It’s good to see the riders and teams getting into the April Fool’s spirit. Even without the disturbingly real fake news stories, the cycling fan could have known the calendar by the weekend’s racing, as Criterium International, Brabantse Pijl and the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen were all won by the same riders – for the third year in a row. Ha ha ha, guys – now get back to racing for real.
In Italy things seemed a bit more on the level (I know – ironic, isn’t it?) as Michele Scarponi held off Ricardo Ricco to take Coppi-Bartali. Things will no doubt straighten out up north with the advent of the Ronde, but France seems hell-bent on making riding as crooked as possible. Why isn’t Unibet.com racing the Dauphine? Because apparently, Agritubel hung onto the team cars last year. Oh wait – I get it guys! April Fool’s, right? Uh, right? Guys?