Mathieu van der Poel lies on the ground, his racing bike at his feet, and around him congratulants crowd the cyclist. Photographers and reporters are looking for gaps in their cameras to capture this moment: Van der Poel had just won the Amstel Gold Race from Maastricht to Berg en Terblijt in such an impressive and exhausting manner. It was the first home victory of a Dutchman in 18 years. Simon Clarke finished second ahead of Jakob Fuglsang.

It had all initially looked like the Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe and the Dane Fuglsang after 265.7 kilometers would make the victory among themselves. But around 500 meters before the end of the 24-year-old van der Poel at the head of the chasing group had closed the gap to the long-running top duo single-handedly. A look over his right shoulder, a look over his left shoulder - and when he saw that nobody would go, van der Poel pulled on, sprinted past the leader on the right and with a length of the wheel over the finish line, before the wheel cross world champion and Shaking his head, he went down.

"CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!" @ Mathieuvdpoel comes from OVER A MINUTE back to win an absolutely astonishing # AmstelGold2019

One of the greatest race finishes in recent memory. pic.twitter.com/Z0SzcrYVtH

- Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) 21st April 2019

Behind van der Poel Clarke came to the finish. Fuglsang was still able to secure third place, Tour de France mountain king Alaphilippe had to settle for fourth. Maximilian Schachmann finished fifth best German. Again without success in the classic season stayed Peter Sagan. The three-time Road World Champion climbed off the bike just under ten kilometers before the end of the race.