There appear to have been strange goings on in the Veloshire this month. Firstly Kathi (*adopts hushed tones*) forgot about Fabs! And now, while many of us were all loved up with cobbles and beer, it appears that an unlikely stage racer danced through almost unnoticed to win the Rider of the Month against the classics boys.

It could be that I’m overcome with sour grapes, but I suspect that Sheree has played some canny kind of Jedi mind trick on us all to get her nominee through. Before I go on, let’s have a look at the final standings and see just what a feat the indomitable Senor Contador has pulled off:

1. Alberto Contador – 35%
2. Niki Terpstra – 16%
3. Michal Kwiatkowski – 16%
4. Simon Gerrans – 13%
5. Alejandro Valverde – 10%
6. Philippe Gilbert – 10%

As you can see, this is not a narrow victory, rather a crushing of the opposition. The measure of this win is that two of his rivals won monuments this month, while the others were all in fine form throughout the classics season, such has been the standard this month. Bertie’s coup de grace was a storming ride in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, where he led from the first stage to the last, which underlined the return of the El Pistolero of old.

It was a performance of such dominance, he vanquished his rivals not only in a well contested race, but also in the VeloVoices Rider of the Month. With this confidence-boosting addition to his palmares, who knows what he might go on to achieve in July? Kapow!