The race was preceded by a minute’s silence in Scarponi’s memory, with a sombre mood in Liege.

The race itself saw an eight-man breakaway, including Katusha’s Tiago Machado, Bart de Clercq of Lotto-Soudal and Aaron Gate from Irish wildcard entrants Aqua Blue Sport, earning a 13-minute lead by the time they reached Bastogne.

The rhythm in the peloton was steady, save for a brief animation by Orica-Scott’s Simon Gerrans, with Movistar and QuickStep Floors taking charge of the pace-setting.

It took until the Cote de la Maquisard, less than 50km from the finish, for the race to ignite as a counter-attack moved clear with Nathan Haas (Dimension Data) and Alessandro de Marchi (BMC Racing) among those in situ.

With the original breakaway blown apart on the Col de la Redoute, only Anthony Perez (Cofidis) remained up front, with a four-minute advantage to defend, and the size of the peloton reflected the steady rhythm of the race.

Martin led solo, but Valverde caught his wheel and kicked hardest in the sprint to claim yet another Ardennes Classics victory, and the 91st pro win of his career.

Martin held on for second, while Kwiatkowski led home the chase for the third and final podium place.

Yates, meanwhile, finished eighth – his first top-ten finish at a Monument – as he gears up for next month’s Giro d’Italia.

Liege-Bastonge-Liege 2017: result

1) Alejandro Valverde (ESP) – Movistar – 6.24.27hrs
2) Daniel Martin (IRL) – QuickStep Floors – ST
3) Michal Kwiatkowski (POL) – Team Sky +3”
4) Michael Matthews (AUS) – Team Sunweb – ST
5) Ion Izaigirre (ESP) – Bahrain-Merida
6) Romain Bardet (FRA) – Ag2r-La Mondiale
7) Michael Albasini (SUI) – Orica-Scott
8) Adam Yates (GBR) – Orica-Scott +7”
9) Michael Woods (CAN) – Cannondale-Drapac – ST
10) Rafal Majka (POL) – Bora-Hansgrohe