After a successful campaign at the northern classics, a victory in the Tour of Flanders, and 2nd place in Paris–Roubaix, Tadej also put on a spectacle in the first of three Ardennes one-day races. In the 59th Amstel Gold Race, after his UAE Team Emirates – XRG teammates set the pace for him for a long time, he followed an attack by Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) 48 kilometers from the finish. However, he and the French star did not ride together for long.
On the Kruisberg climb, Tadej was stronger and found himself alone at the front 43 kilometers from the finish of the 255.9-kilometer race. He gained a good half-minute advantage, then Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl Trek) was the first to chase after him. Soon after, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick Step) followed, catching the Dane, and together they caught up with Tadej 8 kilometers from the finish.
The winner was decided in a sprint of the top three, in which Skjelmose narrowly beat Tadej by a few centimeters. »It was a nice race, good for us In the end, the finish line was unfortunately five meters too far for me. When I went with Alaphilippe, I hoped he would stay with me longer. Maybe we were too enthusiastic in the first attack. I tried to go alone to the end, but when Remco caught Skjelmose, I was chased by two. In the last 15 km, there was a strong headwind, in which I couldn’t increase the gap, so I decided to wait for them and try to beat them in the sprint. It was a bit of a gamble and I finished 2nd,« Tadej said about the outcome of the race. He raced against Evenepoel for the first time this year, as the Belgian star only started the 2025 season this week due to a heavy crash in December.
»I expected Remco to be so strong, he showed everyone again that he is in top form, but in the finish, Skjelmose was the strongest,« added Tadej. He faces La Fleche Wallonne on Wednesday and the fourth monument of the season, Liege–Bastogne–Liege, next Sunday.