It's time to finish the Autumn classics, and as always, the legendary Liege - Bastogne - Liege is the final.
Cunego won Fleche Wallone while Boasson Hagen and his B&O team dominated in Amstel Gold Race. Both are favourites for LBL, but we can't leave out Frank Schleck either. He may have grown a habit of messing up in races that he should do well in, but either way, he shouldn't be counted out.
Other riders to look out for? Trofimov, Valverde, Bakelants, Sinkewitz and Gesink, according to the bookies.
But before those riders got the chance to shine, a breakaway group with 10 riders got away: Naibo, Jacobs, Machado, Stundzia, Vitoria, Fajt, Le Mevel, Jeanneson, Maisto and Kvasina.
They built up a gap of about 10 minutes before Sony Ericsson went to the front of the peloton. The chase was disrupted by an attack by Amador and Hermans with 100 km to go.
15 km later, they managed to join the 10 breakaway riders from the early attack. At this point, they only had 2'25 to the peloton, though.
With 50 km to go, it was over for most of the early breakaway riders, though. Amador, Hermans, Kvasina and Le Mevel managed to keep going, but with several teams chasing in the peloton, it was only a matter of time before they were caught too. That happened 10 km later, meaning that the race was nullified with 40 km to go.
It didn't stay calm for long, though. In fact, Sanchez Gil (Energie) attacked on the following hill. Gesink (Wolfskin), Kashechkin (Lipton) and Bakelants (Pearl) went with him.
B&O went to the front, but that didn't prevent Spilak, Vanendert, Ghisalberti, Ulissi and Van Garderen from using the flat part after the hill to attack. Seeing this, Hagen decided to make his move.
With 30 km to go, we had a leading group of Gesink, Bakelants, Kashechkin and Sanchez Gil. They had a short gap to the lone wolf Van Garderen. Behind him, Hagen led a group of Spilak, Ulissi, Vanendert and Ghisalberti who had a gap of c. 50 seconds to the peloton, still controlled by Sony - Ericsson.
Next climb - one of the huge favourites for the win Cunego attacked, He was immediately countered by Trofimov and World Champion Valverde. Barredo, Di Luca and Walker also tried to follow.
Auber managed to reel in Di Luca, Walker, Barredo, Trofimov and Valverde, but Cunego managed to gain contact with the Hagen-group which had also caught Van Garderen. With 25 km to go, they had 58 seconds to the peloton. The leading group had 1'50 to the peloton.
Except from the attack of Kvasina, Vesuvio, the team of the main favourite for the race, Frank Schleck, had been completely invisible. That ended with Schleck's attack with 22 km to go. Fuente, Barredo and Rodriguez Olivier counter-attacked Schleck's impressive attempt, but most of his followers stop following when they reached the Hagen-group. Schleck? He continued.
Schleck's attack meant that pretty much everyone in the peloton started moving. At the top of the hill, and with 20 km to go, the following riders were in the leading group: Kashechkin, Cunego, Vanendert, Ghisalberti, Sanchez Gil, Hagen, Schleck, Gesink, Bakelants, Ulissi and Spilak with the latter having a small gap. 40 secs behind them, Trofimov, Rodriguez Olivier, Sinkewitz and Valverde were trying to bridge the gap.
Spilak somehow managed to increase his gap all by himself, and seeing this, Sanchez Gil, Cunego, Kashechkin, Schleck and Gesink decided to attack. And they did so succesfully. Meanwhile, a few riders had managed to team up with the rest of the 'leftovers'. Anza, Ginnani and the Trofimov group were now back in the race.
On St. Nicolas, Van Garderen attacked from the group of followers, and he brought Rodriguez Olivier and Sanchez Gonzales with him. In the same moment, Schleck decided to push the pace. He left the leading group - only Sanchez Gil could follow his pace.
With 3 km to go, just before the final hill, Schleck and Sanchez Gil had a small gap to Trofimov, Cunego, Gesink, Bakelants, Sinkewitz, Ginanni, Spilak, Kascheckin and Rodriguez Olivier. Behind them, Hagen, Van Garderen, Sanchez G. and Valverde looked pretty cooked.
Knowing that this was the last chance to do anything, Hagen and Valverde started attacking/sprinting from far, far way out. They weren't in the contest for the win, though - plenty of others were.
Schlec had been caught with 1 km to go, Sinkewitz was right behind him along with Sanchez Gil and Ginanni. It was definitely going to be between these four.
500 metres later, Schleck was cruising to victory. While the others were spent after sprinting uphill, Schleck had waited until the flat part and was now having an easy time sprinting towards the finish line. Behind him, Sinkewitz was looking great for a podium spot.
Schleck's manager may not have been too satisfied with him before today's race - but after this performance, he has definitely proved his worth!
Sinkewitz took a surprising 2nd place ahead of Sanchez Gil and Ginanni.
... while Cunego won the sprint for 5th, leaving the rest for Gesink, Hagen, Spilak and Valverde.
