Erik Dekker, 25 years after Amstel Gold Race victory: “I noticed Lance Armstrong was afraid of me”

Two years before Dekker’s triumph, Michael Boogerd had also won the Amstel Gold Race, again ahead of Armstrong. Since then, only Mathieu van der Poel, in 2019, has managed to win the Gold Race in front of a Dutch home crowd. Wout van Aert did also take victory in 2021 on behalf of Visma | Lease a Bike, the former Rabobank team.

“Wow, has it really been 25 years already? It doesn’t feel like that. It was one of the most beautiful victories of my career. When you beat Armstrong in a sprint in front of your home crowd, that is very special,” says Dekker — who also won four stages in the Tour de France

“Only 37 of the 190 riders who started made it to the finish. At the beginning, the rain and wind were so strong. It really was a war of attrition, partly because of our team. If you look at the number of riders who abandoned, it may well have been the hardest race of this century,” he remembers.

Dekker was the only rider in the peloton able to bridge across to Armstrong and Eddy Mazzoleni, who had gone clear earlier in the race. “I decided to close the gap on my own. Just before the Keutenberg, I managed to get across. Armstrong dropped Mazzoleni, but I stayed with him.”

“I was prepared to lose,” Dekker says as he looks back on the final-phase duel with Armstrong. “Finishing second behind Armstrong would also have been a nice result. But while we were riding, I noticed that he was afraid of me and did not want to go to the line with me.”

The American was unable to shake off the Dutchman. “After that, the two of us fought it out. I went into the sprint as the favorite, although after 250 kilometers you never really know where everyone stands. I turned out to be the strongest and won.”