92nd Liège-Bastogne-Liège Results
 Valverde "Classics Rider" Doubles! Success in Ans, Bettini and Cunego fill out the podium. Report, Notes. Photos and Official results.

Basso and Valverde Climb the Côte de Saint-Nicolas. Fotoreporter Sirotti

Alejandro Belmonte Valverde in a final attack denied the strongest of the strong today in the Ans. The Las Lumbreras born native of Spain delivered the final punch to survivors of the lead group of 12; proving his position as a classics rider. Back to back victories in the last two weeks in Feche Wallone and today only add to the impressive palmares of the Spainard who will be 26 on Wednesday. His victory is one more for the 25 something riders that share a birthdates near 1980; with a trend that looks to continue this year.

The race was enlivened by a break of 26 who made an early escape of three riders at 30 kms was quickly joined by another 23 rider which included some of the favorites. The gap went up to as high as 7 minutes when the CSC led peloton started to drive the front and reduce the gap. CSC's Jens Voight put in a journeyman's day attacking at the front softening the group including favorites Wesemann, Flecha, and Rogers for the final assault that was sure to follow.

The peloton pulled the break back with 50 kms to go, and the attacks rained at the front as Boogerd was joined by Rodriguez as the final selection over the final climbs happened behind. Alas, with 5 kms to go Boogerd and Rodriguez were pulled back in on the climb of the Côte de St Nicolas. All hell broke loose as the attacks flew at the front with Bettini, Basso, Valverde, Shleck, Horner, Perdiguero, Sinkewitz, Cunego, and Boogerd each sought to escape with any gap to victory.

Valverde, Bettini, Cunego and the Magenta helmet of Sinkewitz
Photo c. Fotoreporter Sirotti

None could gain solid advantage until the last 300 meters as T-Mobile's Patrik Sinkewitz attacked, Valverde held his wheel and came around him with Quick Step's Bettini and Damiano Cunego trying to come over Alejandro... but none could resist the Spainards charge.

The mountains classification gave credit to the main animators in the race Steffen Wessemann (T-Mobile), Serge Pauwels (Chocolate Jacques/Topsport), and Jens Voight of Team CSC.

Worthy of mentioning today is that Italy had 4 riders in the top ten: Bettini, Cunego, DiLuca and Basso;  with Spain second with two: Alejandro Valverde and Prediguero. The remaining four riders were Shleck of Luxemborg, Patrik Sinkewitz of Germany, Michael Boogerd of the Nederlands and Chris Horner showing very well in eighth place. Thomas Dekker the Nederland's wunderkind placed in 20th another great placing for the young gun this season.

Alejandro Valverde with  his LBL Trophy Photo c. Fotoreporter Sirotti

  92nd Liège-Bastogne-Liège Results
        Liège - Ans - 262 km
     6h 21' 32"    41.202 km/h
  1 101 VALVERDE Alejandro CEI ESP
  2 051 BETTINI Paolo QSI ITA 00' 00"
  3 061 CUNEGO Damiano LAM ITA 00' 00"
  4 021 SINKEWITZ Patrik TMO GER 00' 00"
  5 031 BOOGERD Michael RAB NED 00' 00"
  6 092 MARTIN PERDIGUERO M.Angel PHO ESP 00' 00"
  7 015 SCHLECK Frank CSC LUX 00' 00"
  8 085 HORNER Christopher DVL USA 00' 00"
  9 181 DI LUCA Danilo LIQ ITA 00' 04"
10 011 BASSO Ivan CSC ITA 00' 07"

LBL Podium 2006 Bettini, Valverde and Damiano Cunego
Photo c. Fotoreporter Sirotti

11 005 KASHECHKIN Andrey LSW KAZ 00' 12"
12 108 RODRIGUEZ Joaquim CEI ESP 00' 24"
13 003 ETXEBARRIA David LSW ESP 00' 28"
14 035 FREIRE Oscar RAB ESP 00' 29"
15 151 SANCHEZ Samuel EUS ESP 00' 31"
16 187 PELLIZOTTI Franco LIQ ITA 00' 31"
17 111 GRIVKO Andriy MRM UKR 00' 31"
18 012 KROON Karsten CSC NED 00' 31"
19 062 BALLAN Alessandro LAM ITA 00' 31"
20 033 DEKKER Thomas RAB NED 00' 31"
21 231 ASTARLOA Igor BAR ESP 00' 31"
22 161 SIMONI Gilberto SDV ITA 00' 45"

The favorites on le Redoute Photo c. Bart Hazen http://www.cyclingfx.nl/

23 158 MAYO Iban EUS ESP 00' 47"
24 022 KESSLER Matthias TMO GER 00' 51"
25 232 ARREITUNANDIA Pedro BAR ESP 00' 57"
============= 1:00 ===========
26 064 FIGUERAS Giuliano LAM ITA 01' 18"
27 132 BELLOTTI Francesco C.A ITA 01' 21"
28 046 WEGMANN Fabian GST GER 01' 21"
29 067 STANGELJ Gorazd LAM SLO 01' 21"
30 001 VINOKOUROV Alexandre LSW KAZ 01' 31"
31 121 BERTAGNOLLI Leonardo COF ITA 01' 31"
32 184 GARZELLI Stefano LIQ ITA 02' 13"
============= 4:00 =============
33 091 MERCKX Axel PHO BEL 04' 29"
34 177 ROUS Didier BTL FRA 04' 33"
35 191 MANCEBO Francisco A2R ESP 04' 33"
36 167 LOBATO Ruben SDV ESP 04' 33"
37 074 GUSEV Vladimir DSC RUS 04' 33"
38 141 GILBERT Philippe FDJ BEL 04' 33"
39 025 MAZZOLENI Eddy TMO ITA 04' 33"
40 154 CAMANO Iker EUS ESP 04' 33"
41 087 LEUKEMANS Bjorn DVL BEL 04' 33"
42 052 BAGUET Serge QSI BEL 04' 33"
43 057 TANKINK Bram QSI NED 04' 33"
44 004 JAKSCHE Jorg LSW GER 04' 33"
45 163 COBO ACEBO Juan Jose SDV ESP 05' 26"
46 123 CHAVANEL Sylvain COF FRA 06' 58"
47 131 CAUCCHIOLI Pietro C.A ITA 07' 31"
48 233 CHEULA Gianpaolo BAR ITA 07' 31"
49 134 FOFONOV Dmitriy C.A KAZ 09' 53"
============= 10:00 =============
50 054 GARATE Juan Manuel QSI ESP 10' 51"
51 018 VOIGT Jens CSC GER 10' 51"
52 198 MOREAU Christophe A2R FRA 11' 00"
53 047 ZBERG Beat GST SUI 11' 00"
54 109 ZABALLA Constantino CEI ESP 11' 00"
55 169 DE LA FUENTE David SDV ESP 11' 00"
56 032 DEKKER Erik RAB NED 11' 00"
57 192 ARRIETA Jose Luis A2R ESP 11' 00"
58 247 LAURENT Christophe AGR FRA 11' 00"
59 172 BENETEAU Walter BTL FRA 11' 00"
60 036 KOLOBNEV Alexandr RAB RUS 11' 00"
61 088 VANSUMMEREN Johan DVL BEL 11' 00"
62 098 ZAMPIERI Steve PHO SUI 11' 00"
63 113 IGLINSKIY Maxim MRM KAZ 11' 00"
64 037 POSTHUMA Joost RAB NED 11' 00"
65 058 VASSEUR Cédric QSI FRA 11' 00"
66 082 BRANDT Christophe DVL BEL 11' 00"
67 145 LÖVKVIST Thomas FDJ SWE 11' 00"
68 081 AERTS Mario DVL BEL 11' 00"
69 127 VERBRUGGHE Rik COF BEL 11' 00"
70 171 FEDRIGO Pierrick BTL FRA 11' 00"
71 206 TEN DAM Laurens UNI NED 11' 00"
72 196 GOUBERT Stephane A2R FRA 11' 00"
73 185 MUGERLI Matej LIQ SLO 11' 00"
74 071 AZEVEDO José DSC POR 11' 00"
75 136 PAURIOL Rémi C.A FRA 11' 00"
76 068 VALJAVEC Tadej LAM SLO 11' 00"
77 124 MARICHAL Thierry COF BEL 11' 00"
78 222 DE WAELE Bert LAN BEL 11' 00"
79 063 COMMESSO Salvatore LAM ITA 11' 00"
80 084 EVANS Cadel DVL AUS 11' 00"
81 002 CONTADOR Alberto LSW ESP 11' 00"
82 008 VICIOSO Angel LSW ESP 11' 00"
83 096 MURN Uros PHO SLO 11' 00"
84 066 PETROV Evgeni LAM RUS 11' 00"
85 034 FLECHA Juan Antonio RAB ESP 11' 00"
86 248 SALMON Benoit AGR FRA 11' 00"
============ 16:00 ============
87 095 MORABITO Steve PHO SUI 16' 36"
88 076 JOACHIM Benoit DSC LUX 17' 25"
89 112 DEN BAKKER Maarten MRM NED 17' 25"
90 203 COENEN Johan UNI BEL 17' 25"
91 213 PAUWELS Serge JAC BEL 17' 25"
92 135 LE MEVEL Christophe C.A FRA 17' 25"
93 086 JUFRE POU Josep DVL ESP 17' 25"
94 103 COLOM Antonio CEI ESP 17' 25"
95 175 PINEAU Jérôme BTL FRA 17' 25"
96 182 CALCAGNI Patrick LIQ SUI 17' 25"
97 234 COX Ryan BAR RSA 17' 25"
98 223 KLEYNEN Steven LAN BEL 17' 25"
99 157 ISASI Inaki EUS ESP 17' 25"
100 026 ROGERS Michael TMO AUS 17' 25"
101 014 SASTRE Carlos CSC ESP 17' 25"
102 007 SERRANO Marcos LSW ESP 17' 25"
103 053 ENGELS Addy QSI NED 17' 25"
104 114 JURCO Matej MRM SVK 17' 25"
105 144 FINOT Frédéric FDJ FRA 17' 25"

Final Climber Ranking:
1 027 WESEMANN Steffen TMO SUI 20
2 213 PAUWELS Serge JAC BEL 14
3 018 VOIGT Jens CSC GER 8
4 218 WYNANTS Maarten JAC BEL 5
5 021 SINKEWITZ Patrik TMO GER 4
6 015 SCHLECK Frank CSC LUX 4
7 171 FEDRIGO Pierrick BTL FRA 3
8 226 SIMON Jean Paul LAN BEL 2
9 092 MARTIN PERDIGUERO M.Angel PHO ESP 2
10 031 BOOGERD Michael RAB NED 1
11 186 NIBALI Vincenzo LIQ ITA 1
12 034 FLECHA Juan Antonio RAB ESP 1
13 014 SASTRE Carlos CSC ESP 1
14 004 JAKSCHE Jorg LSW GER 1
15 085 HORNER Christopher DVL USA 1
16 051 BETTINI Paolo QSI ITA 1

Daily Peloton Archives
 2006 Start List and Photos
Alexander Vinokourov's Press Conference
2006 Liège-Bastogne-Liège Team Announcements
92nd Liège-Bastogne-Liège Preview Part 2
92nd Liège-Bastogne-Liège Live Report
 2005:
 2005 91rst Liège-Bastogne-Liège Live Report
 91st Liège-Bastogne-Liège Preview
 2004:
 90th Liège-Bastogne-Liège Live Coverage
 2004 Liege-Bastogne-Liege: The Contenders
 2004 Liege-Bastogne-Liege: Preview
 2003:
 2003 Who will win La Doyenne?
 2003 U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège (1.7.1) Results
 2002:
 2002 LIEGE - The main contenders
 2002 Mapei's Masterpiece Paolo Bettini wins 2nd LBL (Live)
 Liege - Rebellin Interview 2002
 History:
 History: Liege-Bastogne-Liege Approaches...
 How the Cup was Won: Parts One and Two
 Who are the Best 20 Classics Riders in History
 Who are the Best 20 Classics Riders in History? Part Two