Cycling – Tour de France – The 31-km Stage 20 Individual Time Trial from Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle to Espelette – July 28, 2018 – Astana Pro Team rider Jakob Fuglsang of Denmark in action. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
(Reuters) – Denmark’s Jakob Fuglsang of Astana beat the pre-race favorites to ride solo to victory in the 105th Liege-Bastogne-Liege ‘Monument’ classic on Sunday.
Fuglsang, who finished 10th last year, nearly crashed with five kilometers to go on a fast descent on wet and slippery roads. He dropped all his rivals with 13 kilometers to go.
In a rain-hit race with temperatures as low as six degrees Celsius (42.8°F), Fuglsang won the 256 kilometers race in six hours 37 minutes and 37 seconds – 27 seconds ahead of Davide Formolo who finished second while Maximilian Schachmann finished third.
Annemiek van Vleuten won the women’s race with Floortje Mackaij and Demi Vollering completing an all-Dutch podium.
Liege-Bastogne-Liege is the fourth of five Monument (top) classics after Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, and before the Tour of Lombardy.
Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar
