Philippe Gilbert takes second Classic in four days as he storms to Fleche Wallonne win

Home favourite Philippe Gilbert today won his second Ardennes Classic of the week and on Sunday will have a chance to make it a hat-trick of victories in Liege-Bastogne-Liege. The Belgian attacked on the imposing final climb, the Mur de Huy and established what in theis race is a huge margin over his competitors, with time to celebrate before crossing the line ahead of Katusha's Joaquim Rodriguez and Euskaltel-Euskadi's Samuel Sanchez.

While it’s no disgrace to finish on the podium in races such as these, there’s sure to be frustration for Rodriguez, who is fast becoming the perennial bridesmaid of the Ardennes; second to Andy Schleck in Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2009, he was runner-up to Cadel Evans at last year’s Fleche Wallonne and again to Gilbert in last Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race.

Just 5km into today’s race, a four man breakaway group got away, comprising the Liquigas-Cannondale rider Maciej Paterski, Preben Van Hecke of Topsport Vlaanderen, Maxime Vantomme of Katusha and Landbouwkrediet’s Matti Helminen.

At one point they had a lead of more than 17 minutes over the peloton, but they were eventually brought back with a little over 25km to go.

Others subsequently went on the attack, with Astana’s Enrcico Gasparotto initiating a move that was joined by riders such as Team Sky’s Thomas Lovkvist and Movistar’s Vasili Kiryienka, dangerous enough that it would never be allowed to get clear.

With 7km to go, Jerome Pineau of Quickstep and Michele Marcato of Vacansoleil made their bid for glory, but a lead of just 15 seconds was never going to be enough as they hit the Mur and approached the flamme rouge.

As the group containing the main contenders swept by, initially it was Leopard Trek’s Frank Schleck who went on the attack, but he had no answer as Gilbert launched his attack some 300 metres out and would finish eighth, while brother Andy came home in 44th place, Alexandre Vinokourov finished in 4th.

Halfway through the 200km race, a crash forced two of the three Irish riders involved today, Dan Martin of Garmin Cervelo and AG2R’s Nico Roche, to abandon. The other, RadioShack's Philip Deignan, finished in 23rd place.

2011 Fleche Wallonne Result 
1  GILBERT Philippe       OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO 4h 54' 57"
2  RODRIGUEZ Joaquim      KATUSHA TEAM          + 00' 03"
3  SANCHEZ Samuel         EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI   + 00' 05"
4  VINOKOUROV Alexandre   PRO TEAM ASTANA       + 00' 06"
5  ANTON Igor             EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI   + 00' 06"
6  VANENDERT Jelle        OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO  + 00' 06"
7  SCHLECK Frank          TEAM LEOPARD-TREK     + 00' 06"
8  MORENO Daniel          KATUSHA TEAM          + 00' 09"
9  LE MEVEL Christophe    GARMIN - CERVELO      + 00' 12"
10 MARTENS Paul           RABOBANK              + 00' 12"
11 CONTADOR Alberto       SAXO BANK SUNGARD     + 00' 15"
12 ALBASINI Michael       HTC - HIGHROAD        + 00' 17"
13 HESJEDAL Ryder         GARMIN - CERVELO      + 00' 18"
14 GESINK Robert          RABOBANK              + 00' 20"
15 DE WAELE Bert          LANDBOUWKREDIET       + 00' 20"
16 VAN AVERMAET Greg      BMC RACING TEAM       + 00' 20"
17 VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen  OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO  + 00' 23"
18 HERMANS Ben            TEAM RADIOSHACK       + 00' 26"
19 URAN Rigoberto	  SKY PROCYCLING	+ 00' 28"
20 INTXAUSTI Benat	  MOVISTAR TEAM 	+ 00' 28"