Tylor Hamilton, first American to win La Doyenne.

Tyler Hamilton (CSC) claimed a convincing win in today's Liège-Bastogne-Liège(La Doyenne), the last of the spring classics. Hamilton won alone after nearly six and a half hours of racing in cool and often rainy conditions. His decisive move came between the climb of the Saint Nicolas and the final uncategorised- yet critically important- climb to the Liège suburb of Ans. Behind Hamilton, Euskaltel-Euskadi's Iban Mayo, recent winner of the Tour of the Basque country (ahead of Hamilton) outsprinted Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) to complete the podium.

A five man break, whittled down to one by Belgian Axel Merckx, marked the beginning of the serious moves. Merckx left his companions after the climb of La Redoute, often a turning point in the race and a frequent launch pad for the major moves. Merckx was caught on the Côte de Sart-Tilman by Lance Armstrong, Michele Bartoli, Samuel Sanchez, and Alexandre Shefer. Armstrong looked to have the race in hand, and put in enough accelerations to shake two-time winner Bartoli from the group.

On the penultimate climb, the Saint Nicolas, Armstrong's leading group was reeled in by the peloton, which was driven by Hamilton's CSC teammate Niki Sorensen. Despite one last attack, it was not to be the day for Armstrong, who slipped down in the group and left the other favourites to play out the victory. Michael Boogerd tried his own attack as the rain began to fall, but was caught and passed by a flying Hamilton, who soloed to his biggest career win.