PEDAL-O-METER

Sometimes the wind’s at your back, sometimes it’s all uphill

ALE ALEJANDRO

At 37 Alejandro Valverde continued the finest season of his career in April, devouring races at every turn. This month saw a first Tour of the Basque Country, a fifth Flèche Wallonne and a fourth Liège.

RENEWED ENERGY

The Tour of Britain and the Women’s Tour have secured a title sponsor. Br stol-based energy supplier OVO Energy is on board and will see the race’s gold leader’s jersey replaced with green this year.

SI TO THE TOUR

There will be a Yates at the Tour de France after all. Simon, who was to ride the Giro, has been summoned to the Tour by his Orica-Scott team, as back-up to Esteban Chaves, who has a knee injury, for this year.

MICHELE SCARPONI

The tragic death of Michele Scarponi at the age of 37 stunned the cycling world in April. A popular member of the peloton, the Italian was killed in training after being hit by a van, shortly before the Giro d’Italia.

NIGHT-MUR?

After Valverde’s fourth successive Flèche Wallonne win, race organiser Christian Prudhomme defended the seemingly predictable Mur de Huy finale, calling it the “essence of the race”.

GRIV-KO’D

Astana’s Andriy Grivko has been banned for 45 days after an incident at the Dubai Tour where Marcel Kittel claimed he punched him in the face. The UCI called it an ‘incident’, and gave no reason for the suspension.