How to Train for the Amstel Gold Race Sportive

South Limburg is the only part of the Netherlands with real hills, and the Amstel Gold Race uses nearly all of them. On the Saturday before the pro race, thousands of riders start in Valkenburg on one of six distances. The longest one lists 24 climbs, from the Geulhemmerberg early on to the Keutenberg and the Cauberg at the end.

None of those climbs is long. What makes the day hard is that they never stop: a short ramp, a descent, a turn, and the next one. This page turns that course into training decisions.

TL;DR: Register in October and wait for the draw; you only pay once you are in. Train for dozens of short climbs, not one long one: efforts of one to four minutes, repeated, with little recovery in between. Fit low gears, because the Keutenberg is steep and comes late. Start in the quiet part of your start window, ride the first hour easy, eat on every flat stretch, and keep something for the Cauberg.

How do you get a place?

The sportive works with a lottery. You register for free during October, and the draw follows in early November. Only riders who are drawn get an email to pay, and your place is final once you pay. Places that stay unpaid go to a second draw a few weeks later, so if you miss out the first time, you still have a chance. The facts at the top show the dates and fee of the next edition.

Which distance should you ride?

You can choose between 65, 100, 125, 150, 200 and 240 km. Every route finishes over the Cauberg. From 150 km, the routes add the steeper climbs south of Valkenburg, with the Eyserbosweg and the Keutenberg near the end. The 150 and 240 km also ride to Vaals and over the Vaalserberg, the highest point of the mainland Netherlands.

• 65 to 125 km suit riders who want to taste the climbs without spending the whole day on the bike.
• 150 km is where the route gets the Eyserbosweg and the Keutenberg, and where the climbing jumps to almost 2,000 metres.
• 200 and 240 km start early, between 6:30 and 9:00, and take most riders the full day.

Pick the distance you can finish with something left. The best part of the course comes in the last 30 kilometres, and you want to ride it, not survive it.

What makes the Amstel course different?

• It climbs all day. On the 240 km, 2,715 metres of climbing come in short pieces. You rarely ride more than a few kilometres without a ramp, so the rhythm of a long, steady ride never settles in.
• It never stops turning. Narrow roads, sharp corners, short descents into the next climb. Corners and descents cost energy too, and in a big field they ask for attention all day.
• The hardest climbs come late. From 150 km, the Eyserbosweg and the Keutenberg sit in the final part of the route, and the Cauberg closes the day. That is where riders who went too fast in the first hours lose most time.
• It is mid April. Mornings in Limburg can be cold and the weather changes fast. A start at 6:30 can be a few degrees above zero.

How do you train for dozens of short climbs?

1. Build your base through winter. Long, easy rides, with your weekly volume growing slowly. The event falls in mid April, so much of your build-up runs through the cold months; plan some of it on the indoor trainer.
2. From about eight weeks out, add repeated efforts. Intervals of one to four minutes above threshold, with short recoveries, are the closest thing to a row of Limburg climbs. If you have a short hill nearby, ride it over and over.
3. Ride hilly routes, not just long ones. If you live somewhere flat, use the indoor trainer for climbing blocks, or look for bridges, dikes and headwind as a stand-in. Your legs need to learn to change rhythm all the time.
4. Put the hard work at the end of a long ride. The Keutenberg and the Cauberg come when you are tired. Practise climbing on tired legs.
5. Taper in the last ten days. Less volume, a few short efforts, so your legs feel sharp on Saturday.

If you train with power, keep the efforts honest: hard on the climbs, truly easy between them.

How do you set up your bike?

• Fit low gears. A compact crankset with a large cassette lets you stay seated on the steep parts of the Keutenberg and the Eyserbosweg. Running out of gears on a steep ramp costs more than a few extra grams.
• Check your brakes and tyres. You will descend dozens of times, often on narrow, wet roads. Fresh brake pads and tyres with grip matter more than aero.
• Bring layers. Arm warmers, a vest and a rain jacket in your pocket let you adjust when the morning turns into a mild afternoon.

How do you pace and fuel the day?

• Start in a quiet moment. You choose your own start time within your window. Starting at the very beginning or a bit later keeps you out of the busiest part of the field, which matters on narrow roads and on the first climbs.
• Ride every climb at an effort you can repeat. The first ones feel easy. Ride them at the effort you can still hold on the twentieth.
• Eat on the flat stretches. With a climb every few kilometres, the moments to eat are short. Plan 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, practise that in training, and eat whenever the road allows it.
• Use the feed stations, but carry your own. The feed stations hand out fruit, sports food and drinks. Products can change by edition; bring what you know works.

How does a coach help for a race like the Amstel Gold Race?

The Amstel Gold Race asks for a kind of fitness that long, steady rides do not build on their own: the ability to go hard, recover a little, and go hard again, all day. A coach builds that into your winter, adjusts the plan when the weather or your week gets in the way, and helps you choose a distance that fits your training. A coach also helps with the decisions on this page: how hard to ride the climbs, how much to eat, when to start.

On Coachbox you can tell us exactly that. Choose “Help me find a coach” when you sign up, give the Amstel Gold Race sportive as your goal, and we introduce you to a coach who fits.

Every fact on this page has a source

Date, lottery, distances, climbs, start windows and feed stations come from the organiser’s own pages, linked in the facts at the top. The climate figures come from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI). We checked them on the date shown there. The climbs and the finish on the Cauberg stay; the routes, feed stations and fee can change by edition, and we update the facts at the top when the organiser publishes them.