Tibor del Grosso (Alpecin-Premier Tech) won the two-man race against Mauro Schmid (Jayco-Alula) to take victory at the NXT Classic in the hills of Dutch Limburg on Saturday.
Casper Pedersen (Soudal-QuickStep) led the chasing pack home in third place, a few seconds behind the winner.
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A late three-man attack threatened to steal the show, but the two leaders were able to hold on, with Del Grosso starting a long run to take just his second professional victory and first of his 2026 season.
How it happened
Formerly known as the Volta Limburg, the NXT Classic has been the starting point for many careers, with riders such as Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché), Stefan Küng (Tudor) and Jan Tratnik (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) all among the winners in the race’s 33-year history.
Taking place in the south-eastern corner of The Netherlands, in the hilly province of Limburg, the 196km race starts and finishes in Eijsden, south of Maastricht. Tackling 37 group stages, including some often seen during the Amstel Gold Race, riders would climb a total of 2,400m, covering four large loops before crossing the finish line for the final 6km lap.
After a good start Samuele Zoccarato (MBH Bank CSB) was the first rider to make the attack pole and was soon joined by Mads Andersen (Swatt Club) and Oscar Amey (NSN Development Team). On the other hand, they were joined by Bram Dankloff (Parkhotel-Valkenburg), the four riders built a lead of 2:50 with 62km ridden.
Just three months after his 18th birthday, Amey was the youngest rider in the race and began to struggle at the breakaway, and, when the race passed the 80 km mark, he began to slip back and soon dropped from the breakaway, leading the peloton at that time by more than three minutes.
By the time Amey was caught by the group, the pace was up and the young Brit slipped from the back, even though he had many others dropped as well, the pace picking up. As Visma-Lease a Biesekele went ahead, then the Unibet Rose Rockets took their turn, the gap was closed and the leaders caught up with 60km to go, a group of 12 riders forming at the front.
Although the group soon came back, forming a line of about 50 riders, which allowed for further attacks, with strong moves up the road brought to a heel as the race entered the closing 50km.
In the last stage of Gulperberg, with 35 kilometers left to run, the peloton split again, first, a few kilometers later, in Schilberg, Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) and Tibor del Grosso (Alpecin-Premier Tech) left, a group of 19 riders chasing hard.
Although the two built up a 40-second lead, and despite Schmid attacking them late, they stayed away, resisting late action, fighting for victory between them, even if it was a close one.
Results
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