Marta Cavalli may not have been expected to be the winner of Sunday's Amstel Gold Race, but she ran a sensible final race after joining an elite group on the final climb of the Cauberg.

The 24-year-old left behind such leading contenders as Annemieke van Fluten (Movistar), Demi Vollering (SD Walks), and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) to break away on the famous climb and take a solo victory on Berg en Terbrucht, giving her the biggest win of her career to date.

After the finish, Cavalli said that her victory in the Amstel Gold Race was not only due to her legs.

"It's an incredible feeling. I didn't expect to win. Sometimes a race is not only about legs, but also about heart and head.

"I believe in my sport director who helped me to prepare for this moment to take this chance. I had nothing to lose and I am very happy to have won.

"I am very happy because I didn't have a very good feeling in the last 50 kilometers. Then we decided to go to the front and see what would happen," he said of his race-winning attack.

Cavalli said the FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine-Futuroscope team, without Cecilie Uttrup-Ludwig for COVID-19, entered 2022 with the intention of racing aggressively.

As the elite group of seven women approached the fourth and final climb, the Italian made her move.

"I started the season with an all or nothing motto," she said. 'After 500 meters I turned around and saw a big gap.'

"At the end Annemiek pushed harder to try to make the gap. There were only seven in the lead. I went back to the back of the pack, but then the pace in front of me slowed down and I took advantage of that to make a gap.

"Yesterday we were talking about the moment when the front slows down and the back speeds up. And it happened, so I tried."

Cavalli, a former Italian road race champion, has been there in several major races in his career. He finished second in Brabantspijl, fifth in Ghent-Wevelgem, sixth in the Tour of Flanders, and has finished in the top 10 in the Paris-Roubaix, Strade Bianche, and Tokyo Olympics road races.

She said this win, the third of her career but a breakthrough at the women's World Tour level, was a big step forward and gave her more confidence in herself.

"I think this is the last step I needed to take. I took a step last year and since the beginning of this year I have been working harder to be able to compete for the championship. I think I'm in a new dimension now. I have more faith in myself and I think that's a good thing."