Philippe Gilbert (BMC) finished fifth Sunday at Amstel Gold Race after furiously chasing solo winner Roman Kreuziger (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff) up the final climb.

Kreuziger attacked a small group with seven km to go in the 251.8 km race that was run in sunshine and warm temperatures. Gilbert charged out of the peloton at the base of the Cauberg, but the world road champion and a small group of chasers could not close the gap as Kreuziger won by 22 seconds. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) finished second and Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE) was third. “It was hard at the end, there was a lot of wind and we were only with three from our team,” Gilbert said. “I tried it at the Cauberg. But it wasn't enough; they came back and I just missed the podium.”

Gilbert had a bit of a scare with about 90 km to go when a pile-up split the peloton. Though he was unhurt, Gilbert needed a new bike and, with the help of several teammates, eventually rejoined the peloton after a chase of more than 15 km. “It took a lot of work,” BMC Racing Team General Manager, Jim Ochowicz, said. “We lost two or three riders in the process. The gap gets quite large when you're on the ground and need a bike change. It's not like 30 seconds – it was more like two minutes.”