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Andy Schleck rode away from his rivals to take a superb solo win in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

The Saxo Bank man attacked on the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons, and simply powered away from his rivals over the final 20 kilometres to claim his first success in one of cycling's 'monuments'.

Joaquim Rodriguez of Caisse d'Epargne took second place after jumping clear of the chase group on the Côte de Saint-Nicolas, while Davide Rebellin (Serramenti) won the sprint for third.

Bouygues's European junior champion Cyril Gautier showed his promise throughout much of the race, breaking clear from the peloton soon after the start, while Marcel Wyss (Cervelo), and Nico Sijmens (Cofidis) joined him soon after, along with Hubert Dupont (AG2R).

The quartet extended their advantage over the peloton to almost 12 minutes, though saw their lead whittled away rapidly as Saxo Bank moved to the front with 90km to go.

Seeing the lead cut so dramatically, Gautier jumped clear of the breakaway group on 70km, only to be reeled back in soon after. He went for it once again on the Côte de la Redoute as they peloton closed in in earnest, before finally being caught 34km from home.

That was the signal for Saxo Bank's Alexandre Kolobnev to attack, and he was swiftly joined by a potentially dangerous quintet including his team-mate Karsten Kroon, Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) and Jose Serpa (Serramenti), before Philippe Gilbert shot out of the peloton - and straight past them - with 28km remaining.

Gilbert gained close to a minute on the peloton, while Leonardo Duque (Cofidis) did his level best to bridge the gap to Gilbert.

As they took on the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons, Schleck then launched his attack, easing past the Kolobnev group, and joining Gilbert. The Belgian tried desperately to cling on to Schleck's wheel, but quickly faded, and soon dropped back into an elite group of favourites that had formed, keen to keep Schleck's lead under control.

Despite the presence of the likes of Rebellin, Damiano Cunego (Lampre), defending champion Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) as well as Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) and Carlos Sastre (Cervelo), Schleck continued to stretch his lead, and when he moved out 1:30 ahead of the field with just seven kilometres to go, it was clear he had the race sewn up.

Perhaps accepting their fate, the chase group never looked like reeling back in the leader, and contented themselves with a fight for second place.

This became a fight for third place when Rodriguez kicked for home on the final climb of the day, the Côte de Saint-Nicolas, leaving it to Wednesday's Fleche-Wallonne winner Rebellin to bring them home, with Gilbert and Sergei Ivanov back in fourth and fifth respectively.

Michael FitzGerald / Eurosport