Valverde wins Liège-Bastogne-Liège

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Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) won Liège-Bastogne-Liège for the fourth time in his career, topping Quick-Step Floors' Dan Martin and Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) with his signature late attack.

But the victory was shrouded in sorrow as the peloton mourned the loss of Italian Michele Scarponi, who was killed while training the day before the race. Valverde dedicated the victory to the fallen Astana rider, and promised to donate his prize money to Scarponi's family.

"This win is for Michele Scarponi. He was a good friend of mine," Valverde said, fighting back the tears. "It hurts to think he's gone, I'll miss him. I'll give all my prize money from this victory to his family. This win is also dedicated to him."

Valverde went into the race as the overwhelming favourite after winning Flèche Wallonne for the fifth time, but his victory was in doubt as Cannondale-Drapac's Davide Formolo put in a strong solo attack that lasted until 500m to go.

Martin jumped across to the Italian, who quickly faded back, but Valvede latched onto Martin's wheel at the final turn and from there was unstoppable.

"The team was fantastic, we worked excellently. We controlled the break because it was dangerous," Valverde said. "On the last climb Dan Martin attacked really hard but I managed to reach him at the right moment to then sprint to the finish line."

Revivez le dernier kilomètre ! / Relive the last kilometer! pic.twitter.com/hejWvfKzoE

How it happened

The race started following a minute's applause in memory of Michele Scarponi and with the eight riders from the Astana squad standing at the front of the bunch in the Place de Saint-Lambert. Then having re-donned their helmets and glasses following the homage to their fallen colleague, the 200-strong peloton was off.

The biggest difference to 2016 was, without a doubt, the weather. It was snowy and freezing cold in 2016, to the point where the race was shortened slightly. This time conditions, although chilly, were not nearly as hard. This allowed for a much more tactical event, rather than the race of survival that Liège-Bastogne-Liège became last year.

The early move formed almost as soon as the race had begun, with Tiago Machado (Katusha), Anthony Perez and Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis), Mekseb Debesay (Dimension Data), Bart De Clercq (Lotto Soudal), Nick Van Der Lijke (Roompot), Fabien Grellier (Direct Energie) and Aaron Gate (Aqua Blue Sport) gaining a large early margin.

The tailwind on the outward leg helped somewhat, and their advantage rose quickly. By the time the eight reached the race's most southerly point at Bastogne and then turned north, their advantage was up to 13 minutes.

The rolling terrain on the approach to the Cote de Pont, the curtain-raiser at 168 kilometres from the final crucial segment of the race, saw Debesay fall off the pace. But the remaining seven forged on, steadily shedding minutes as they toiled over the steep Cote de la Ferme Libert and into the rolling terrain that followed.

In the peloton, a brief early dig by 2014 winner Simon Gerrans (Orica-Scott) briefly shook up the peloton, but although Mikaël Cherel (AG2R La Mondiale) managed to catch him, it quickly fizzled out. The lead had shrunk to six minutes with 60 kilometres to go, but the mood in the peloton seemed relatively - and strangely - calm, with Movistar and Quick-Step Floors tapping out a steady rhythm.

48 kilometres from the finish, on the relatively benign slopes of the Cote de la Maquisard, the main race finally came alight, as Nathan Haas, who had ridden strongly in Amsel Gold, and Omar Fraile (Dimension Data), Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Hansgrohe), Alessandro De Marchi (BMC Racing Team) together with Pierre La Tour (AG2R La Mondiale) stomped out of the peloton. For Movistar, Carlos Alberto Betancur controlled the break.

On the Cote de la Redoute, Liège-Bastogne-Liège’s most emblematic climb, as the leading break disintegrated completely, Sebastian Henao (Team Sky) and Laurens de Plus (Quick-Step) stretched out the peloton and finally regained contact with the Haas group. But lone leader Anthony Perez (Cofidis) had a lead of just under four minutes with 31 kilometres left to race – higher than the top favourites would perhaps have liked. The size of the bunch as it wound over the unclassified climb of the Sprimont following La Redoute, was certainly higher than usual, with roughly 120 riders still in contention.

With all the breakaway riders, barring an exhausted Aaron Gate (Aqua Blue), still in the hunt for Perez, the Frenchman could not ease back, and the peloton, powered by Quick-Step Floors and BMC, relentlessly stripped away their advantage. By the foot of the Cote de la Roche-Aux-Faucons, just two minutes separated Perez from the bunch where Valverde remained comfortably in contention.

The second Cofidis rider, Rossetto, opted to give lone chase to his teammate on the second to last classified climb of the course, and finally joined forces with Perez, and then left him behind.

With 9km to go, the peloton was just a dozen seconds behind, and Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) launched a solo attack from the peloton to join Rossetto, but the peloton was closing in, and picked off the rest of the early breakawa.

Wellens' presence breathed some new life into the breakaway, and they reached the Saint Nicolas climb with 13 seconds on the Sky-led bunch. The leaders quickly faded rapidly on the climb and were caught back, and Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac) put in an attack that was marked by Sergio Henao (Sky) and reeled in. As they crested the climb, Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Drapac) countered and opened up a solid lead.

Omar Fraile (Dimension Data) attacked from the chasing bunch to try to catch Formolo, but exploded and dropped back before 1km to go.

Formolo was suffering with just four seconds under the banner, as behind Dan Martin put in his move with 800m to go. But Valverde rode the Orica-Scott chase up to the two attackers, and then out-sprinted Martin to win La Doyenne for the fourth time.

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