Liège-Bastogne-Liège: Dan Martin wins La Doyenne

Dan Martin of Garmin-Sharp has become just the second Irish rider to win cycling's oldest Monument, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, responding to an attack from Katusha's Joaquim Rodriguez ahead of the flamme rouge and then dropping the Spaniard to take the biggest win of his career and pull off the major victory he has long been threatening to achieve.

Martin's victory is the third in the race from an Irish rider, following Sean Kelly's two wins in the 1980s, and is also the first from a rider born in Great Britain - he hails from Birmingham, and is a former British junior champion before switching his allegience to Ireland, his mother's native country. Rodriguez finished second, with Alejandro Valverde of Movistar, winner in 2008, third.

Martin's team mate, Ryder Hesjedal, had attacked on the last but one of today's big climbs in a move that resulted in just four other riders joining the Garmin-Sharp pair to contest the finale, the others - besides Rodriguez and Valverde - being AG2R's Carlos Betancur and Lampre-Merida's Michele Scarponi.

In the 2011 Giro di Lombardia, Martin had got the better of Rodriguez to beat the Spaniard to second place behind Leopard-Trek's Oliver Zaugg, and earlier this week he was just edged off the podium as he finished fourth in Flèche Wallonne. Today, he alone was able to follow Rodriguez on the run-in to the finish in Ans, on the outskirts of Liège, of the 261.5 kilometre race nicknamed La Doyenne.

The six-man group had hit that final climb with less than ten seconds' advantage over a chasing group, its members having bridged across to Hesjedal on the Côte de Saint-Nicolas, the summit of which came just 5.5 kilometres from the finish.

The Canadian, who will begin the defence of his Giro d'Italia title in two weeks' time in Naples, had reached the foot of that ascent with a 20 second lead, having time trialled his way down from the previous climb - the Côte de Colonster, replacing the Côte de Roche aux Faucons, missed out due to roadworks - where he had attacked in response to a move from Saxo-Tinkoff's Alberto Contador.

The race had burst into life on the Côte de la Redoute, crested with 38.5 kilometres to go, David Lopez attacking from the main group and Team Sky colleagues including Chris Froome and Richie Porte spreading across the narrow road behind to make it near impossible for anyone to go off after him.

With big names including Contador and world champion Philippe Gilbert of BMC Racing holding back, some riders did manage to get round the Sky riders at the front of the group to join Lopez.

The remains of what had been a group of six riders that had got away early on in the 261.5 kilometre race, who at one point had held an advantage of nearly a quarter of an hour over the main group, had been swept up ahead of the summit of Côte de la Redoute.

Those riders were Lotto-Belisol’s Bart De Clercq, Vacansoleil-DCM’s Frederik Veucheulen, Sander Armée of Topsport, IAM riders Jonathan Fumeaux and Pirmin Lang, and Europcar’s Vincent Jérôme.

As they swung onto the bottom of the Côte de la Redoute, their advantage was just one minute, with teams including Sky, BMC and RadioShack-Leopard having all taken stints at the front of the main group to reel in the break.

By the time the race hit the top of the climb, the seven men out in front were Lopez, AG2R’s Romain Bardet, Jakob Fuglsang of Astana, Rui Costa from Movistar, BMC’s Mathias Frank, Katusha’s Alberto Losada and Lampre-Merida’s Damiano Cunego.

Heading towards the final 30 kilometres, Lopez, Cunego and Bardet attacked again and found themselves alone at the head of the race. Behind, FDJ’s Pierrick Fédrigo had joined the other four members of the break, but they were picked off as the race headed up the Côte de Colonster and Hesjedal made the move that signalled the start of the finale.

For all the work they put in, Sky come away from the Classics campaign that it had huge hopes for with no victories, Sergio Henao coming closest with his second place in Flèche Wallonne.

Gilbert, who comes from just down the road and two years ago was unbeatable in the Ardennes, was also unable to get into the group that would ultimately contest the win, with 2013 now going down as one of the blackest years in Belgian cycling - believed to be the first time in 98 years that no rider from Europe's most cycling-mad nation has won a Spring Classic.

Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2013 result

1  Daniel MARTIN          Garmin-Sharp        06:38:07
2  Joaquin RODRIGUEZ      Katusha                 at 3 seconds
3  Alejandro VALVERDE     Movistar                   9
4  Carlos BETANCUR        AG2R La Mondiale           9
5  Michele SCARPONI       Lampre-Merida              9
6  Enrico GASPAROTTO      Astana                    18
7  Philippe GILBERT       BMC Racing                18
8  Ryder HESJEDAL         Garmin-Sharp              18
9  Rui COSTA              Movistar                  18
10 Simon GERRANS          Orica-GreenEdge           18
11 Benoît VAUGRENARD      FDJ                       18
12 Igor ANTON             Euskaltel                 18
13 Romain BARDET          AG2R La Mondiale          18
14 Rinaldo NOCENTINI      AG2R La Mondiale          18
15 Lars Petter NORDHAUG   Blanco Pro Cycling        18
16 Sergio HENAO           Team Sky                  18
17 Nicki SÖRENSEN         Saxo-Tinkoff              21
18 Jelle VANENDERT        Lotto-Belisol             26
19 Simon GESCHKE          Argos-Shimano             56
20 Diego ULISSI           Lampre-Merida             56