Why was it beautiful? Because it happened as Simon Gerrans said it would. From the winner we saw a perfect race: patient, strong, reliable, savvy, well-supported… and even a touch of luck. Had it not been for the slip of a rear wheel on the final turn, the 100th edition of The Old Girl, La Doyenne, then Dan Martin would have been the champion again. The Irishman had the title of Liège-Bastogne-Liège in his sight and then it all came crashing down for him. And that’s when the Australian champion jumped to the fore and onward to victory.

Without Peter Weening, it wouldn’t have ended this way. The Dutchman was responsible for the pursuit of two fugitives, Giampaolo Caruso and Domenico Pozzovivo, but he wasn’t riding for himself. On his wheel was a group of favourites… with former LBL winner Alejandro Valverde riding towards the back with a green-and-gold shadow on his wheel.

Around the final turn: Caruso seemed as though he may take a coup; Martin lost the title defence; Valverde knew he had the speed to win; Gerrans continues to show restraint; Pozzovivo faded into the colours of others as he move was soaked up… and the finishing line beckoned.

If Simon says he can, he often does. That’s how it’s been for the Australian championships, the Tour Down Under, the Jayco-Herald Sun Tour, stage wins of the Tour, Giro and Vuelta… that’s how it was for Milan-San Remo when his team claimed its first ‘Monument’. That’s how it was in Corsica last year at the Tour de France when he beat Peter Sagan. And Simon has been saying for years that he can win in the Ardennes. Now he has. Injury free, with support, and onward to Ans to finish the job.

Here is a collection of images from the final of the Spring Classics. Click on the photo of Simon Gerrans (below) to begin the slideshow…

 

[ReflexGallery id=’93’]

 

1 Simon GERRANS AUS OGE 6:37:43
2 Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE ESP MOV at same time
3 Michal KWIATKOWSKI POL OPQ same time
4 Giampaolo CARUSO ITA KAT same time
5 Domenico POZZOVIVO ITA ALM 3″
6 Tom Jelte SLAGTER NED GRS 3″
7 Roman KREUZIGER CZE TCS 3″
8 Philippe GILBERT BEL BMC 3″
9 Daniel MORENO FERNANDEZ ESP KAT 5″
10 Romain BARDET FRA ALM 6″
11 Jelle VANENDERT BEL LTB 8″
12 Enrico GASPAROTTO ITA AST 10″
13 Damiano CUNEGO ITA LAM 10″
14 Cyril GAUTIER FRA EUC 10″
15 Bauke MOLLEMA NED BEL 12″
16 Rudy MOLARD FRA COF 12″
17 Tiago MACHADO POR TNE 12″
18 Anthony ROUX FRA FDJ 12″
19 Frank SCHLECK LUX TFR 12″
20 Stefan DENIFL AUT IAM 12″
21 Przemyslaw NIEMIEC POL LAM 12″
22 Sébastien REICHENBACH SUI IAM 12″
23 Pierre ROLLAND FRA EUC 17″
24 Simon GESCHKE GER GIA 19″
25 Julian David ARREDONDO MORENO COL TFR 19″
26 Jakob FUGLSANG DEN AST 23″
27 Mathias FRANK SUI IAM 23″
28 Chris Anker SÖRENSEN DEN TCS 31″
29 Warren BARGUIL FRA GIA 48″
30 Vincenzo NIBALI ITA AST 51″
31 Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ ESP BMC 56″
32 Ben HERMANS BEL BMC +1:09
33 Alexandr KOLOBNEV RUS KAT +1:09
34 Pieter WEENING NED OGE +1:11
35 Tony GALLOPIN FRA LTB +1:27
36 Thomas VOECKLER FRA EUC +1:27
37 Lars Petter NORDHAUG NOR BEL +1:29
38 Guillaume LEVARLET FRA COF +1:31
39 Daniel MARTIN IRL GRS +1:37
40 Ivan SANTAROMITA ITA OGE +2:26
41 Simon CLARKE AUS OGE +2:26
42 Jerome COPPEL FRA COF +2:26
43 Tim WELLENS BEL LTB +2:26
44 Eduard VORGANOV RUS KAT +2:26
45 Paul MARTENS GER BEL +2:26
46 Pieter SERRY BEL OPQ +2:51
47 Mikael CHEREL FRA ALM +2:51
48 Jan BAKELANTS BEL OPQ +2:51
49 Thomas DEGAND BEL WGG +2:51
50 Angel VICIOSO ARCOS ESP KAT +2:53
51 David DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO ESP TNE +3:33
52 José Joao PIMENTA COSTA MENDES POR TNE +3:33
53 Arnold JEANNESSON FRA FDJ +3:33
54 Cesare BENEDETTI ITA TNE +3:33
55 Daan OLIVIER NED GIA +3:33
56 Jarlinson PANTANO COL COL +3:33
57 Iker CAMANO ORTUZAR ESP TNE +3:33
58 Sergio PARDILLA BELLON ESP MTN +3:33
59 Robinson Eduardo CHALAPUD GOMEZ COL COL +3:33
60 Fabio FELLINE ITA TFR +3:33
61 Louis MEINTJES RSA MTN +3:33
62 Bob JUNGELS LUX TFR +3:33
63 Maxim IGLINSKY KAZ AST +3:33
64 Alberto LOSADA ALGUACIL ESP KAT +3:33
65 Tom DUMOULIN NED GIA +3:33
66 Diego ULISSI ITA LAM +3:33
67 Jérémy ROY FRA FDJ +3:47
68 Matteo MONTAGUTI ITA ALM +3:54
69 Amaël MOINARD FRA BMC +3:54
70 Nathan EARLE AUS SKY +5:16
71 Marco MARCATO ITA CAN +5:16
72 Carlos VERONA QUINTANILLA ESP OPQ +5:16
73 Thomas SPRENGERS BEL TSV +5:16
74 Fabian WEGMANN GER GRS +5:16
75 Darwin ATAPUMA HURTADO COL BMC +5:16
76 Christophe RIBLON FRA ALM +5:16
77 Ryder HESJEDAL CAN GRS +5:16
78 John GADRET FRA MOV +6:19
79 Pierrick FEDRIGO FRA FDJ +7:10
80 Wouter POELS NED OPQ +7:10
81 Matthew BUSCHE USA TFR +8:05
82 Alex HOWES USA GRS +8:05
83 Carlos Julian QUINTERO COL COL +8:05
84 Gustav LARSSON SWE IAM +8:05
85 Gorka IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI ESP MOV +8:07
86 Jon IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI ESP MOV +8:07
87 Jesus HERRADA LOPEZ ESP MOV +8:07
88 Marcus BURGHARDT GER BMC +8:28
89 Cameron MEYER AUS OGE +8:52
90 Jérôme BAUGNIES BEL WGG +9:20
91 Reto HOLLENSTEIN SUI IAM +9:26
92 Laurent PICHON FRA FDJ +9:26
93 Francis DE GREEF BEL WGG +10:01
94 Jonathan HIVERT FRA BEL +10:12
95 Michael ALBASINI SUI OGE +10:43
96 Rafael VALLS FERRI ESP LAM +11:41
97 Mirko SELVAGGI ITA WGG +11:41
98 Luis Angel MATE MARDONES ESP COF +11:41
99 Mattia CATTANEO ITA LAM +11:41
100 Pieter JACOBS BEL TSV +11:41
101 Dennis VANENDERT BEL LTB +11:41
102 Bartosz HUZARSKI POL TNE +11:41
103 Nathan HAAS AUS GRS +11:41
104 Miguel Angel RUBIANO CHAVEZ COL COL +11:41
105 Rory SUTHERLAND AUS TCS +11:41
106 Ben GASTAUER LUX ALM +11:41
107 Kévin REZA FRA EUC +11:41
108 Jaco VENTER RSA MTN +11:41
109 Eduard Alexander BELTRAN SUAREZ COL TCS +11:41
110 Benoît VAUGRENARD FRA FDJ +11:41
111 Daryl IMPEY RSA OGE +12:01
112 Romain SICARD FRA EUC +12:01
113 Alessandro DE MARCHI ITA CAN +12:08
114 Matteo BONO ITA LAM +12:11
115 Christian MEIER CAN OGE +12:15
116 Eliot LIETAER BEL TSV +12:15
117 Leonardo Fabio DUQUE COL COL +12:15
118 Frantisek PADOUR CZE TNE +12:15
119 Andriy GRIVKO UKR AST +12:15
120 Peter VELITS SVK BMC +12:15
121 Romain ZINGLE BEL COF +12:15
122 Martijn KEIZER NED BEL +12:15
123 Lieuwe WESTRA NED AST +12:15
124 Imanol ERVITI ESP MOV +12:15
125 Daniel TEKLEHAIMANOT ERI MTN +12:15
126 Tanel KANGERT EST AST +12:15
127 Matej MOHORIC SLO CAN +12:15
128 Karsten KROON NED TCS +12:15
129 Perrig QUEMENEUR FRA EUC +12:15
130 Pirmin LANG SUI IAM +12:15
131 Daniele RATTO ITA CAN +12:15
132 David TANNER AUS BEL +12:15
133 Davide VILLELLA ITA CAN +12:15
134 Preben VAN HECKE BEL TSV +12:15
135 Bram TANKINK NED BEL +13:27
136 Thomas DAMUSEAU FRA GIA +13:47
DNF Thomas DEKKER NED GRS
DNF Ramunas NAVARDAUSKAS LTU GRS
DNF Joaquin RODRIGUEZ OLIVER ESP KAT
DNF Dmitry KOZONTCHUK RUS KAT
DNF José Ivan GUTIERREZ PALACIOS ESP MOV
DNF Benat INTXAUSTI ELORRIAGA ESP MOV
DNF Sébastien MINARD FRA ALM
DNF Rui Alberto FARIA DA COSTA POR LAM
DNF Nelson Filipe SANTOS SIMOES OLIVEIRA POR LAM
DNF Alexey LUTSENKO KAZ AST
DNF Stephen CUMMINGS GBR BMC
DNF Laurent MANGEL FRA FDJ
DNF Jussi VEIKKANEN FIN FDJ
DNF Jack BOBRIDGE AUS BEL
DNF Richie PORTE AUS SKY
DNF Ian BOSWELL USA SKY
DNF Joshua EDMONDSON GBR SKY
DNF David LOPEZ GARCIA ESP SKY
DNF Danny PATE USA SKY
DNF Michael Valgren ANDERSEN DEN TCS
DNF Bruno PIRES POR TCS
DNF Michael ROGERS AUS TCS
DNF Jurgen VAN DEN BROECK BEL LTB
DNF Sander ARMEE BEL LTB
DNF Bart DE CLERCQ BEL LTB
DNF Tosh VAN DER SANDE BEL LTB
DNF Johannes FRÖHLINGER GER GIA
DNF Cheng JI CHN GIA
DNF Thomas PETERSON USA GIA
DNF Thomas LÖVKVIST SWE IAM
DNF Jérôme PINEAU FRA IAM
DNF Alberto BETTIOL ITA CAN
DNF Michel KOCH GER CAN
DNF Jean Marc MARINO FRA CAN
DNF Michal GOLAS POL OPQ
DNF Tony MARTIN GER OPQ
DNF Serge PAUWELS BEL OPQ
DNF Fumiyuki BEPPU JPN TFR
DNF Andy SCHLECK LUX TFR
DNF Calvin WATSON AUS TFR
DNF Victor CAMPENAERTS BEL TSV
DNF Edward THEUNS BEL TSV
DNF Arthur VAN OVERBERGHE BEL TSV
DNF Otto VERGAERDE BEL TSV
DNF Yukiya ARASHIRO JPN EUC
DNF Natnael BERHANE ERI EUC
DNF Erick ROWSELL GBR TNE
DNF Daniel NAVARRO GARCIA ESP COF
DNF Edwig CAMMAERTS BEL COF
DNF Julien SIMON FRA COF
DNF Jacques JANSE VAN RENSBURG RSA MTN
DNF Ignatas KONOVALOVAS LTU MTN
DNF Jim SOGENZO RSA MTN
DNF Jay Robert THOMSON RSA MTN
DNF Jérôme GILBERT BEL WGG
DNF Michel KREDER NED WGG
DNF Björn LEUKEMANS BEL WGG
DNF Marco MINNAARD NED WGG
DNF Juan Esteban ARANGO CARVAJAL COL COL
DNF Fabio Andres DUARTE AREVALO COL COL
DNF Rodolfo Andres TORRES AGUDELO COL COL
DNS Carlos Alberto BETANCUR GOMEZ COL ALM
DNS Christopher FROOME GBR SKY