Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2018 [FULL RACE]

April 22, 2018

Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2018 – Liège – Ans : 258,5 km

Liège–Bastogne–Liège, often called La Doyenne (“The Old Lady”),[N 1] is a one-day classic cycling race in Belgium. First run in 1892, it is the oldest of the five Monuments of the European professional road cycling calendar; usually coming as the last of the spring classics. It is held annually in late April, in the Ardennes region of Belgium, from Liège to Bastogne and back.

Last year when Alejandro Valverde was asked in a Movistar press conference which victory he wanted the most in the Ardennes Classics, he did not even hesitate for one millisecond before saying Liège-Bastogne-Liège. After his shock defeat on the slopes of the Mur de Huy in Wednesday’s Fléche Wallonne, the question is: Can Valverde bounce back high enough to win on the final climb to Ans come Sunday?

Bob Jungels capped Quick-Step Floors’ remarkable Classics campaign by soloing to victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège after forging clear over the top of the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons with some 18 kilometre still to race.

From there, the Luxembourg champion time trialled his way to the finish, dosing his effort carefully on the Côte de Saint-Nicolas and then making light work of the Côte de Ans to claim the honours, 37 seconds clear of Michael Woods (EF-Drapac) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale), who escaped a fragmented chasing group in the closing kilometres.

“I made the most of my rouleur abilities in the finale. I needed to be very careful with how I used my strength, especially when we got to Saint-Nicolas,” Jungels said. “I couldn’t push too deep. And then I still feared being caught in the finale. It was the longest kilometre in my life. I only saw I could win when I entered the last curve, not before.”

Jungels’ teammate Julian Alaphilippe crossed the line just behind them in fourth, pointing to his jersey as he did so. Buoyed by victory at Flèche Wallonne in midweek, the Frenchman was the centre of much attention in the build-up to this race, and his presence in the reduced chasing group was pivotal to Jungels’ victory.

Nobody, not least four-time winner Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), wanted to give the fast-finishing Alaphilippe a free ride to the finish, even if it was to the obvious detriment of organising a coherent pursuit.

The general lack of organisation among the chasers – allied to Jungels’ prodigious strength – meant that the Luxembourger had 53 seconds in hand come the Saint-Nicolas, where Jelle Vanendert (Lotto Soudal) set out in determined lone pursuit.

Vandendert’s ferocious acceleration saw him close to within 25 seconds near the summit, but he lacked the horsepower to match Jungels over the other side, and was already beginning to fade even before the drag to Ans began in earnest.

In the game of bluff and counter-bluff behind, meanwhile, few seemed fully committed to the chase, and Alaphilippe even looked to take advantage of the caginess by accelerating in pursuit of Vandendert with a shade under four kilometres to go. That move withered once Davide Formolo (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Valverde bridged across, and as the chasers fanned across the road, it was already evident that Jungels would, barring a late collapse, win Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Woods and Bardet sensed a lull and stole away from the chasers on the approach to Ans, catching and passing Vandendert on the final drag before the left-hand turn onto the finishing straight, but by that point, Jungels was already home and hosed.

Jungels’ margin of victory was the biggest since his fellow countryman Andy Schleck’s startling solo victory in 2009, and like that lone raid nine years ago, the winning move took shape on the Côte de Roche-aux-Faucons.

Jungels set a fearsome tempo on the climb itself that only Woods, Sergio Henao (Sky) and Jakob Fulgsang (Astana) could follow. That quartet was pegged back just shy of the summit, but rather than relent, Jungels kept piling on the pressure as the road flattened out and dropped, suddenly opening a lead of 20 seconds over a leading group that had been pared down to 15 or so riders by the climb.

It seemed far too early and too audacious a move to succeed in a race that has rewarded a more conservative approach over the past decade or so, but Quick-Step are seemingly operating on another plane this Spring. In many respects, Jungels’ attack was a replica of the tactic that proved so successful for Niki Terpstra at the Tour of Flanders, while Alaphilippe performed a decent imitation of Philippe Gilbert’s man-marking behind to help him augment his buffer.

“It’s the greatest one-day race to me, the most beautiful,” Jungels said. “As a Luxembourger, I had lots of supporters cheering for me and my family also came to see me racing, so it’s very special to win here.”

How it unfolded

It was a day of unseasonal warmth in the Ardennes, with a temperature of 19 degrees at the start on Liège’s Place Saint Lambert, which rose into the mid-twenties as the afternoon progressed. The opening kilometres saw nine riders – Florian Vachon (Fortuneo-Samsic), Jérôme Baugnies (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Loïc Vliegen (BMC), Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Mark Christian, Casper Pedersen (Aqua Blue Sport), Paul Ourselin (Direct Énergie), Antoine Warnier (WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic) and Mathias Van Gompel (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) – forge clear, building up a maximum advantage of 6 minutes and holding a buffer of 4 minutes until deep into the race.

As ever, the succession of climbs that followed the turn at Bastogne gradually began to take a toll on the peloton, though the severity of the parcours also means that few riders or teams are minded to show their hands until the last hour or so of racing. Instead, UAE-Emirates kept tabs on the break with Dan Martin in mind, before the Côte de la Redoute, with 35km to go, signalled the beginning of the denoument.

Up front, the impressive Baugnies was the final survivor of the break, dropping Christian, Perez and Ourselin on Le Redoute, while Enric Mas (Quick-Step) whittled down the main peloton with a brutal turn of pace-making that did for 2016 winner Wout Poels (Sky), among others.

Vincenzo Nibali’s Bahrain-Merida squad took over on the fast run-in to the Roche-aux-Faucons, catching Baugnies in the process, but the Sicilian would make little impact on the climb, and was himself distanced shortly after Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step) ignited affairs with a rasping but short-lived acceleration.

Sergio Henao was next to try his luck, and the Colombian was soon joined by Jungels, Woods and Fuglsang in opening a small gap at the front, while a number of contenders – Michael Matthews among them – lost contact behind. Jungels persisted in his effort over the top, and suddenly the race took on a new complexion, as the chasers scrambled to organise themselves behind.

Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) and Dan Martin seemed the most determined of the chasers, or perhaps the most alert to the danger posed by Jungels, but their attempts to form a counter-attack ultimately came to nothing. Martin’s frustration would be compounded by a puncture 8km from the finish that ruled him out of the hunt for a podium berth.

Fuglsang eventually sent Astana teammate Davide Villella to the front to try to bring some order to the chase, but the other favourites seemed either to lack the teammates (in the case of Valverde and Bardet, for example) or the motivation (Dumoulin, for instance, had Michael Matthews in the third group) to contribute wholeheartedly to the chase.

Perhaps there was little to be done in any case. Jungels’ concession of ground on the Saint-Nicolas might briefly have raised hopes among the chasers, but a rider of his qualities was hardly likely to squander a head start of almost a minute, and so it proved.

“Bob Jungels was the strongest guy today. He deserves his victory. When he went clear on La Roche-aux-Faucons, the pace was really high,” Bardet said. “We attacked in the finale and we weren’t able to see him so we knew we were racing for the second place because he’s such a class rider, we knew we couldn’t bridge the gap on the flat.”

Jungels’ victory is the third by a Luxembourg rider at Liège-Bastogne-Liège after Marcel Ernzer in 1954 and Andy Schleck nine years ago, and it continues a startling period of success for Quick-Step Floors, who have now won 27 races in 2018 through 12 different riders. At times, they almost seem to be racing among themselves.

Results :
1 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors 6:24:44
2 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:37
3 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
4 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:39
5 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
6 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
7 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
8 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Mitchelton-Scott
9 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
10 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
11 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:45
12 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:48
13 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:51
14 Jack Haig (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:06
15 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:24
16 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:44
17 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:02:08
18 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:41
19 Michael Valgren (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:02:50
20 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:02:53
21 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:56
22 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
23 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:07
24 Robert Gesink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
25 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
26 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
27 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
28 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
29 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky
30 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data
31 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
32 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
33 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
34 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data
35 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors
36 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
37 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team
38 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
39 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team
40 Pieter Serry (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
41 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team
42 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott
43 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
44 Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team
45 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:03:15
46 Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:03:17
47 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott
48 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:18
49 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
50 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Katusha-Alpecin 0:03:22
51 Pierre Rolland (Fra) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
52 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Direct Energie
53 Warren Barguil (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic 0:03:24
54 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:03:25
55 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:34
56 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:03:37
57 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:42
58 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:04:01
59 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team 0:05:25
60 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team
61 Daniel Martinez (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:06:00
62 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:08:50
63 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:09:08
64 José Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:09:17
65 Ian Boswell (USA) Katusha-Alpecin 0:09:18
66 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) Aqua Blue Sport
67 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
68 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:09:24
69 Alex Howes (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:10:11
70 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
71 Mark Christian (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport
72 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal
73 Paul Ourselin (Fra) Direct Energie
74 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data
75 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal
76 Kevin Deltombe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
77 Simon Gerrans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
78 Paul Martens (Ger) LottoNL-Jumbo
79 Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
80 Carlos Verona (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott
81 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
82 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data
83 Jérôme Baugnies (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
84 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:11:36
85 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:11:43
86 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:12:03
87 Dimitri Peyskens (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
88 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo
89 Joey Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team
90 Benjamin King (USA) Dimension Data
91 Elie Gesbert (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
92 Romain Hardy (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
93 Thomas Degand (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
94 Cyril Gautier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
95 Bram Tankink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
96 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
97 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
98 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
99 Amael Moinard (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
100 Christopher Juul Jensen (Den) Mitchelton-Scott
101 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:12:47
102 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky 0:14:06
103 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
104 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:14:32
105 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
106 Edward Dunbar (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport
107 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team
108 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:15:48
109 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
110 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
111 Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
112 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
113 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
114 Fabien Grellier (Fra) Direct Energie
115 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
116 Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
117 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky
118 Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
119 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
120 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:16:35
121 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:18:05
122 Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates 0:18:06
123 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
124 Rory Sutherland (Aus) UAE Team Emirates 0:18:15
125 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
126 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Movistar Team
127 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin
128 Aaron Gate (NZl) Aqua Blue Sport
129 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
130 Justin Jules (Fra) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
131 Hugo Houle (Can) Astana Pro Team
132 Dion Smith (NZl) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
DNF Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Floris De Tier (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
DNF Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
DNF Jos van Emden (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
DNF Danny van Poppel (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
DNF Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Florian Vachon (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
DNF Bryan Nauleau (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Rein Taaramäe (Est) Direct Energie
DNF Piet Allegaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNF Dries Van Gestel (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNF Mathias Van Gompel (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNF Maxime Vantomme (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
DNF Thomas Deruette (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
DNF Laurent Pichon (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
DNF Antoine Warnier (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
DNF Gregory Daniel (USA) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
DNF Christophe Masson (Fra) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
DNF Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Julien Mortier (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
DNF Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky
DNF Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
DNF Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
DNF Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
DNF Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Kim Magnusson (Swe) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
DNF Kevin Ledanois (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
DNF Alberto Bettiol (Ita) BMC Racing Team
DNF Loïc Vliegen (Bel) BMC Racing Team
DNF Rúben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Julien Simon (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
DNF Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Aqua Blue Sport
DNF Casper Pedersen (Den) Aqua Blue Sport
DNF Calvin Watson (Aus) Aqua Blue Sport
DNF Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott