Sergio Henao claimed a top-10 finish for Team Sky at Liege-Bastogne-Liege after Alejandro Valverde won his second consecutive Ardennes classic in a reduced sprint finish. Henao and Lars Petter Nordhaug were both in a lead group of 13 riders as the race hit the famous climb to the finish, and although Nordhaug slipped back on the final left-hand corner, Henao pressed on to contest the victory.

The Colombian kicked down the right-hand side as the sprint fanned across the road, but was unable to influence the final result which saw Valverde (Movistar) outpace Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx – Quick-Step) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha). Henao was credited with the same time as those top three riders, with Nordhaug crossing the line 10 seconds later in 12th position.

Team Sky rode cannily throughout the 101st edition of cycling’s oldest ‘Monument’, but saw their numbers reduced 42km from home when Nicolas Roche was involved in a large crash which included Simon Gerrans (Orica – GreenEdge), Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and his cousin Dan Martin (Cannondale-Garmin).

Kanstantsin Siutsou tried to animate the race soon after when he chipped off the front of the peloton, and even when he’d been brought back, he and Vasil Kiryienka worked hard to guide Henao and Nordhaug into contention.

The race proved a real war of attrition, and as the rain began falling on the approach to the Côte de Saint-Nicolas, riders were being steadily distanced as the peloton chased down a late move involving Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff-Saxo), Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Giampaolo Caruso (Katusha). Henao and Nordhaug were still there as the race hit the Cote de Ans, but it was Valverde who made it an Ardennes double after his Fleche Wallonne triumph four days earlier.

Spain's Alejandro Valverde (R) celebrates after winning the 101st Liege-Bastogne-Liege one-day classic cycling race. After the race, Sports Director Gabrial Rasch was pleased to report Roche’s injuries weren’t as serious as originally feared, and was content with the way his riders had performed. He told TeamSky.com:

“Obviously, you always try to win, but I think having two riders in the top 12 after the way the race panned out was pretty good. All the guys did a good job. Kiry and Kosta were really strong, and Nico would have definitely been there at the end if he hadn’t have crashed. He’s fine actually - he went down pretty hard but thankfully was more dazed than injured.

“Once that had worn off he was OK, and that’s a big relief because we’d feared the worst when we saw him lying on the ground. He took a bang to the head and also to his shoulder, but nothing’s broken. As always, we’ll keep an eye on him but there’s no long-term worries.

“It was unfortunate Lars Petter got stuck behind that crash, because the energy it took him to get back in the peloton meant he came up a bit short at the end. He was a little disappointed with that because he felt he could have given it a good go. All-in-all though, we’re happy and we’re in good shape heading into the next block of races.”