Dutch classics king Mathieu van der Poel suddenly showed weaknesses in front of his home crowd in the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday as British Olympic mountain bike champion Thomas Pidcock took victory.
Pidcock prevailed in the sprint after 253.6 kilometres from Maastricht to Berg en Terblijt ahead of Marc Hirschi and Belgian Tiesj Benoot.
Dutch world champion Van der Poel, who had shone with impressive solo victories at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix over the past two weekends, only finished 22nd.
Last year the 24-year-old Pidcock, who has also won the world championship title in cyclo-cross, won the Strade Bianche gravel race and finished second in the Liège-Bastogne-Liège spring classic.
Van der Poel will be desperate to win this year's Liège race next weekend. Along with the Tour of Lombardy, it is the only "Monument" race missing from his résumé.