Italian veteran road-race star Davide Rebellin on Wednesday won the Fleche Wallonne for the third time.
Rebellin, 37, became the second Italian after Moreno Argentin to win the Belgian classic three times.
''This win was a surprise,'' said Rebellin after outsprinting Luxembourg's Andy Schleck and Italy's Damiano Cunego, runner-up in last year's world road race championships.
''I didn't really know what shape I was in but I started to feel good towards the end of the race,'' said the rider nicknamed Tintin.
Rebellin first won the Fleche in 2004 when he took all three Flemish classics, starting with the Amstel Gold Race and ending with the Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
This year's L-B-L is on Sunday and Rebellin said he now thinks he could claims a second victory.
''The Liege is a bit more suited to my riding style and I'm going to try and win it''.
The Verona-born rider is considered one of the world's top one-day specialists with more than 50 top-ten finishes under his belt.
But he has done well on stage races too, winning one stage of the Giro d'Italia as well as the Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico.
