Dan Martin has put on a very aggressive display in the 257km Liege-Bastogne-Liege, eventually taking fifth place after being one of the main animators of the race in the finale.
With just over 9km remaining and with Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) leading alone and opening the gap to a chase group up to 41 seconds, Martin attacked from the chase group of 14 riders, taking Pierre Roland with him.
Just ahead of them was the duo of Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and then Nibali.
Iglinskiy dropped Rodriguez on the Cote de Saint-Nicolas and went off in hot pursuit of the lone leader Nibali with just 5km to go.
Roland, who won the Tour de France stage at Alpe d’Huez last year, sat on Dan Martin apparently unwilling to work because his Europcar team leader Thomas Voeckler was in the group just behind.
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And just after the Cote de Saint-Nicolas they were caught by the remains of the group they had just escaped from.
Iglinskiy meanwhile closed down Nibali with just 1km remaining, instantly attacking him on the drag up to the finish and battering the bike on to take the biggest win of his career.
Nibali just about hung on for second, with Martin taking third in the sprint behind to take fifth place.
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