Blanco said:
If he eased on purpose today, then that;s a wise decision before Ardennes treble. He will need to be as fresh as possible to face those monsters, Valverde, Nibali and Kwiatkowski. But if he cracked, that's not a good sign. I guess we'll know better in a week or two.
I don't think he 'cracked', at the moment his regeneration just isn't very good. He gradually becomes weaker throughout a stage race as seen in Paris-Nice. After the first climbs of the day he probably felt he woudn't go anywhere and decided to back off.
His form seems to be great though, the first two stages were very Ardennes-like (shorter, of course) and he looked very dynamic.
Also, I think there might be a bit of a misconception going on here about him. People argue, that he is a poor climber because he struggled in the latter parts of PN and PV. However, I think what really is the issue is, that he is a classics guy who just doesn't cope very well with the fatigue building up. The longer/harder climbs in those two races have been in the latter parts where he probably was already a bit tired compared to the more Grand Tour experienced riders. (After all, he's only done two GTs so far)
If it comes to a climbing-heavy one day race he can very much excell, as seen in Lombardia last year. Hence, he should also be considered as a favourite for Innsbruck imo.