Published April 26, 2017 02:50AM
Photo gallery: The Valverde Show at the 2017 men's Liege-Bastogne-Liege
It was clear after several days of riding why Stetina made his decision to leave the WorldTour to get dirty in the gravel world. He was all smiles as the miles ticked away, mentioning more than once that riding bikes had become fun once again. Photo: Dan Cavallari | VeloNews.com
The big question coming into Sunday’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege was “Can anybody beat Alejandro Valverde?” We now know the answer was “no”, but his rivals certainly weren’t about to hand him the victory.
Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) did his aggressive thing in the closing kilometres. Davide Formolo launched an impressive late bid for Cannondale-Drapac’s first WorldTour win in nearly two years (his victory on stage 4 of the 2015 Giro d’Italia was the last). And Dan Martin (QuickStep Floors) looked dangerous when he got away on the final ascent to the finish line in Ans.
But when it was all said and done, nobody could stop Valverde from winning Liege-Bastogne-Liege for a fourth time. He bridged across to Martin with apparent ease, then beat him in the two-up sprint with even greater ease.
And with that, the Spring Classics are over for another year. The Giro d’Italia is just around the corner, but before then, we hope you enjoy this gallery from the 2017 men’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
Follow the link for a full race report from the 2017 men’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege.