Friday 14 April 2017 at 20h38

This Sunday, the only Dutch classic, the Amstel Gold Race, which will take place between Maastricht and ... the Rijksweg in Vilt. Indeed, since 2013, the finish is no longer on top of the Cauberg in Valkenburg but at the same location as where the finish of the races of the 2012 World Championships took place.

The race route of the Amstel Gold Race 2017 - the 52nd edition of the race - is a little bit different from last year and the race now contains two additional climbs (and one less climb of the Cauberg, which brings the total number of climbs to 35), in the race route of this race which is part of the UCI WorldTour (in 2011 the number of climbs went up from 31 to 32 and in 2012 it went back down to 31, before going up to 34 in 2013 and now thus 35 in 2017). In this article you'll find the time- and route schedule and the race route on Google Maps and you can also download the race route in Google Earth in order to do a virtual flyover for example.

The evolutions in the race route of the Amstel Gold Race in 2017

Compared to 2016, there are two main changes in the Amstel Gold Race race route this year:

• In the second circuit (green on the map), when the riders arrive in Sint Geertruid (at the south-western point of the race), they don't go straight on but turn right towards Withuis and Mesch, and when getting back to Sint Geertruid they'll climb the Mescherberg and the Kalleberg which are two new climbs for this race
• After having moved away the finish of the race in 2013 already so it now no longer takes place on top of the Cauberg, a shortcut in the last circuit of the race will allow it not to integrate the Cauberg in this circuit anymore, which should prevent the race from being decided in this last circuit only as it was often the case before; the last climb (out of 3) of the Cauberg will thus be at a bit under 19 kilometers from the finish

The description of the Amstel Gold Race 2017 race route

After the start on the Markt in Maastricht, the riders will first go off north up to Geulle where they'll turn right to climb the Slingerberg which is rapidly followed by a combination of climbs with the Adsteeg and the Lange Raarberg.
A bit further, just before the riders arrive on the portion of the race route which will be done several times, they'll climb the Bergseweg, followed by the Sibbergrubbe, Cauberg and a first crossing of the finish line in Vilt (the blue part on the map).

The riders will then get on the first circuit around the finish city, a circuit which is 121 km long and which starts with the climb of the Geulhemmerberg followed by a descent down to the border with Belgium and thus a short detour which allows to get onto the climbs of the Mescherberg and the Kalleberg. They'll then follow the border to get onto the Wolfsberg and the Loorberg, followed by a short sidetrip north to get close to the Gulpenerberg but without getting to its summit because they go back south via the climb of the Schweibergerweg and again follow the border with the climb of Camerig, a short sidetrip towards Vijlen going off to the Drielandenpunt (a short climb where The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium have one point in common), the climb of Gemmenich just on the other side of the Belgian border and the Vijlenerbos once they get back in The Netherlands. This part of the race route is green on the map.

In the purple part of the race route, the riders will then climb the Eperheide and, going north on the same race route as where they came from, they'll switch to another route to climb the Gulpenerberg and the Plettenberg, Eyserweg, Sint Remigiusstraat, Vrakelberg and again the combination of Sibbergrubbe and Cauberg followed by the second crossing of the finish line.

The 2nd circuit around the finish line, 67.5 kilometers long and drawn in red on the map, again contains the climb of the Geulhemmerberg. After a back-and-forth portion south of Maastricht/Bemelen, the riders will turn right and go on to the climb of the Bemelerberg before they get back down to the race route of the green circuit where, this time, after the Loorberg, they'll cut straight through before they turn left towards the Gulpenerberg which will be followed by the Kruisberg (instead of turning towards the Plettenberg like in the first circuit) followed by the Eyserbosweg and the Fromberg. The peloton then turns left in Schin op Geul to get onto the Keutenberg followed by the third and now thus last climb of the Cauberg which will this time be followed by a final circuit (orange on the map) which is similar to the circuit used for the 2012 World Championships but which follows the same circuit as in the previous laps in this race and thus contains the climb of the Geulhemmerberg in addition to the Bemelerberg. This time it'll thus not contain the Cauberg!

The race will start at 10.20AM and the finish is expected to be around 4.57PM. The total distance will be 12.3 kilometers longer than last year: 261 kilometers.

The time- and route schedule and the race route of the Amstel Gold Race 2017 on Google Maps

Hereunder you'll find a map drawn on Google Maps, the profile and the time- and route schedule (with the timings for when the race crosses the differents cities and towns on the race route) of the Amstel Gold Race 2017. Click on the images to open them.

In order to make it easier to "read" the map, the race route is shown in five parts: the first one in blue, the second one in green, the third one in purple and the fourth one in red. The last circuit, 16.2 kilometers long, is shown in orange.

The Amstel Gold Race 2017 race route in Google Earth

Do you prefer to view the race route of the Amstel Gold Race 2017 in Google Earth, for example in order to do a virtual fly-over of the race route? Download the KML file below to do so:

>> Download the Amstel Gold Race 2017 race route in Google Earth



This file not only allows you to see the full race route in Google Earth but you can also do a virtual fly-over of the race route with it.

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Classics | OpenStreetMap/Google Maps/Google Earth

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