Poels wins Liege-Bastogne-Liege

The snow fell heavily in the Ardennes at Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday, invoking memories of Bernaud Hinault’s iconic 1980 victory and even causing the race to be re-routed, but Wout Poels rode through the blizzard to put an end to Team Sky’s long wait for a Monument victory.

The Dutchman followed Michael Albasini’s (Orica-GreenEdge) move up the Côte de la Rue Naniot, the new steep cobbled climb introduced to shake up the race’s finale, and held him off in the sprint. Former world champion Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) finished a close third having been part of the move, while Samuel Sanchez (BMC), the fourth member of the group, was unable to produce a sprint and finished a distant fourth.

"I still can't believe it," said Poels, who became only the fifth Dutchman to win La Doyenne, and the first since Adri Van Der Poel 28 years ago. "The conditions were really difficult today and at the end we were all really tired."

For all the talk of Alejandro Valverde’s overwhelming favourite status, and for all the work his Movistar teammates subjected themselves to on the front of the bunch, the defending champion couldn’t manage to make the top 10. It was a similar story for Etixx-QuickStep; they had strength in numbers and drove a fierce pace going into the final 25km, but last year’s runner up and Julian Alaphilippe finished in the main group with Valverde, while 2013 winner Dan Martin struggled on the final climb and ended up nearly two minutes down.

It was a trying day for the riders, who repeatedly encountered mini snow storms all along the route as the weather forecasts proved true to their word. The situation was at its worst halfway along the trip out from Liège to Bastogne, with many teams posting photos of the roads covered in a blanket of snow as their car made their way out to the feed zone. An hour into the race, the organisers made the decision to alter the route and took riders off the planned course after 45 kilometres, eventually linking back up with it at kilometre 75. Given that they were back on course ahead of the first of the day’s 10 climbs, the change did little to shape the complexion of the race, and only 5km were lost from the total distance, which became 248km.

A break of eight enjoyed a few hours out front, while a fairly contained race was ridden back in the bunch. There were eight climbs in the last 80km but it wasn’t until after the fourth one, the famous Côte de La Redoute, had been crested that the race was really ignited.

The utterly miserable conditions took their toll and while crashes took out Tony Gallopin and Rafal Majka, it was largely down to who kept themselves warm, well fed, and most comfortable. Poels’ relatively slow sprint and the fact that Albasini was unable to get near to coming round him demonstrated how exacting the day had been.

How it unfolded

The leaden drops of rain that fell as the peloton gathered at the Place Saint-Lambert for the start of Liège-Bastogne-Liège prefigured what they would face on the long road south. Word had already reached Liege of early morning snowfall in the Ardennes, and shortly after rolling out of the City of the Prince-Bishops, it was announced that the race would be re-routed to avoid the most treacherous roads ahead of the day’s first climb, the Côte de la Roche-en-Ardenne, knocking five kilometres off the overall distance.

By that point, the day’s early break had established itself, with Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff), Paolo Tiralongo (Astana), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Argon 18), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Alessandro De Marchi (BMC) and Jeremy Roy (FDJ) slipping off the front inside the opening 15 kilometres of racing. The seven combined well together to cover 42 kilometres in the first hour and build up a lead of 8:45 over a main peloton where most of the contenders were all but unrecognisable beneath capes, snoods and jackets.

Etixx-QuickStep was the first team to take matters in hand at the head of the bunch, working to stabilise the break’s advantage, and they were later joined on the front by Alejandro Valverde’s Movistar guard. Their combined efforts chipped away at the break’s lead over the Saint-Roch – the roadsides on the climb lighter of Luxembourg fans than during the Schleck brothers’ heyday – and by the Côte de Wanne with 84 kilometres remaining, the gap was less unwieldy 4 minutes.

The only real frisson on the Haut-Levée was a banal crash involving Chris Froome, but the Sky rider unclipped before falling into the verge and quickly re-joined the peloton. On reaching the second feed at Stavelot shortly afterwards, however, the race was again buffeted by driving snow. Though, mercifully, it was not sticking to the ground, the headwind and grim conditions underlined that this was to be a war of attrition.

Movistar’s pace-making brought the leaders back to within two minutes on the Col du Rosier, where the snow was replaced by steady rain and where Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie) decided to counter-attack from the peloton, and he was still giving chase alone over the Col du Rosier. At the front, meanwhile, De Marchi fragmented the unity of the leading group by attacking near the summit. 48.5 kilometres from home, De Marchi, De Gendt and Edet had a lead of 1:50 over the peloton.

The endgame

Race organisers introduced the Rue Naniot, a 600-metre cobbled climb with an average gradient of 11% in a bid to discourage riders from playing a waiting game, and it duly produced the race-winning attack. There was, however, the suggestion that its presence softened the impact of the previous climbs, with the favourites riding conservatively and sending teammates up the road instead.

There was next to no movement in the bunch on the Côte de La Redoute, once a key flashpoint of the race, but the race was ignited on the 15km run to the Côte de La Roche-aux-Faucons, the third last climb. Andriy Grivko (Astana) went on the attack while Etixx-QuickStep drove a fearsome pace on the downhill that saw Edet and De Marchi, the last remnants of the breakaway, swallowed up.

Carlos Betancur, amazingly opting for bare legs over leg warmers, then attacked on the approach to the Côte de Saint-Nicholas, before Grivko tried his luck again and Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) also got involved. When they hit the climb, Betancur made another move and the pace was such that Vincenzo Nibali and Simon Gerrans were both dropped.

Bardet attacked over the top of the climb, and then Diego Rosa and Ilnur Zakarin went on the offensive, but a group of around 25 riders would be together jotling for position as they hit the Rue Naniot. About halfway up the 600-metre climb, Albasini surged and the steep gradients took their toll, with gaps appearing among the main group.

Valverde was left in the middle of the group as Sanchez, Costa and Poels proved the only ones who could stay on terms with Albasini. With most riders shorn of teammates, a concerted chase never materialised and, as the road kicked up again into Ans, it became clear the group of four had done enough to earn the right to fight for the victory.

Poels was the first to go, and he led into the final left-hand bend. Albasini looked in a good position on the Dutchman’s wheel but Poels hung on impressively to seal the biggest win of his career.

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