Axel sprints to Liege top-10

Axel Laurance finished strongly to secure eighth place in the final sprint at Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

The Frenchman benefitted from a swelling of the chase group on the run into the finish, before launching his acceleration to seal his first top-10 finish in a Monument.

Carlos Rodriguez, on return from injury, and Magnus Sheffield were also present in the group, which came home one minute and 10 seconds behind solo victor Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates - XRG).

In the mid-phase of the race Bob Jungels pushed on out of the peloton and was joined by teammate Tobias Foss ahead of the final 120km. With no riders joining the duo, they forged on for 50km before being reeled back in, as the pace began to slowly increase behind.

With 40km to go Geraint Thomas helped bring the team to the fore ahead of famed Cote de La Redoute climb. It was here that Pogacar launched his move, going clear with 35km remaining.

A chase group of Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Ben Healy (EF Education - EasyPost) would stay clear to round out the podium places.