Alejandro Valverde wins fourth Liege-Bastogne-Liege title dedicating win to Michele Scarponi

Alejandro Valverde now has four wins in Liege-Bastogne-Liege to go with five in Fleche Wallonne

Alejandro Valverde secured a fourth Liege-Bastogne-Liege victory to underline his dominance of the Ardennes Classics on an emotional day for the peloton.

Movistar ace Valverde, champion in 2006, 2008 and 2015, had won his fifth Fleche Wallonne on Wednesday and already has eight individual victories this season as well as general classification successes in Vuelta a Andalucia, Volta a Catalunya and Vuelta al Pais Vasco.

Just as in midweek, the 36-year-timed his finish to perfection, coming to the front off the final bend where he overtook eventual runner-up Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors).

Irishman Martin also finished second in Fleche Wallonne and had been looking to add a second Liege title after winning the race back in 2013, but he had no match for Valverde's strong finish.

Valverde dedicated his triumph to long-time rival Michele Scarponi, who died on Saturday

Team Sky's Michal Kwiatkowski secured a third top-10 finish in eight days, coming home in third after taking second behind Philippe Gilbert in Amstel Gold, the opening race of the week.

Afterwards Valverde dedicated his victory to Michele Scarponi, a long-time rival and good friend who was killed in a road accident on Saturday, and repeated his pre-race announcement that he would donate his prize money to Scarponi's family.

Anna van der Breggen proved imperious in winning her third straight Ardennes Classic

Earlier on Sunday, Dutch star Anna van der Breggen had gone one better than Valverde by winning the women's edition to complete a hat-trick after also winning Amstel Gold and Fleche Wallonne.

Britain's Lizzie Deignan finished second, as she had in the other two races, while Katarzyna Niewiadoma filled third spot in all three contests.

Men's Liege-Bastogne-Liege result:

1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar 6h 24m 27s
2 Dan Martin (Ire) Quick-Step Floors same time
3 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky +3s
4 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb s/t
5 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain Merida s/t
6 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale s/t
7 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-Scott s/t
8 Adam Yates (Gbr) Orica-Scott +7s
9 Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac s/t
10 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe s/t