Valverde tears up the script in Pyrenees

Alejandro Valverde and Movistar sparked some major life back into the battle for the overall classification of the Tour de France on Sunday after launching an all-out attack on the first of five Pyrenean climbs. But the Spanish veteran admitted that they had failed to deliver the coup de grace in a spectacular day's racing where Chris Froome was isolated from his Sky teammates for nearly all of the stage.

Alasdair Fotheringham

Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The IndependentThe GuardianProCycling, The Express and Reuters.