Daniel Moreno (Katusha) defended Katusha's title in today's Fleche Wallonne as he put in a furious acceleration near the top of the steep Mur de Huy. He held off the Colombian duo of Sergio Henao (Sky) and Carlos Betancur (Ag2r) as world champion Philippe Gilbert faded in the final part of the climb.

With the physical condition of Joaquin Rodriguez uncertain due to his crash in the Amstel Gold Race, many doubted that Katusha would be able to defend last year's victory in the mid-week Ardennes classics, the Fleche Wallonne. However, most people had forgotten that the team has another formidable expert in short, steep uphill sprints with Daniel Moreno also in their roster.

The Spaniard reminded everybody of his presence when he accelerated out of a select lead group led by Philippe Gilbert when the world champion started to fade near the top of the steep Mur de Huy. Showing his superiority, he opened up a big gap and caught Carlos Betancur who had been off the front due to a gutsy attack on the lower slopes of the final climb.

Behind Sergio Henao fought valiantly in an attempt to catch the tiny Spaniard but he was no match to the winner of last year's Vuelta a Burgos. Moreno made it two in a row for Katusha on the Mur de Huy and made up for a below-par Rodriguez.

As usual it came down to a final sprint on the race's landmark climb and all the favourites were well-positioned as they hit the lower slopes. While the main contenders looked at each other, Betancur seized the opportunity and opened up a large gap.

Patience has always been the key to a good result in Fleche Wallonne. Hence, no one wanted to open up their sprint too early in an attempt to catch Betancur, and for a moment Betancur looked like a surprising winner.

Finally, Gilbert took things into his own hands and upped the pace with Peter Sagan, Daniel Moreno and Sergio Henao in his wheel. Those four distanced the rest but Gilbert had put down the hammer too early. As he faded and the steep slopes became too much for Sagan, Moreno attacked, gapped his competitors and easily caught the now struggling Betancur.

Behind he was chased by Henao but the Colombian had no answer to the speed of Moreno. He had to settle for second while Betancur just managed to hold off a strong finish from Daniel Martin (Garmin-Sharp) to take the final spot of the podium.

With the victory, Katusha got its revenge after a hugely disappointing Amstel Gold Race. The final of the Ardennes classics, the Liege-Bastogne-Liege, takes places on Sunday.

12 climbs on the menu

The 205km race started in Binche and travelled in a westerly direction to hit the Ardennes and no less than 12 steep climbs. The races landmark climb, the Mur de Huy, had to be tackled no less than three times and as usual the finish line was located at the top of the extremely steep hill.

The race was off to a fast start but for a while nobody managed to get a lasting gap. That all changed when Gilles Devillers (Crelan) and Pirmin Lang (IAM) finally managed to get clear and after a long chase, Jurgen Van Goolen (Accent.jobs) joined the front duo.

The trio was allowed to build up an advantage of more than 9 minutes before Sky and BMC started to chase in an attempt to set up their leaders Henao and Gilbert. The gap started to come down quickly and as the riders started the final, difficult 70km with no less than 8 climbs, the gap was below the 4 minutes mark.

Sky had now been replaced by Alejandro Valverde's Movistar squad and for a number of kilometres the pace was being set by Klaas Lodewyck (BMC), Steven Cummings (BMC) and Angel Madrazo (Movistar). Meanwhile, the key riders started to position themselves near the front of the group.

Lagutin aggressive

On the Cote de Bellaire with 53km remaining, attacks started to go off the front. Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil), Laurent Didier (Radioshack) and Matthew Busche (Radioshack) tried to escape and for a moment a 10-rider group dangled off the front. However, Movistar made sure to close down the large escape due to some strong pulls by Pablo Lastras and Imanol Erviti.

On the next climb, the Cote de Bohisseau, Lagutin once again tried his luck. While the Uzbekh champion was again unsuccessful, the accelerations spelled the end for the early break and instead Laurens Ten Dam (Blanco) and Romain Bardet (Ag2r) made up the new front group.

Burghardt in command

The duo were never allowed to gain more than 30 seconds on the peloton in which the command had been taken over by an extremely strong Marco Burghardt (BMC). Meanwhile, riders had started to drop off due to the hard pace.

As the riders approached the penultimate passage of the Mur de Huy, Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin) had an untimely puncture and he had to chase for a long time in order to get back to the peloton. Meanwhile, Bardet was caught on the Mur while Ten Dam got a new companion in Simon Geschke (Argos-Shimano) who had attacked on the steep slopes.

The duo was always kept in firm control by BMC's Marcus Burghardt and Dominik Nerz who kept the gap below the 30 seconds mark. Once again bad luck struck the Garmin team as their second option in today's finish, Daniel Martin, also had a puncture and had to chase hard to get back.

The break is caught

On the day's penultimate climb, the Cote de Villers-le-Boillet, it was all back together and Jerome Pineau (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) set a hard pace which discouraged any attacks and put a number of riders in trouble, among those Andy Schleck (Radioshack) and Lars Petter Nordhaug (Blanco).

After the top it was one long sprint all the way down to the bottom of the Mur as all the favourites wanted to enter the climb in the best position. Astana won the battle and lined out the peloton on the lower slopes before Paul Martens (Blanco) took over the command. As the German faded, the favourites started to look at each other. That was the signal for Betancur to attack which kicked off the thrilling final in which Moreno came out triumphant.

Result

1 Daniel Moreno - Katusha

2 Sergio Henao - Sky 0.03

3 Carlos Betancur - AG2R La Mondiale

4 Daniel Martin - Garmin-Sharp

5 Michal Kwiatkwoski - Omega Pharma-QuickStep

6 Joaquim Rodriguez - Katusha 0.08

7 Alejandro Valverde - Movistar

8 Igor Anton - Euskaltel-Euskadi

9 Bauke Mollema - Blanco

10 Rinalo Nocentini - AG2R La Mondiale