Valverde wins Liège-Bastogne-Liège

In the end, Liège-Bastogne-Liège followed the anticipated script. A succession of teams tried and failed to rid themselves of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and the Spaniard duly claimed the uphill sprint in Ans to take his third victory at La Doyenne, seeing off Julian Alaphillipe (Etixx-QuickStep) and Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha).

Valverde's first triumph came in 2006, the year of the Operacion Puerto blood doping scandal, and the second came in 2008, the year his DNA was matched to the blood bags found in Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes' possession in Madrid.

The Spaniard eventually served a two-year ban after a protracted case that went all the way to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but he returned seemingly missing without a beat in 2012. Valverde turned 35 on Saturday and, somehow, he has just enjoyed the best Ardennes week of his career, placing second at Amstel Gold Race last weekend before claiming his third Flèche Wallonne win on Wednesday.

On Sunday, Valverde gave the impression that he was always in control of his brief in the finale, even setting the tempo on the front on the Côte de Saint-Nicolas in a bid to dissuade late attacks, and while Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) were distanced over the top, he remained safely part of the leading group of ten on the approach to the finish in Ans.

Katusha were the final team to try to break Valverde's resolve. Dani Moreno punched clear of the leading group underneath the red kite and looked to have opened a winning gap, only for Valverde to steal across with 500 metres remaining. Rodriguez was planted on his rear wheel, and the rest of the group scrambled across soon afterwards.

But even though Valverde led out from distance, the result was never in doubt, as he claimed the win with more than a bike length to spare over the youngster Alaphilippe, who had also placed second on the Mur de Huy in midweek.

"This is incredible for me," Valverde said. "There was a difficult moment when I saw Moreno go away, but I decided to get across to him. I had to try and get him, even if it was a risk and I risked losing energy for the final."

Alaphilippe's sprint was lengthened somewhat by having to come around a slowing Rodriguez, but in truth he was never likely to catch Valverde, who, as at Flèche Wallonne, seemed to have an extra gear. In the rain-soaked finale, Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) took fourth place, while Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff-Saxo), an attacker on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons claimed fifth ahead of Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale).

The finale of the race was marred by a large crash ahead of the Côte de La Redoute that ended the hopes of the past two winners, Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) and Dan Martin (Cannondale-Garmin), and ultimately forced a greater reduction of the main peloton than any climb other than the final categorised ascent of the Côte de Saint-Nicolas. In keeping with recent history at La Doyenne, the selection came from the back rather than the front for the most part, and with nobody able to make the difference in the closing kilometres, a group finish was inevitable – and so too, perhaps, was Valverde's win.

How it unfolded

A brisk start to proceedings meant that it took almost an hour of racing for the day's early break to take shape, with Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) eventually beating a way clear with Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Otto Vergaerde (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Clement Chevrier (IAM Cycling), Marco Minnaard (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Anthony Turgis (Cofidis), Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Argon 18) and Rasmus Quaade (Cult) after 40 kilometres.

They built up a lead of seven minutes at one point only for Europcar's unexpected show of force on the front to bring their margin under control ahead of the troika of the Côte de Wanne, Côte de Stockeu and Côte de la Haute-Levée with 80 kilometres remaining, by which point a determined delegation from Astana had taken up the reins.

Their aim was to dictate the terms and conditions of the break that would form ahead of the race's denouement and they duly succeeded. After Andriy Grivko laid the groundwork on the Stockeu, Tanel Kangert and Michele Scarponi found themselves off the front after the Haut-Leveé in the company of Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge), Manuele Boaro (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Julian Arredondo (Trek Factory Racing).

By the Rosier, Arredondo and Boaro had been dropped, but with Chaves persuaded to contribute to the pace-setting, the three leaders padded their advantage out to almost a minute on the Maquisard with a shade under 50 kilometres remaining, before Movistar and Etixx-QuickStep began to inject some life into the pursuit.

The pace ratcheted up still further following the large crash on the approach to the Côte de la Redoute that eliminated Martin, Gerrans (the Australian would crash again while chasing back on), Nicolas Roche (Sky), Matthias Fränk (IAM Cycling) and Fränk Schleck (Trek) from contention, and the peloton was reduced to just 40 riders or so by the base of the climb.

Up front, Kangert was forced to relent on La Redoute, and his absence – allied to the increase in intensity behind – saw Scarponi and Chaves swept up at the base of the Roche-aux-Fauçons with a little over 22 kilometres remaining. It was stalemate most of the way up the climb, as Nibali, Kwiatkowski and Bardet all sized one another up, before Kreuziger punched his way clear within sight of the summit.

Kreuziger, who is still racing pending a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing on his biological passport case, was joined by Giampaolo Caruso (Katusha) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) on the way down the other side, and the trio built up a lead of 25 seconds as Movistar and Etixx dithered behind. As leaden drops of rain began to fall, Zdenek Stybar (Etixx-QuickStep) took up the reins, and his forcing brought the peloton back to within sight of the leaders at the base of the Côte de Saint-Nicolas.

Valverde looked to control the pace on the early slopes before Nibali's much-anticipated attack finally arrived as the gradient stiffened but although he pegged back the three leaders, he couldn't forge clear alone. His attack did, however, put paid to the hopes of Kwiatkowski and Philippe Gilbert (BMC) among others, and when Dani Moreno took over near the summit, it ultimately led to the winning selection being formed.

Romain Bardet took a flyer on the treacherous descent but he was unable to force his way clear, although his move did distance Nibali himself and reduced the leading group to just ten riders on the approach to Ans.

As the gradient pitched upwards, Dani Moreno scorched off the front and as all eyes turned to Valverde to chase, it briefly looked as though he might benefit from the impasse behind to claim the win. On this occasion, however, Valverde's thinking was clear, and he bounded up to his wheel on the approach to the final left-hand bend.

"I started as the big favourite, and I knew all the world watching me, but I knew that I could do something all the same," Valverde said. "It's been an amazing week."

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