Liège-Bastogne-Liège (2018) Photos April 21

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Alejandro VALVERDE (MOVISTAR): “I feel as good as ever but you can’t always win”, the Spanish veteran explains. “I think my rivals will attack from far away so it will be harder for us to control. If it comes to down to a small group sprint, I’m one of the fastest riders so I can always go for the victory. We’ll see how things unfold during the race.” Valverde is looking forward to his “favorite race in the international calendar. I already won it four times and we’ll try to get the fifth but it will be very hard.”	Winner's Trophy	Robert GESINK (LOTTO NL - JUMBO)
Ilnur ZAKARIN (KATUSHA)	BORA - HHANSGROHE	GROUPAMA - FDJ
A fan favorite wherever he goes, Luis Angel MATE (COFIDIS; SOLUTIONS CREDITS)	Michael MATTHEWS (TEAM SUNWEB): “There was not any pressure on me, I just wanted to see what I could do on this climb and I think 5th place is quite a good result for a sprinter”, the Australian puncheur-sprinter said on Saturday, a year after finishing 4th at Ans. “I’m happy to be back in some sort of shape (after a broken shoulder at the end of February) where I can try and contest. I’ve worked a lot with my ostheo on my shoulder and my back.” At La Doyenne, ‘Bling’ hopes for “a fun race, where we can all just go out there and enjoy ourselves. I’m just enjoying every bit of these classics. Alaphilippe showed he’s in a great form. With the way he’s going, I think he’ll be quite active. But then there’s also Valverde that likes a pretty crazy race and then a final sprint. I don’t know how it will go.”	MITCHELTON - SCOTT
Rigoberto URAN (TEAM EF EDUCATION FIRST - DRAPAC): "This one is special because it's a classic for the climbers. There are more than 4000m of climbing of Sunday"	QUICK - STEP FLOORS led by Philippe Gilbert	Franco PELLIZOTTI (BAHRAIN - MERIDA)
Philippe GILBERT (QUICK - STEP FLOORS): There aren't 40 different ways of winning Liege-Bastogne-Liege	Julian ALAPHILIPPE (QUICK - STEP FLOORS): “I don’t have lots of experience at Liège, but I’m very motivated and I know the shape is good. With what we saw on Wednesday, we can imagine riders will try to go from far away, like Nibali did. And in the end, I prefer a race with lots of moves. If we see lots of attacks, there’ll be less riders battling it out in the end. Then, I’ll need the legs to respond well. We’ll see.”	WANTY - GROUPE GOBERT
BAHRAIN - MERIDA	AQUA BLUE SPORT	LOTTO NL - JUMBO
DIRECT ENERGIE	Julian ALAPHILIPPE (QUICK - STEP FLOORS)
TREK SEGAFREDO	BMC RACING	Stephen CUMMINGS (TEAM DIMENSION DATA)
BMC RACING	Liege

Stage 2:  Race day  Full Results and Report

Warren BARGUIL (FRA/FORTUNEO - SAMSIC) riding on stage for the morning sign-in	The neutral rollout from Liège	ASO's general director, Christian Prudhomme, gets ready to drop the flag on this year's edition of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the oldest monument
Today's early break gets started		The break
Lotto-Soudel at the front of the peloton	The flat part of the course before the climbs	The break at cote de Saint-Roch
The peloton at cote de Saint-Roch	Philippe GILBERT (Belgium / Team Quick - Step Floors) attacks on Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons setting up the winning move by his teammate. Gilbert concluded the Spring Classics as the rider with the most participations in one-day World Tour races: 10.	Bob JUNGELS (QUICK - STEP FLOORS) takes a bottle on Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons before launching his solo attack with 20 km to go
	Bob JUNGELS (QUICK - STEP FLOORS) attacked on the descent of Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons with just less than 20 km to go	Bob JUNGELS' (QUICK - STEP FLOORS) gap covered between 20-50 seconds
Final corner with Bob JUNGELS (QUICK - STEP FLOORS) still in the lead	Bob JUNGELS (QUICK - STEP FLOORS) celebrates his biggest win with no other rider in the frame	The winner was incredulous post race: "Nobody ever came back"
Romain BARDET (FRA/AG2R LA MONDIALE) leads Michael WOODS (CAN/EF EDUCATION FIRST - DRAPAC) around the final corner in the battle for second	The pain of the winning effort or peeking back at the battle for the other podium spots?	The rest of the top 10 led by 2nd Michael WOODS (CAN/EF EDUCATION FIRST - DRAPAC) + 37s, 3rd Romain BARDET (FRA/AG2R LA MONDIALE), 4th Julian ALAPHILIPPE (FRA/QUICK - STEP FLOORS) + 39s, 5th Domenico POZZOVIVO (ITA/BAHRAIN - MERIDA), 6th Enrico GASPAROTTO (ITA/BAHRAIN - MERIDA), 7th Davide FORMOLO (ITA/BORA - HANSGROHE), 8th Roman KREUZIGER (CZE/MITCHELTON - SCOTT), 9th Sergio Luis HENAO MONTOYA (COL/SKY), 10th Jakob FUGLSANG (DEN/ASTANA)
Your 2018 Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner, Bob JUNGELS (QUICK - STEP FLOORS). It was also the biggest result for second place Michael WOODS (CAN/EF EDUCATION FIRST - DRAPAC) who is the first Canadian to podium at Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Your 2018 Liège-Bastogne-Liège podium: 2nd Michael WOODS (CAN/EF EDUCATION FIRST - DRAPAC) + 37s, 1st Bob JUNGELS (QUICK - STEP FLOORS) 6:24:44, 3rd Romain BARDET (FRA/AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 37s
Capping a monumental springs classics season for QUICK - STEP FLOORS: “To be honest, this came as a surprise. I didn’t believe I could pull it off until I saw that nobody was behind me as I was approaching the finish line. Yesterday evening I watched together with Julian the 2011 edition, when the winning move was made on Roche-aux-Faucons, and I made my attack in the same place. I was waiting for this victory for a long time and to finally get it is pretty unreal”, said Bob, the 12th different Quick-Step Floors rider to taste success this year.