Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) celebrated a confident victory in the oldest classic on the cycling calendar. The reigning Australian champions benefited from a strong team performance. Second was the Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), third was the Polish champion Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep).
Above all, the final was the La Doyenne characterized by drama. This was due on the one hand to the bravely fighting Italian Domenic Pozzovivo (Ag2R La Mondiale) and on the other hand to last year's Irish winner Dan Martin (Garmin Sharp).
After the field of favorites around Philippe Gilbert (BMC), Valverde, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff Saxo) crossed the Côte de La Redoute at kilometer 218, the race picked up speed a few kilometers later. On the Côte des Forges, the Colombian Julien Arredondo (Trek) and Pozzovivo followed the last remaining leader. Matteo Bono (Lampre-Merida) was therefore not very successful in his solo escape. After twelve kilometers of racing, he and the German Michel Koch (Cannondale), who won the important premium sprint halfway through the race in Bastogne, broke away from the peloton and proved to have the freshest legs after 220 kilometers. But their powers also dwindled quickly.
After Bono, whose captain, world champion Rui Costa, had already had to give up after a fall, was caught, Samuel Sanchez (BMC) initiated the tracking work in the field. This resulted in an illustrious group, in which all the favorites for victory were represented. Although the group only worked together to a limited extent, they managed to catch up with the two leaders ahead of the Côte de La Roche-aux-Faucons.
“I really have to thank my team. Thirty kilometers from the finish, I thought I didn't have enough strength. But my team motivated me. So I owe him a lot.”
However, Pozzovivo didn't let that get him down and attacked again with Damiano Caruso (Katusha). This time the escape seemed to have more success. Because again the favorites did not agree. Martin and Gerrans showed the best calculation. Neither the Irishman nor the Australian were seen at the head of the pursuers. However, Gerrans told his remaining teammates to go full speed ahead into the final climb of the day, the Côte de Saint-Nicolas. Nevertheless, they were only able to narrow the gap to the frontrunners to a limited extent. It was only through Martin's attack that the favorites managed to get closer to the escapees.
In these, Caruso now showed himself to be the stronger. A few meters before the crest of the climb, he left his escape companion. But his strength was also failing. The fact that he was still able to save himself on the home stretch was also due to the fact that Martin fell in the last corner when he reached Caruso's rear wheel.
The other favorites benefited from this fall. Although Martin had previously managed to pull a small gap on them, they now managed to catch up with Caruso with just a few yards to go. Gerrans stayed with Valverde for a long time before sprinting past the powerful Spaniard. After third place last year, he now came in second. Caruso ended up fourth with Pozzovivo fifth. In the end, Martin was ranked 39th.
After crossing the finish line, Gerrans put it on record that he wasn't so sure about it: “I really have to thank my team. Thirty kilometers from the finish, I thought I didn't have enough strength. But my team motivated me. So I owe him a lot.”