 Scleck produced a timely break in the race's dying stages |
Luxembourg's Frank Schleck upstaged the pre-race favourites to land a shock victory in the Amstel Gold Race. Schleck had broken clear of the peloton in a big group which also included 2004 champion Davide Rebellin and one-day race specialist Paolo Bettini.
But neither Rebellin or Bettini could go with Schleck, who rides for CSC, as he opened up a 30-second advantage.
Steffen Wesemann was second in the ProTour Series event in Holland while Michael Boogerd came home third.
Schleck's victory was the first by a Luxembourg rider in a major one-day classic since Marcel Erzner in Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 1954.
Amstel Gold Race results:
1 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC 6hrs 25mins 39s
2 Steffen Wesemann (Swi) T-Mobile Team +22 seconds
3 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank +46s
4 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team CSC +48s
5 Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger) T-Mobile Team same time
6 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner st
7 Miguel Martin Perdiguero (Spa) Phonak st
8 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quickstep-Innergetic +53s
9 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner +57s
10 Sergey Ivanov (Rus) T-Mobile +1:07s
MMIX
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