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| | Amstel, Flèche, Liège: Three classics for climbers |
 | | This Sunday's Amstel Gold Race, next Wednesday's Flèche Wallonne and the following Sunday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège are the only classics that feature uphill finishes: respectively, the Cauberg at the Dutch town of Valkenburg, the Mur de Huy at the namesake town in Belgium's Meuse Valley, and the Montée d'Ans just outside the city of Liège. |
 | | These finishing climbs are only a kilometer or so in length but after 30 small hills at the 252km Amstel Gold, eight medium-sized climbs at the 202km Flèche and 12 mini-mountains at the 262km Liège, riders like Italy's Bettini and his compatriot Davide Rebellin usually win through. |
 | | Today, there are two sets of riders who fall into this category: the classic specialists who target this eight-day swing through Limburg and the Ardennes as their major goal, and those men whose main priority is the Giro d'Italia or Tour de France. |
| www.velonews.com /race/int/articles/9739.0.html (697 words) |
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