Gilbert wins four on the trot

Ans - Philippe Gilbert of Belgium won his fourth cycling classic victory in 10 days when he triumphed in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race on Sunday.

Gilbert, already the winner of the Fleche Brabanconne, Amstel Gold Race and Fleche Wallone, finished ahead of Frank Schleck of Luxembourg. In third place was Schleck's brother and team mate, Andy.

The three riders broke away on the Cote de la Roche aux Faucons, with 20 kms to go, and dropped Greg Van Avermaet of Belgium, who had made an earlier break, on the Cote de Saint-Nicolas.

Gilbert, who rides for the Omega Pharma-Lotto team, outsprinted the brothers at the finish to become Belgium's first winner of the race in 12 years.

"This was the most beautiful day of my sporting career so far," the 28-year-old Gilbert told reporters.

"Hats off to the Schlecks, they really tried to keep me under control and they shouldered their responsibilities in the breakaway, which meant we could drop Van Avermaet.

"They played the game right up until the last moment and they were the only riders I was really scared could beat me."

Frank Schleck put a brave face on defeat, saying: "We've got no regrets.

"It was a bit disappointing in the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, everybody was racing against [Leopard team mate and favourite] Fabian Cancellara. We didn't want to do that. We were racing to win, not to make Philippe lose, so we went hard and worked together when we were in the break."

"There was nothing we could do," Andy Schleck told reporters.

"He was just too strong."

Gilbert became the second rider to pull off the so-called Ardennes triple, winning the Amstel Gold, Fleche Wallone and Liege-Bastogne-Liege in one week, after Davide Rebellin of Italy in 2004.

"It's been an incredible seven days and I knew that today was the most important," Gilbert said.

"I couldn't afford to make any mistakes, and staying concentrated was the key to it all."

RESULTS:

1. Philippe Gilbert (Belgium/Omega Pharma-Lotto) 6h 13m 18s
2. Frank Schleck (Luxembourg / Leopard) same time
3. Andy Schleck (Luxembourg / Leopard)
4. Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic / Astana) +30"
5. Rigoberto Uran (Colombia / Team Sky)
6. Chris Sorensen (Denmark / Saxo Bank)
7. Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium / BMC Racing)
8. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Liquigas)
9. Bjoern Leukemans (Belgium / Vacansoleil)
10. Samuel Sanchez (Spain / Euskaltel)