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Sorry - this page has been removed. Alejandro Valverde victory in Liège wraps up remarkable Classics season
(about 2 months later)
This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason. Spain’s Alejandro Valverde wrapped up a remarkable Ardennes classics season when he won Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday, four days after triumphing in the Flèche Wallonne.
The Movistar rider, second in the Amstel Gold Race the previous week, outsprinted a reduced group at the end of a hilly 253km ride.
For further information, please contact: France’s Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-Quick Step) took second and another Spaniard, Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha), third.
Rodríguez’s team-mate Dani Moreno attacked in the final kilometre but fell short as Valverde took his third Liège title.
The 2009 Tour of Spain champion, whose late kick also earned him a third Flèche Wallonne title on Wednesday, completed his second Flèche and Liège double after 2006. “I did not panic when Moreno attacked,” the 35-year-old said. “I could not be happier.” the 35-year-old told reporters
Several pre-race favourites were effectively ruled out of contention in a crash 40 km from the finish.
Ireland’s Dan Martin and Nicolas Roche, the Cannondale-Garmin and Team Sky leaders respectively, were involved and the defending champion Simon Gerrans (Orica-Greenedge) also hit the road.
As a result of the pile-up, only about 40 riders were left in the peloton chasing the breakaway riders Michele Scarponi of Italy (Astana) and the Colombian Esteban Chaves (Orica-Greenedge).
Both were reined in with about 25km left and the Czech Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff-Saxo), Italian Giampaolo Caruso (Katusha) and Dane Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) found themselves ahead of the pack.
But they did not manage to open a decent gap and when the peloton caught up Valverde stayed calm, covering his rivals’ accelerations as he waited for a sprint.
“He raced very intelligently, it’s almost impossible to beat him in that kind of sprint,” Rodríguez said.
The Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali also tried his luck near the finale to avoid a sprint, but the Italian did not have his best legs to have a real shot at victory.