Well, Valverde keeps things afloat again even if I missed out on the non-Catalunya races. I had a few hopes in the classics, if Roelandts' final attack had stuck and he had gotten 2nd instead of sitting up at the back of the group in E3, or if Danny van Poppel had some more legs to stay with the lead group after the main difficulties, I'd be celebrating. But there are some strong positives to take away for me and my team:
- Valverde of course. As Nesterk mentioned he's not ahead of last year's pace, as he's done more days than last year and won't be doing Itzulia (although if he goes into DDV he placed in that race a few years ago if I recall). But I don't know if any of us who picked him expected last year's pace so much as a good pace and no serious injury. Keeping pace with last year's Ardennes haul would be difficult as the drop in points from first to anything below is steep, but if anyone can do it...
- Latour looks strong and hung on for 3rd with those bonus seconds on the line. Of course it's unfortunate he got bumped up due to Bernal's awful crash. On the game side of things, his career has been dotted with top 5s in smaller races but never more than a few 12th and 14th places at WT level, so a strong 3rd in Catalunya is a promising sign for the year. And this race didn't even have a TT, where he's improved!
- Gaudu also did well, getting into the front group on the last stage to move up to 12th. Not earth-shattering, but other than the Tour de l'Ain last year, 45 points is more than he's gotten in a stage race so far as a pro.
- Sivakov got his season underway and got 50 points out of it while working for Rosa. It's not confirmation of my hunch that his talent is too big to be held down by Sky's depth in his neo-pro year, but it's certainly consistent with that idea. Craddock into profit from that race too, but after the first stage I hoped for more. We will see how he does in California - that's the race that could make his year.
Terpstra and Rosa scoring big in the 'guys I thought about for awhile but ultimately didn't pick' scale. C'est la vie.