Riding his S-Works Tarmac SL2 and Body Geometry shoes, the younger of the Brothers Schleck powered away on the Roche aux Faucons climb (Falcon's Rock) with about 20km to go and flew like an eagle all the way to Ans to hold off a chase group that included a laundry-list of pre-race favorites.
It helped that Saxo Bank had three riders in the chase group (Frank Schleck, Karsten Kroon and Alexandr Kolobnev) to squelch any aggression from behind, leaving the door wide open for Schleck to carve his name into the history books.
"I felt good throughout the race. The plan was to attack on the hill (Roche aux Faucons), but I never thought I would solo all the way to the line," said Schleck, who was fourth in last year's Liège. “I got a gap of 200 meters and I just kept on pushing. The team did superb work behind me. Without them, this victory wouldn't have been possible.”
Schleck timed his attack perfectly, waiting until the new Roche aux Faucons climb that was introduced last year and leapt away from an elite group of leaders to catch and then drop the attacking Philippe Gilbert (Specialized helmets, optics, gloves).
“We knew that was the place to make the decisive attack,” said Saxo Bank manager Bjarne Riis. “We made the race hard all day. Our team rode a textbook-perfect race and it's a great win for the entire team. It's a perfect end for a great job by the team. We are very happy.”
When the 23-year-old hit the last climb at the famous Saint-Nicolas hill nursing a one-minute lead with only seven kilometers to go, older brother Frank knew it was all but over and flashed a big smile and a thumb's up to Belgian TV cameras.
The group of favorites couldn't organize an effective chase and the race was on for the podium.
Plucky Spanish climber Joaquin Rodríguez attacked out of the chase group with 1km to go to claim second at 1:17 back while Flèche Wallonne winner Davide Rebellin led a big pack of 35 chasers across the line at 1:23 back to round out the podium with third.
“I felt good all week,” said Andy Schleck, who was second at Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday. “I believe that today I deserved to win. For me, Liège is the most beautiful of all the classics.”
Schleck becomes the first Luxembourger to win since 1954, when Marcel Ernzer was victorious. Older brother Frank, who bounced back from a frightening crash in Amstel Gold Race on Sunday, was tearing up as he watched his younger brother on the winner’s podium.
“It's very emotional to see him up there. When he attacked, the others couldn't follow. He was too strong for them,” said Frank, who was third in last year's Liège. “We're like a big family on this team. We all worked together for this victory. Andy deserves to win, he was the strongest today.”
With the dust still settling on the 95th Liège-Bastogne-Liège, riders were already looking ahead to the season's grand tours. The Giro d’Italia starts May 9 in Venice and the Tour de France looms ahead in July.
The future is bright for Schleck, who was 12th overall last year and won the best young rider's jersey at the Tour. Second at the 2007 Giro, Andy will now take a short break before reloading for the Tour.
“Like last year, I knew it would be difficult to try win if I came in with a group that included Rebellin or Valverde, so I decided to risk with an attack,” a satisfied Schleck said. “The next big goal will be the Tour de France. We will have to wait to see how the race unfolds, but we are all very motivated to do well. Winning here will make us even more ambitious.”
Looking back at the 2009 spring classics, it was a very effective campaign for the Specialized family of riders. Through seven spring classics (counting Flèche and Ghent-Wevelgem), there were seven different winners.
Quick Step lived up to its legacy and dominated the northern classics, successfully defending its titles at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix with Stijn Devolder and Tom Boonen, respectively.
Then it was time for Saxo Bank to take over in the hillier Ardennes classics, where the team scored podiums at Amstel Gold Race (second with Kroon) and Flèche Wallonne (second with Schleck) before the big win on Sunday at Liège.
ref[specialized.com]
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