Blazin' Saddles: Amstel Gold loses its gleam despite Enrico Gasparotto heroics

If the 34 climbs that litter the Amstel Gold Race were proceeded with a fraction the anticipation and greeted with merely a modicum of the same excitement as the 27 cobbled sections of Paris-Roubaix then we'd have a half-decent race. As it is, the Netherlands' big day in the pro-cycling calendar (besides when the Giro d'Italia comes to town every few years, or when Alpe d'Huez appears on the Tour de France parcours) is as dull as watching the painted names of the race favourites dry on the Cauberg.

Favourites, it's worth adding, who just did not show up on Sunday.

Michael Matthews thanked his Orica-GreenEdge team-mates – and in particular yo-yoing Swiss Michael Albasini and last Sunday's Paris-Roubaix winner Mat Hayman – for all their hard work by finishing fifth after failing to match the decisive moves on the fourth and final ascent of the famous climb out of Valkenberg.

Team Sky vanished as soon as defending champion Michal Kwiatkowski blew on the penultimate ascent of the Cauberg, while BMC's plans were derailed when former triple winner Philippe Gilbert – on his return from fracturing a finger after a spat with a drunken driver – popped with 35km remaining.

For all their promise, Julian Alaphilippe and Petr Vakoc couldn't have an impact on the final for Etixx-QuickStep, while Katusha's Joaquim Rodriguez saw his chances disappear after clipping the pavement and crashing with 70-odd kilometres remaining – a not entirely dissimilar fate to Alexis Vuillermoz (Ag2R-La Mondiale). Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) fought back on after being dropped with Gilbert, but was distanced again on the penultimate climb of the Cauberg, by which time Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) had also gone kaput.

If this all sounds rather eventful then think again. These riders went with a whimper, not a bang. It was as if someone had told them there were heat-seeking cameras filming the finale... But seriously, the actual race was a snore-fest of epic proportions, the most excitement coming from the black clouds that lurked as the break found themselves being slowly, gradually, inevitably reeled in.

Chapeau to Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff) and Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) for at least trying to throw a cat among the pigeons, or Enrico the Canary for those of you at all familiar with Harry Secombe's back catalogue and the adventures of 70s musical troupe Captain Beaky and His Band.

For all the class that peppered the startlist no-one would have predicted a final podium of Enrico Gasparotto (Wanty-Groupe Goubert), Michael Valgren (Tinkoff) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bardiani Valvole). That said, such a statement is aimed rather at the lower rungs of the podium than the man who stood atop on Sunday. After all, Italian veteran Gasparotto had won here in 2012 before the course changed to 1.8km beyond the Cauberg summit, and has built his season entirely around Ardennes Week.

Gasparotto also had the memory of a team-mate to ride for – three weeks after the tragic death of Belgian rider Antoine Demoitié. 34-year-old Gasparotto admitted he had been both saddened and shaken by his young team-mate's death, but had gone on a solo training camp to Tenerife – instead of attending Demoitié's funeral – with his team's blessing, precisely so he could be in the best possible shape to take a win in Demoitié's memory.

After Wanty's Dimitri Claeys won plaudits for his superb ride and top ten in the Tour of Flanders, the Ardennes provided old-hand Gasparotto a chance to do his bit in helping the team recover from such an horrific loss – and the emotion was palpable as the former Astana rider pointed to the skies on winning, before celebrating wildly with the Wanty-Groupe Goubert staff.

And if the race as a whole did not live up to many people's expectations...

… others were mightily impressed by Gasparotto's measured performance, as the Italian led the charge of Pro-Continental minnows against the big fish of the WorldTour (the final place on the podium was fought between two Pro-Conti riders in Colbrelli and Direct Energie's Bryan Coquard).

Indeed, Sykes, the celebrated cycling scribe, was lavish in his praise of Gasparotto, on whom he wrote an Ardennes special last summer for Procycling magazine (it's worth adding that since finishing third in 2010, Gasparotto has only once finished outside the top 10 in Amstel Gold).

He put in a textbook ride as he surged clear in the small ring on the Cauberg before joining forces with Valgren and sitting in the young Dane's wheel ahead of his final kick to the line. Gasparotto was also good value for money in his post-race interview, telling it very much like it was (that's to say, showing up the relative inexperience of his 24-year-old co-attacker).

"I wouldn't have won if I'd been alone because there was a super strong headwind over the top. I was maybe lucky that it wasn't [Valgren's Tinkoff team-mate and 2013 Amstel Gold winner] Roman Kreuziger either, because we would have played a bit before the sprint. Instead, Valgren was happy to pull to make sure he came second at least, and I was able to wait and wait for the sprint," he said, candidly.

If it was a masterclass of a finish then it mirrored the absurdity of the start of the race, where we witnessed another Italian, Fabio Felline of Trek-Segafredo, being catapulted over his handlebars after apparently getting his fingers caught in the spokes of his bike in the neutral zone.

Felline was unable to continue the race and was taken to hospital for treatment on a fractured skull and broken nose. Thankfully he is now on the mend and was even able to tweet about his mishap (presumably he's right handed).

Other than Felline's crash, Gasparotto's brilliance and the collective underperformance of the big favourites, the big talking point of the day was Bob Jungels' jersey (which says it all) – the Luxembourg national champion taking to Twitter after the race to thank the home fans for their support, but remind them that he's not the rider that they seemed to think he was...

Here's a helping hand to help Dutch fans differentiation Jungels from his fellow Etixx-QuickStep rider Niki Terpstra...

If Sunday's race was tedious then at least things can only get better – and they have the chance to do so rather soon, what with the Flèche Wallonne taking place on Wednesday. The startlists are quite similar but there will be some new faces joining the fray including Ireland's Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep), Britain's Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) and Steve Cummings (Dimension Data), Colombian Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale) and, perhaps most significantly, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).

Already a three-time winner in the Flèche Wallonne, Valverde would become the outright record holder with a fourth win on Wednesday, moving ahead of Belgians Marcel Kint and Eddy Merckx, and Italians Moreno Argentin and Davide Rebellin.

Sunday was the first time Valverde had missed the Amstel Gold Race since 2004 as the Spanish veteran instead chose to ride the three-day stage race La Vuelta a Castilla y Leon ahead of his maiden appearance in the Giro d'Italia next month. Winning the overall plus two stages was ideal preparation for Valverde, who last year did a Flèche Wallonne/Liège-Bastogne-Liège double.

Winner of the past two editions, the 35-year-old will be the outright favourite for making history on Wednesday before switching his focus to Liège, where a fourth triumph would move him within one win of Merckx's all-time record in La Doyenne next Sunday.

One rider who won't be joining Valverde for either race despite his initial intentions is Italian Fabio Aru of Astana, who failed to finish Amstel Gold due to recurring pain from his crash in Pais Vasco earlier in the month. Aru will now concentrate on getting fit in time for the Tour de France in July.

Although not a Monument, the Flèche Walloone is one of the biggest races in Belgium and concludes atop a third ascent of the brutal Mur de Huy climb. With former winners Valverde, Daniel Moreno (Movistar), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and Gilbert (BMC) all taking to the start – plus a cluster of big names who could make a serious splash – let's be hoping for more drama than the Amstel Gold, a race about as interesting as the fizzy lager from which its takes its name.