Cavalli attacked over the top of the Cauberg, the only one with the legs to do so after a stunning surge by Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) on the famous climb. Cavalli battled her way into the cross-headwind on the false flat finish and managed to hold off an elite group of classics riders to take the biggest win of her career, with Demi Vollering (SD Worx) leading home the chasers, with Liane Lippert (Team DSM) third.
"It is an incredible feeling, my biggest victory so far” said Cavalli. ""In the last 50km, I felt a bit tired. I have to thank my sports director [Nicolas Maire], when we were at the top of the Cauberg the last time, he pushed me on the radio, ‘Marta, this is your moment, we have nothing to lose’.
"We started the season with the motto ‘all or nothing’, I attacked, and when I looked back after 500 metres, I saw a big gap. Then it was just pushing until the finish line.”
Cavalli put down her win to a tactical discussion during the team’s recon of the course.
"We spoke about this moment on the recon, when you are in the back of a group after the Cauberg, and in the front they slow down, that is the key moment to attack," she said.
It was a vibrant start to racing in the 128-kilometre race of Amstel Gold, taking in 19 climbs in a return to the longer route before the final circuits around Valkenburg concluded the race, with the now-familiar finish a kilometre and a half from the summit of the famous Cauberg climb.
The attacks ebbed and flowed in the middle stages of the race, with van Vleuten prominent in the moves from the peloton as they traversed the tricky climbs and narrow roads of the Limburg region.
Van Vleuten, Niewiadoma, and Vollering attacked from an elite group on the ascent of the Keutenberg with 68km to go. Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (Team SD Worx), Lippert, Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo), Anna Henderson (Jumbo-Visma) and eventually Ane Santesteban (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) bridged to join the front group.
Their lead blew out to 45 seconds, but cooperation broke down and they were reabsorbed by the peloton as they entered the final three laps of the loop around Valkenburg. A number of attacks were neutralised from there, before a solo attack from Pauline Rooijakkers (Canyon-SRAM) saw her go clear with 33km to go.
After dangling off the front of the race, Amanda Spratt (BikeExchange-Jayco) and Arlenis Sierra (Movistar) attacked the peloton to join her, the trio quickly getting out to a dangerous 45 second lead with Rooijakers sitting on against her more fancied rivals.
That prompted an increase in tempo in the peloton and the front trio were within sight as they crested the Cauberg for the penultimate time, holding a slim lead over a rapidly dimishing peloton. Attacks from behind, including Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ), failed to bridge across to Spratt and her companions. The trio were eventually caught by the peloton with 10 kilometres to go as the teams prepared for the final ascent of the Cauberg.
The early pace-setting on the lower slopes with three kilometres to go was hard, but nothing compared to the fearsome surge van Vleuten launched, with Lippert clinging to her wheel and others scrambling to hold on behind.
As the climb flattened, van Vleuten came off the front, with the elite group of Lippert, Cavalli, Vollering, Ashleigh Moolman (SD Worx), Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) and Mavi Garcia the ones that looked like fighting it out for the win.
Cavalli launched what proved to be the decisive move with 1,800 metres to go, catching Moolman looking the wrong way on the front of the group as she attacked up the inside. She immediately got a gap, and with Vollering the only one with a teammate in the group and also the fastest sprinter, there was precious little cooperation in the chase as it became a Moolman versus Cavalli pursuit on the false flat up to the finish line.
Cavalli posted up to celebrate the biggest victory of her career, while behind Vollering hit her handlebars in frustration as she won the bunch sprint for second, edging out Lippert.
Australia’s top finisher was Alex Manly, continuing her good form since her return to the WorldTour this season.
The classics continue on SBS, with Paris-Roubaix up next with the women's race on Saturday April 16 with coverage starting on SBS at 2130 AEST, and the men's race on Sunday April 17 from 1855 AEST on SBS On Demand, with the SBS VICELAND coverage starting at 2130 AEST.
