Career best

Hamilton wins Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic

Tyler Hamilton: "The last stretch was the toughest in my career." AP

LIEGE, Belgium (AP) -- Tyler Hamilton broke away from a pack of favorites shortly before the finish to win the Liege-Bastogne-Liege World Cup race Sunday.

Spain's Iban Mayo came in second, 12 seconds behind the leader, holding off Dutchman Michael Boogerd, who crossed third.

Hamilton, who became the first U.S. rider to win the oldest one-day classic on the calendar, made the decisive break with 3 kilometers (2 miles) to go and stayed ahead of the pack during the long uphill stretch to the line, finishing the 259-kilometer (160-mile) race in 6 hours 28.50 minutes.

It was the biggest win in the career of the 32-year-old American, who finished second in the Giro of Italy last year.

Liege-Bastogne-Liege Results Pos.  Name  Country  Time  1  Tyler Hamilton  U.S.  6 hrs 28.50 mins   2  Iban Mayo  Spain  +12 secs  3  Michael Boogerd  Netherlands  +14 secs  4  Michele Scarponi  Italy  +21 secs  5  Francesco Casagrande  Italy  +29 secs  6  Samuel Sanchez  Spain  same time  7  Javier Pascual  Spain  same time  8  Danilo Di Luca  Italy  same time  9  Eddy Mazzoleni  Italy  same time  10  Ivan Basso  Italy  same time  20  Lance Armstrong  U.S.  +50 secs

"The last stretch was the toughest in my career," he said. "I still cannot believe I won. I didn't even know it when I crossed the finish line. "

Belgian Peter Van Petegem retained his lead in the World Cup standings with five races to go.

Liege-Bastogne-Liege is the world's oldest classic, first raced in 1892. It's one of the five biggest one-day race which also include Milan-San Remo, the Ronde of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, and the season-ending Tour of Lombardy.

World Cup Standings After five of 10 events. Pos.  Name  Country  Points  1  Peter van Petegem  Belgium  200  2  Michael Boogerd  Netherlands  140  3  Dario Pieri  Italy  117  4  Tyler Hamilton  United States  100  4=  Paolo Bettini  Italy  100  4=  Alexander Vinokourov  Kazakhstan  100   7  Frank Vandenbroucke  Belgium  92

The race started with 196 riders under sunny skies, but by the time the riders hit the last of ten hills in Belgium's southern Ardennes, rain made things more difficult.

Belgian Axel Merckx broke away with some 25 kilometers (15 miles) to go and was chased by a group of favorites, including Lance Armstrong. The American suffered from technical problems but was still able to rejoin the chasing group.

Armstrong led four chasers past Merckx on Sart-Tilman, the penultimate climb of the classic, and briefly broke away with two others.

The three however were caught by the pack on the final climb, with just 6 kilometers (4 miles) to go and on the slippery roads to the finish, Hamilton charged ahead.

 

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