The Amstel Gold Race is a road bicycle race held (mostly) in the southern part of the province of Limburg, Netherlands. Since 1989 it has been among the races included in season long rankings tables, as part of the UCI Road World Cup (1989–2004), the UCI ProTour (2005–2010), UCI World Ranking (2009–2010) and from 2011 the UCI World Tour. It is the most important road cycling event of the Netherlands.
The name does not directly refer to the river Amstel, which is far away from the course, but to the sponsor, the Amstel brewery.
Famous quotes containing the words gold and/or race:
“We are born with luck
which is to say with gold in our mouth.
As new and smooth as a grape,
as pure as a pond in Alaska,
as good as the stem of a green bean
we are born and that ought to be enough....”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Many times man lives and dies
Betweeen his two eternities,
That of race and that of soul,
And ancient Ireland knew it all.
Whether man die in his bed
Or the rifle knocks him dead,”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)