Liège-Bastogne-Liège: Primož Roglič denies Julian Alaphilippe in dramatic late sprint

Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) won Liège-Bastogne-Liège in the most dramatic of finishing sprints on Sunday.

Roglič had gone into the final 500 meters of the 257km race as one of a stellar group of five. Newly-crowned world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) sprinted first and looked assured victory, sitting up to celebrate with around 20 meters to the line.

However, as Alaphilippe lost momentum with his hands off the handlebars and Roglič continued his acceleration, the Slovenian came to the line a matter of inches ahead of the Frenchman in a stunning reversal of fortune.

“It’s unbelievable, it was so close,” Roglič said afterward. “I just never stopped believing and never stopped pushing through the final meters. I’m super happy.”

Marc Hirschi (Sunweb) was third across the line after seeing his sprint disrupted by Alaphilippe in the final hundred meters.

The situation soon went from bad to worse for Alaphilippe. After complaints about his wayward line, the world champ was relegated to fifth-place, leaving Hirschi and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) to take second and third-places.

“For sure he took my wheel,” Hirschi said after the race. “But the way Alaphilippe sprinted, I was really close on his wheel and he moved a little bit.”

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Roglič’s win will make some compensation for his heart-breaking Tour de France reversal just two weeks ago. The Slovenian profited from the work of his team throughout the race, with Tom Dumoulin riding deep into the finale with his Slovenian leader.

“It was a long period for me, three months away from home,” Roglič said of his busy pre-Tour training block race schedule.

“I’m super happy and super-proud of the team. Finally, I managed to win something,” he continued with a smile and shrug. “The team did a super job, they kept me protected all the time. I’m really happy I managed to win. It was on my wish-list to win a monument.”

The race all came to life on the climb of La Redoute with 36km to go after Michaël Schär (CCC Team) was the last man to be caught of the escape group of nine that formed in the opening kilometers of the race.

Team Sunweb led the peloton onto the iconic climb with Tiesj Benoot drilling the pace and Hirschi close on his wheel. The sudden upping of the pace saw the bunch thin down rapidly as Deceuninck-Quick-Step, Sunweb and Jumbo-Visma kept toward the front and out of danger on the narrow roads and slick descents after morning rain.

Veteran rider Michael Albasini (Mitchelton-Scott) tried to escape off the front with around 30km to go but was soon brought back as the bunch stayed together.

Alaphilippe lit up the selection on the final climb of the Roche-aux-Faucons, making a move that Hirschi was first to respond to from a long way back in the bunch.

The move drew out Roglič and Pogačar, with Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) bridging across and Michael Woods (EF Pro Cycling) chasing just one second back. Behind the Canadian, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) led the group of around 15 chasers as Dumoulin sat on his wheel and slowed the chase for Rogič.

Hirschi was next to attack out of the lead group, bringing out Alaphilippe while the Slovenian duo followed a second behind. Kwiatkowski fell off the lead group under the ferocity of the lead pair’s attacks.

The front four of Alaphilippe, Hirschi, Roglič and Pogačar came back together on the flat final run to the line and nursed a delicate 20-second lead. The quartet worked together through the final minutes and went into the final kilometer with 20 seconds of a gap over the large bunch of chasers.

As the lead four began cat-and-mousing as the sprint beckoned, Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-McLaren) bridged across from the chase group with a speculative move. With the speed diminished in the front four, Slovenian rider Mohoric made contact and immediately attacked over the top with around 500 meters remaining.

Alaphilippe pulled the group back onto Mohoric’s wheel and then opened his sprint, with Hirschi following a whisker behind. As the Frenchman veered toward the center of the road he nearly clipped the Swissman’s wheel, causing him to sit up momentarily and almost lose balance.

With the finishing line in his sights, Alaphilippe sat up and raised his arms in celebration with around 20 meters to go, however, as he slowed, Roglič’s momentum and a final bike throw saw him cross the line first.

Though Alaphilippe was second across the line, he learned in the minutes afterward that his sprint had fallen foul of the commissaries, with the officials bumping him to the back of the lead group of five.