Buckle up and hold on tight as Olivier Nilsson-Julien and photographer Taz Darling get thrown around behind-the-scenes in the FDJ team car at the Amstel Gold Race.

Enough with boardroom speak and box-ticking spring races spuriously pushing mondialisation. Give Colin O’Brien passion, parochial fans, potholes and Roma Maxima. He and Paolo Ciaberta were in the Eternal City to witness the rebirth of a classic Italian race.

No doubt Colin would love Biciclette Poli too. Morten Okbo and Jakob Kristian Sørensen spent hours - they could have wiled away days - in the family-run Lucca bicycle shop listening to proprietor Pierluigi, a man with stories and memorabilia galore.

We head back in time to Tuscany in the mid-Eighties as David Herlihy recalls an afternoon spent with Cino Cinelli, discovering how he got one over a young Gino Bartali, his gamble to make it as a successful professional rider and methods as a leading bicycle manufacturer.

Il Piratas is a team of Spanish Para-cyclists, beating adversaries on the track and rewriting stereotypes. They share their drive and dreams with Paolo Martelli.

How do you turn gorgeous carbon bicycles into gold? Ian Cleverly gets the secrets of Denver-based bicycle manufacturers Alchemy, with Daniel Sharp behind the camera.

On the other hand, our new columnist Robert Millar, the 1984 Tour King of the Mountains, would be happy if he never saw another black carbon bike again.

Rat-infested accommodation, dodgy teams, running out of food and money: Dave Clarke has experienced a few things. Assistant editor Andy McGrath interviews the journeyman British professional. Andy also has part two of his Tour of Turkey feature.

Photographers this issue include James Robertson, Sebastian Schels, Olaf Unverzart and Ben Ingham.

Plus columns from Matt Seaton and Johnny Green in this 210-page edition.