by Justin Davis

LIEGE, Belgium, April 25, 2009 (AFP) – Alejandro Valverde’s bid for a third Liege-Bastogne-Liege crown could be met with a resistance that will force the Spaniard into a dramatic change of bike racing tactics.

The oldest, and arguably most prestigious, one-day classic on the cycling calendar will on Sunday bring the curtain down on the spring classics season and promises, as ever, to do so in style.

After countering a series of attacks and counter-attacks in both 2006 and
2008 Valverde crucially proved stronger than his rivals in the final sprint for the finish line.

But the Caisse d’Epargne ace may have to change his recipe for success as a handful of credible challengers line up to make sure he is dropped before the final climb through the Italian Saint Nicolas quarter into Ans, on the outskirts of Liege.

Luxemburger Frank Schleck, third as CSC’s team leader last year, has been among Valverde’s past victims, but on Sunday it is his younger brother Andy, fourth in 2008, who carries Saxo Bank’s hopes – due mainly to a crash suffered by Frank at Amstel last week.

The 23-year-old Andy’s victory chances here were boosted when he finished runner-up to Italian Davide Rebellin in the hilly Fleche Wallonne on Wednesday, a key warm-up and solid indicator of who will win at Liege.

After the Luxembourg siblings tried, but failed, to shake off Valverde last year Andy knows there may be only one way to beat the Spaniard.

“My objective is to win. And to do that I have to attack. I can’t afford to wait for a sprint,” said Andy, who first put his bike racing talents on the world stage when he finished runner-up in the 2007 Giro d’Italia.

“I’ve moved up a step this year and feel I’m ready to take on the responsibility for this race. And it would be nice for my self-confidence to get a big win before the Tour (de France).”

Rebellin, the 2004 Liege winner, has boosted his victory chances no end thanks to his impressive third career victory atop the Fleche’s Mur de Huy, and at the age of 37.

“My morale is always good but the win at Fleche has given me a fair bit of confidence for Sunday,” Rebellin told AFP as he fought off hordes of Italian well-wishers and autograph hunters.

It took the talented Italian professional a few years to realise he was made for the hilly Ardennes classics, which he finally mastered, in style, by winning all three – Amstel, Fleche and Liege – in 2004.

But, like the Schlecks, he has also suffered the fate of being beaten by a faster finisher.

In 2001 Swiss Oscar Camenzind beat him into second as a five-man group raced for the finish and last year it was Valverde, excellent on hilly one-day races and able to drop down a gear on the flatter section leading to Liege’s finish.

“It’s very important to avoid coming into the final with riders like Valverde, who has a stonger sprint,” added Rebellin, who like most of the big contenders has highlighted the potentially crucial role the ‘Roche aux Faucons’ climb, 20km from the finish, may play.

Valverde’s relatively low-key run-in meanwhile, following a 21st place at Amstel and seventh at Fleche, will not be taken too seriously by his rivals.

He would rather fail to finish both and win Liege.

“I’ve focused a lot of this season on the Tour de France (in July), that’s why I have been in good, but not great form in the past week,” he said.

“But the form is coming nicely ahead of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, which I much prefer to Amstel and Fleche.”