Dan Martin falls on final corner in race-winning position at Liège–Bastogne–Liège

Dan Martin looked as though he may have been about to repeat his win of last year at Liège–Bastogne–Liège until disaster struck on the very last corner.

This day 12 months ago Dan Martin was the toast of Ireland having become the first Irish rider to win a monument since Sean Kelly's Milan-Sanremo in 1992 when he danced his way to victory at Liège–Bastogne–Liège.

However, apparently just moments away from making it two wins in a row in Belgium this afternoon, Martin crashed on the final corner when he was second man on the road having closed down a late two-man breakaway.

The fall took the Garmin-Sharp leader completely out of contention, with Orica-GreenEDGE's Simon Gerrans pouncing from the select group that Martin had just attacked and ridden clear of to take victory.

Giampaolo Caruso (Katusha) and Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale) had done clear on the Côte de Saint-Nicolas, the last climb of the day.

They gained a lead of around 20 seconds but as the road went up again towards the finish with 1.5km to go, Martin attacked the select group of around 10 to 15 riders and immediately put daylight between himself and the others.

He rapidly closed down the two up front as Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff-Saxo) hit the front of the select group up the last drag and hunted down Martin.

The Irish rider looked behind, and seeing the others coming led by the Czech strongman, he swung out to the right had side of the road. However, while that briefly appeared to suggest he accepted he was going to be caught, he kept pounding out the power.

The gap between himself and the chasers got no smaller, but Martin was all the while edging his way up onto the back wheels of the two leaders.

At the head of the select group, Kreuziger visibly faded as Martin kicked again and the gap between him and the chasers nudged open; from around 10 bike lengths to a dozen or so well inside the last 500 metres.

Caruso then attacked Pozzovivo up front, but Martin was on to them at that moment with 300 metres remaining.
The gap back to the chasers remained static at around 12 bike lengths as Philippe Gilbert (BMC) took up the chase briefly, only to be attacked by Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).

Related News

Lara Gillespie attacks Dolomite stage as Giro hits high mountains

Video - Ireland's Meehan climbs with best on brutal Alpine terrain

As that action was unfolding behind, Martin was just about to pass leader Caruso on the final bend when he fell off inside 200 metres, with a gap of around two seconds back to the Valverde-led depleted select group.

When that group got around the bend, with Martin on the deck, Gerrans jumped from Valverde's wheel. He closed down Caruso and passed him with just 50 metres to go, taking victory with Valverde on his wheel in 2nd place.

Polish champion Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quickstep was 3rd, with Caruso holding on for 4th.

The debate will continue for an eternity as to whether Martin would have won.

However, given Martin was passing Caruso on the final bend with under 200 metres to go and that that the same rider was only passed by Gerrans inside the last 50 metres, stickybottle reckons he would have won it for two in a row.

Martin remounted and finished 39^th; losing 1:37 as he recovered from the fall and limped to the finish.

We’ll have more later.

Result: Liège–Bastogne–Liège (263km)