Roman Kreuziger may be a rider to look out for in Sunday's Liege-Bastogne-Liege after the strong Czech finished in the top 10 in yesterday's Fleche Wallonne. In an explosive finish not suited to his characteristics, he mixed it up with the puncheurs and so seems to be fully ready for Sunday's big battle.

With 30 kilometers to go, the field in yesterday's Fleche Wallonne was trimmed down significantly and the gap to the front duo brought down to 2 minutes and Tinkoff-Saxo moved up to the front of the pack with Rory Sutherland, Chris Anker Sørensen and Roman Kreuziger. Passing the Mur de Huy for the second of three times, the peloton stretched out without creating new chase groups and the gap was brought down to barely 30 seconds.  

On the penultimate climb, Tinkoff-Saxo Dane, Chris Anker Sørensen launched an attack from the pack and the peloton immediately strung out but Katusha bridged the gap and kept the pace high and groups of riders were now dropped as the front group was swept up as well with 9 kilometers to go.
 
Entering the final 4 kilometers, the race was put into the hands of Katusha whose riders rocketed away towards the foot of Mur de Huy and even though Michael Kwiatkoski (Omega-Pharma Quick Step) put in a solid effort as the first of the favorites, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) timed his attack perfectly and won this year’s Fleche Wallone.
 
Tinkoff-Saxo’s Roman Kreuziger finished 8th ahead of the biggest favorites in the race, Dani Moreno and Philippe Gilbert.

“Kreuziger was well-protected throughout the whole race and I think he delivered a fine finish considering the climb," sports director Philippe Mauduit said. "We tried to avoid the punchy finale with an attack from Chris Anker (Sørensen) but Katusha covered every move there was today but this was also Chris’ chance to get a good result as he’s not a punchy rider like Valverde and Moreno. As always, we’re going for the win but there was nothing we could do about Valverde’s impressive finish.