Alexandre Vinokourov, one of the blacker sheep in bicycle racing and one who was not supposed to be riding Sunday in the esteemed Liège-Bastogne-Liège classic, stunned a field of favorites by zipping away from them and winning decisively.
The 36-year-old Kazakh, who rides for Astana from his homeland, was added to the team’s line-up late last week to replace an ailing rider. Vinokourov was coming off a tiring victory Friday in the multiday Giro del Trentino in Italy and was ostensibly added just to help Alberto Contador, the Astana leader and two-time Tour de France winner, in the Belgian classic. Instead Vinokourov sped away from a group of favorites, including Contador, with 17 kilometers left in the 258-kilometer, or 160-mile, race. Only Alexandre Kolobnev, a Russian with Katusha, could stay the rest of the way with Vino, who left him behind with 500 meters to go and finished first by six seconds. Second place in a major race is all too familiar to Kolobnev, who finished there in the world championship road races in 2007 and 2009.
Three big favorites — Alejandro Valverde, a Spaniard with Caisse d’Epargne; Philippe Gilbert, a Belgian with Omega, and Cadel Evans, an Australian with BMC — finished in that order behind the two leaders. They were one minute 14 seconds behind Vino, who was clocked in 6 hours 37 minutes 48 seconds. He was congratulated by Contador, who inspired the winning breakaway by launching a strong attack two hills from home. Since most eyes were on the Spaniard, Vinokourov was ignored as he jumped away in a display of team tactics. “This team was created for and also thanks to me,” the winner said. “I’ve completed my punishment so I don’t see why I shouldn’t come back.”
This was the Kazakh’s second victory in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, following one in 2005, when he was in full bloom as a champion. In 2007, however, he was ousted from the Tour de France for blood doping and spent the next two years in litigious suspension. During that time he quarreled with his team’s management and was scathing in criticism of the Tour’s organizers, the Amaury Sport Organization. They are suspected of being prepared to bar him from the Tour this year, but, since they also organized Liège-Bastogne-Liège, they may have to soften their hearts.
The race in shirtsleeves weather was staged through the dark forests of the Ardennes and over 10 longish and steep hills, with the last three of them the customary killing ground.
First, with 35 kilometers to go, came La Redoute, 2.1 kilometers long with an average grade of 8.4 percent, most of it painted in white and yellow with “Phil” in honor of Gilbert, who grew up in the dingy town of Remouchamps. Next, with 20 kilometers to go, came the Roche aux Faucons, 1.5 kilometers long with an average grade of 9.9 percent. It was on the descent there that Vinokourov made his move. He and Kolobnev maintained a lead of under a minute to the final obstacle, the Saint Nicolas hill, a kilometer long but with a grade averaging 11 perceent and six kilometers to the finish. By that time, a chase by Gilbert ran out of steam and Vinokourov was able to ride alone on the final uphill ramp to unexpected glory.
This 96th edition of the race marked the 30th anniversary of a Liège-Bastogne-Liège that has become legendary. In 1980, the start was held in a heavy snowstorm and frigid winds, and riders began dropping out immediately. By the finish, only 21 riders remained of the 174 who set off. Bernard Hinault, the French champion, was first across the line, 9 minutes 24 seconds ahead of Hennie Kuiper, a Dutchman in second place.
“I had to stop,” Maurice le Guilloux, a French teammate of Hinault’s, told the sports newspaper l’Equipe last week. “I was out of strength because I couldn’t eat. Because of the cold, my hands were paralyzed and I couldn’t get at the food in my pockets.” Hinault meant to drop out himself at the first feeding zone, but the storm abated and he continued on in sudden sunlight. Then the snow resumed. “I thought of nothing, I saw nothing,” Hinault remembers. “Everything was white. I rode in the tracks left in the snow by the official cars ahead of me.” Two of his fingers were so frozen that they remain stiff to this day.
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