Antalya
↓This is actually a combination of a massive ↓ for Minali and his train and a = for Plaza/Dunne on the climbing day. In Minali's defence a couple of the sprints had very technical finishes and a few crashes, but against this level of opposition he needs to be doing better.
Haut Var + 2 SSFRs ↓
Neilands had a good first stage at Haut Var, but then got ill and the rest of the race was therefore a complete write-off. The Classic de l'Ardeche went quite well actually. It was Hermans' first race back after injury and he made the grp which came in just after Calmejane. Rather worryingly though he said the foot injury still prevents him from sprinting, which doesn't bode well for making attacks or winning stages in future races. Guy Niv also performed credibly in the same race, finishing 28th alongside people like Cherno, Vinjebo, Simon and Masnada.
Rwanda ↑
Finally some good news. Stage win for Avila (might have been two without a crash), a couple of other stage podiums and a GC podium for Badilatti. It's only a small arrow though as the level of competition wasn't so high. Going by what happened on the queen stage, Badilatti was probably the second best climber in the race. He's almost definitely not going to the Giro, but could be used to rack up some points in the more exotic races.
KBK =
It might have been a ↑ if not for Boivin's crash. It was disappointing though for not one rider to make the fairly large front group when it split up. They had to rely on Jumbo/Bora to bring it back together.
Up next are a couple more 1 day races in Belgium, GP Industria & Artigianato, TA and Taiwan.
