Daniel Martin (Garmin-Sharp) emerged as the strongest from a 6-man break which had gone clear on the final climb of the Cote de Saint-Nicolas in today's Liege-Bastogne-Liege. He took a fantastic win ahead of pre-race favourites Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) in a superb display of power from the Garmin team in the final part of the race.

Daniel Martin had come close to a monument victory when he was 2nd in the 2011 edition of Tour of Lombardy. He had never been in contention in the Ardennes due to allergy problems at this time of the year but in 2012 he had finally solved his health issues and was a strong presence throughout the hilly classics. Today he proved that he has all it takes to be victorious in the biggest races as he took home the Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

He was greatly assisted by a strong Ryder Hesjedal who emerged as the strongest from a 6-man group which had gone clear on the penultimate climb of the Cote de Colonster. The lanky Canadian soloed off the front and held a 20 second gap as he hit the day's final ascent, the Cote de Saint-Nicolas with less than 7km remaining.

Behind the chase got organized and Astana and BMC both set a hard tempo to bring back the Giro champion and set up Vincenzo Nibali and Philippe Gilbert but they failed to make any inroads on the impressive Garmin rider. Instead the favourites had to do the work themselves on the steep slopes.

Jakob Fugslang (Astana) set a hard tempo on the lower slopes and riders started to drop off in large numbers. As soon as the Dane had finished his job, the favourites hesitated and as it was the case in the Fleche Wallonne, the man to exploit the uncertainty was Carlos Betancur (Ag2r). The Colombian set off in lone pursuit of Hesjedal.

Moments later Michele Scarponi (Lampre) put down the hammer and with Joaquin Rodriguez and Martin in tow he passed Betancur and joined Hesjedal in the front of the race. Nibali had tried to join the move but the Giro del Trentino winner probably paid the prize for a hard Giro del Trentino and was dropped before they reached the Canadian.

Gilbert finally put in his acceleration and for a moment he seemed to be closing down the gap. However, the world champion faded and was countered by a strong Alejandro Valverde whose incredible rush brought the Spaniard up to the front group. Betancur caught his wheel and was the last man of a 6-man move that crested the summit together.

At the front Hesjedal sacrificed his own chances to set up Martin for the win and the Canadian did a huge amount of work to keep the gap ahead of a strong chase which was being led by Nibali. The Italian was joined by fast teammate Enrico Gasparotto in the group and last year's winner of Amstel saw a perfect opportunity to win the race if they could catch the escapees.

Due to the hard work of Hesjedal they did make any inroads and as the front group hit the final rise into the finishing city of Ans, it was clear that the winner would be one of the 5 remaining front riders after Hesjedal had finally dropped off.

At the bottom of the hill Rodriguez put in one of his trademark accelerations and for a moment he seemed to have locked up the race. However, the Spaniard faded along the way while a strong Martin had dropped his companions and was now in lone pursuit.

Inside the final kilometer the Garmin rider caught Rodriguez and moments later he waved goodbye to the Katusha captain. He soloed off the front to take the biggest win of his career and his second WorldTour victory this season after his Volta a Catalunya triumph in March. Rodriguez held on to take 3rd while Valverde beat Betancur and Scarponi to take the final podium spot. Moments later Gasparotto held off a disappointed Gilbert in the sprint for 6th.

With the victory, Martin moves into third on the world rankings behind Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack) and Peter Sagan (Cannondale).

The break goes clear immediately

The 261,5km race took in no less than 11 categorized climb on the run from Liege to Bastogne and all the way back to the Liege suburb of Ans. With most of the ascents located in the second half of the race, the 4th of cycling's monuments was as always a tough affair in which the Ardennes experts were expected to go head to head with the world's best stage race riders.

After 4km, Bart De Clercq (Lotto-Belisol) attacked and he was joined Vincent Jerome (Europcar), Pirmin Lang (IAM), Jonathan Fumeaux (IAM), Frederik Veuchelen (Vacansoleil) and Sander Armee (Topsport Vlaanderen) in what would be the day's early break. They were allowed to build up a gap of no less than 14 minutes before the peloton finally picked up the pace.

Valverde, Rodriguez and Nibali showed their intentions early on as they took responsibility for the chase. Pablo Lastras (Movistar), Eduard Vorganov (Katusha) and Alexey Lutsenko) did the early pace-making and the advantage gradually started to come down.

The serious climbing starts

The Cote de Wanne with 101,5km remaining signalled the start of the hard part of the race and from the on the climbs came in quick succession with no time to rest in between. As the peloton approached the ascent, the battle for position was intense, and on the lower slopes Lastras set a furious pace while riders started to drop off behind.

On the day's next climb, the Cote de Stockeu, the break started to split up as both Lang and Armee were dropped while De Clercq was clearly the strongest as he said a furious pace at the front of the group. After a long chase, Armee and later also Lang regained contact and with 90km to go the 6 riders were again back together.

On the Cote de la Haute-Levee with 90km remaining, Tom-Jelte Slagter put in an attack in the peloton and as more riders joined, a 25-rider group managed to create a small gap. Sensing the danger, the BMC team kicked into action and they closed down the gap before it got really dangerous.

Saxo-Tinkoff up the pace

At the next climb, the Col du Rosier, it was Saxo-Tinkoff who put down the hammer. Mads Christensen and Chris Anker Sørensen attacked and as they failed to create a gap, Sørensen and Nicolas Roche set a hard tempo on the rest of the climb to severely tire the legs of plenty of riders at the back end of the peloton. At the top, they stopped their effort and instead it was Simone Ponzi (Astana) who kept up the pace as Nibali wanted a hard race.

Moments later a familiar sight occurred as the mighty Sky train lined up at the head of the peloton and all the way to the lower slopes of the race's landmark climb Cote de la Redoute with 30,5km remaining, it was Vasil Kiryienka who set his usual hard pace with the rest of his British team lined up behind him. Meanwhile, Armee was dropped from the break and as the Belgian took a natural break he was quickly picked up by the peloton.

De Clercq who had been the strongest in the group had an unfortunate puncture and he had plenty of mechanical problems before he finally got a new bike. With a big delay, he set off in pursuit of his former companions and just before the hit the Redoute climb he was back in the group.

The attacks start on La Redoute

On the lower slopes, Kanstantsin Siutsou (Sky) upped the pace to make a selection in the peloton and moments later his teammate David Lopez attacked. More riders tried to seize the opportunity and at the top of the climb a strong group containing Lopez, Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Rui Costa (Movistar), Alberto Losada (Katusha), Damiano Cunego (Lampre), Mathias Frank (BMC) and Romain Bardet (Ag2r) had gone clear while the early break had been caught by the peloton.

Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ) managed to close the gap but Garmin had missed the move, and Michel Kreder did a huge job to almost close down the gap. As the group was almost caught, Frank dropped back to the peloton and Laurens Ten Dam (Blanco) joined up with the leaders who suddenly managed to reopen their advantage.

BMC closes down the move

With BMC no longer present in the front group, the American team amassed at the front of the peloton, and they closed down the dangerous move. They kept the pace high all the way to the bottom of the day's penultimate climb, the Cote de Colonster.

On the climb, Costa attacked once again and at the top of the ascent, a strong move containing the Portuguese, Giampaolo Caruso (Katusha), Rigoberto Uran (Sky), Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff), Igor Anton (Euskaltel) and Hesjedal had gone clear. Behind there was some hesitation before Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Amael Moinard (BMC), Andriy Grivko (Astana) and Fuglsang started to chase hard.

In the front group, Hesjedal was clearly the strongest and the Canadian set off in a solo move while the remainder of the group was caught by the peloton. With Caruso back in the fold, Losada also joined the chase work but the combined power of Astana, Katusha and BMC failed to make any inroads into the advantage of the Giro champion. Moments later he hit the lower slopes of the Saint-Nicolas climb which kicked off the thrilling final to the race.

Result

1 Daniel Martin - Garmin-Sharp 06.38.07
2 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver - Katusha 0.03
3 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte - Movistar Team 0.09
4 Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez - AG2R La Mondiale
5 Michele Scarponi - Lampre-Merida
6 Enrico Gasparotto - Astana Pro Team 0.18
7 Philippe Gilbert - BMC Racing Team
8 Ryder Hesjedal - Garmin-Sharp
9 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa - Movistar Team
10 Simon Gerrans - Orica-GreenEdge