press that he’ll be targeting the Amstel for the victory.

Will it be Frank again at the Amstel, or his brother Andy?

For Italy, Italian national champion Giovanni Visconti will be at the front for his Quick Step team, and “The Cobra,” Riccardo Ricco, will hope for a good result after a less than impressive early season. Last of the Italians will be Lampre’s Damiano Cunego, who showed well recently with a morale building win at the recent Klasika Primevera. He’ll hope for his first Ardennes classic win at the Amstel.

The Amstel Gold Race: The Best from Holland

Other names to watch include Astana’s Vladimir Gusev, Francasie des Jeux’s 2008 Het Volk winner Phillipe Gilbert, CSC’s Karsten Kroon and Andy Schleck, and High Road’s Kim Kirchin. The winner of the 2008 Amstel will possess two qualities: good legs and a good head. Winning the Amstel depends as much on one’s tactics as it does on their form, as finding the right moment to attack is difficult in the year’s first hilly classic.

The teams looking best set up to take the win are CSC, with the two Schlecks, Kroon and Kolobnev; Gerolsteiner with Schumacher and Rebellin; and Rabobank with their combo of Freire and Gesink. As the drunken Dutch fans wildly cheer on the peloton, look for many tactical fireworks in the youngest of the hilly classics.