Iglinskiy races to glory after last–ditch attack

CYCLING: Maxim Iglinskiy made a late attack in yesterday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège race expecting to take second place at best and ended up securing Kazakhstan’s third win in seven years in cycling’s oldest classic.

The 31-year-old rider with Kazakh national team Astana caught and then shook off Italian Vincenzo Nibali with a kilometre to go for a well-deserved solo victory by 21 seconds. Iglinskiy’s team mate Enrico Gasparotto of Italy, victorious in the Amstel Gold Race Classic last week, finished third.

Iglinskiy said when he broke away from Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez and set off in pursuit of Nibali on the agonisingly steep Cote de San Nicolas 5.5 kilometres from the finish, he thought he was racing for runner’s-up spot in the Belgian race.

“Then I saw Nibali ahead of me, and when I got close to him I could see he wasn’t looking great,” Iglinskiy said. “I dropped him and went away for what is the biggest win of my career. There’ll be a lot of celebrating in Kazakhstan. We know how important this race is.”