Informed of his victory by means of the radio of the test of his victory, Cosnefroy became disillusioned after a few moments.

The jury announced Kwiatkowski's victory, his second in Valkenburg, six years after his first success in the only classic held in the Netherlands.

The scenario of 2021, the sprint won by a hair by the Belgian Wout van Aert in front of the Briton Tom Pidcock, was repeated a year later.

With a favorable outcome this time for the representative of the Ineos team, the most powerful formation in the peloton but with the domination that began three seasons ago.

"After the race, we didn't know, it was very confusing," Kwiatkowski said.

But I learned from what happened to Tom (Pidcock) last year, we have to wait for the photo-finish”.

The 31-year-old Pole paid tribute to the action of Cosnefroy, his breakaway companion in the last 19 kilometers.

"He did a lot of work", noted the 2014 world champion. "It was not up to me to make the gap, I had Pidcock in the group behind".

It goes to Kwiatkowski, an expert in tactics, the merit of having provoked the selection of a group of 11 riders in the Keutenberg, 35 kilometers from the finish.

Then to have found the opening, at the entrance of the final lap of the circuit (22 km), a few moments before seeing Cosnefroy return, very enterprising.

"A beautiful podium" for Cosnefroy

In the chasing group, Pidcock controlled the counter-attackers and the last stand of the favorite, the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, to close the gap of about twenty seconds, could not succeed unlike the 2019 edition.

"With Kwiatkowski and Pidcock in the squad, I knew it would be tough," van der Poel admitted.

"It was very tactical and I didn't have the legs to pick up everyone. It's not the race that suits me best, compared to the Tour of Flanders", the great classic that he is auctioned seven days earlier.

If Kwiatkowski added an additional line to a list of very high quality classics (Milan-Sanremo, Strade Bianche, Clasica San Sebastian), Cosnefroy came close to achieving a feat in his chosen field, the Ardennes classics.

The Norman puncher, world champion hopes in 2018, had already ranked second in 2020 of the Flèche wallonne.

"It's a great podium, I'm happy with it," consoled the rider of the AG2R Citroën team, who signed the best French performance since Bernard Hinault's victory in 1981. Jean Stablinski, winner of the first edition in 1966, is the only other Frenchman on the list.

The joy of the Polish Michał Kwiatkowski, winner of the Amstel Gold Race in front of the French Benoît Cosnefroy (g) at the photo-finish and the Belgian Itejs Benoot, on April 10, 2022 in Valkenburg Vincent Jannink ANP / AFP

"I would have preferred to win against + Kwiato + in the sprint but he was faster than me, it was played out little", estimated Cosnefroy who projected himself on the next Ardennes meetings, on the other side from the border with Belgium, Flèche Wallonne (April 20) and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (April 24).

But before that, van der Poel and the other cobblestone specialists, in particular the remarkable Swiss Stefan Küng in the hills of Limburg (8th), have Paris-Roubaix, next Sunday, on their program.

© 2022 AFP