Wednesday’s La Fleche Wallonne was won by Alejandro Valverde. Again. The Spaniard is extremely good at winning hilly one-day classics and has been in blistering form already this season, picking up the GC in a couple of races and generally kicking down doors all over Europe in the hunt for tasty placings.

‘Valva’ absolutely hooned it up the Mur de Huy to open a big gap on second-placed rider, Dan Martin. In all honesty, the result did not seem to be in doubt. It was Valverde’s fifth win at La Fleche. He really likes hooning it up the Mur.

True to form, after declaring last week that we wouldn’t see Michael Albasini again after his excellent result at Amstel Gold, there he was again in the final at La Fleche. That’s definitely it now, though.

With bated breath, we waited until the final closing stages of the race to see if His Pimpliness would once again appear. What costume would he wear? Would it be Trump. It had to be Trump, surely?

And then, all of a sudden there he was, like a glorious pink-clad mirage, all blue jeans and long flowing locks.

And there he was! I’m calling it Pretty in Pink. #lbl pic.twitter.com/oxrZ1IHxjd

— Dan Wuori (@dwuori) April 23, 2017

That’s five from five now – a record not even Valverde can match.

Valverde vs the World

With this latest win Valverde continues a seam of form that has seen him amass 1995 UCI ranking points already this season. He is the second highest individual points scorer of 2017, with only Greg van Avermaet scooping more.

To put this into context, Valverde has amassed more points on his own than the entire squads of the bottom nine teams in the UCI WorldTour. If Alejandro Valverde was a team all on his own, he would rank higher than LottoNL-Jumbo, Katusha-Alpecin, Lotto-Soudal, Bahrain-Merida, Ag2r-La Mondiale, FDJ, Astana, UAE Team Emirates and Dimension Data. Not bad for a 37-year-old.

Valverde dedicated his win to his friend, Michele Scarponi, who tragically died in a collision with a motor vehicle during a training ride the previous day. He will also give all of his Ardennes Week prize money to Scarponi’s family. Chapeau.

The ‘secret women’s cycling’ conspiracy even extended to the post-race selfies, with an errant finger over the lens of Lizzie Deignan’s effort. Is nothing sacred!?