shift the focus of the race to the hills and the character of the race changed. The peloton is usually made up of the same riders starting in the Ardennes races; classics riders with sufficient climbing abilities and even Grand Tour specialists. The Dutch hills, in the very south of Limburg, are the Netherlands' only hilly region. The chalk–loess relief was formed by the foothills of the neighbouring Ardennes and Eifel low mountain ranges. The hills define the character of the race: they are generally shorter and not as high as in the Ardennes, but come in much higher frequency than in Liège–Bastogne–Liège. The highest point of the region and the race is Vaalserberg at 322.7 m above sea level; the top of the Cauberg is at 133.7 m altitude. Hills The present course features more than 30 short climbs which come in faster succession as the race progresses, meaning riders have little time to recover in between the hills. 25 climbs are covered in the last 165 kilometres of the race, with eight coming in the final 45 kilometres. The steepest are the Cauberg, Keutenberg and Eyserbosweg. Some ascents are as steep as 22% (Keutenberg), others are more gently sloped. In contrast to the cobbled bergs in the Tour of Flanders, all the hills in Limburg are asphalted nowadays. Attempting to explain the difficulty of the course Peter Easton recounts a mathematician's calculations: ...applying logic to overcome a sense of incomprehension is the key to understanding this race. And there is truth in numbers. Six of the climbs come in the first 92 kilometers — one every 15.2 kilometres. The remaining 25 come over the final 165 kilometres. That's one every 6.6 kilometres. Breaking it down further, the final hour of racing has eight climbs in 42 kilometres. Now we're down to one every 5.25 km. At 40 km/h, that's one every 7 ½ minutes. Not overly funny, and definitely all business. The hills in the 2015 Amstel Gold Race: Nervous course The race is the Netherlands' largest professional race but is frequently criticized for the danger of its course. The route runs on narrow roads, through often densely-populated suburbs and villages. Due to its high population density and the high cost of land, many Dutch houses do not have garages and cars are left parked in the street. Much of the course is urban, with many traffic-calming devices