Update #13: It's not crowded at the top
It was an action-packed week, with the always-great and often-unpredictable Itzulia throwing up a result with neither Roglic or Evenepoel on the final podium, the sometimes-great and occasionally-unpredictable Amstel Gold Race ending with a pretty fun two-up sprint, and a smattering of other races. Who came out on top?
This Week's Top Scorers
Well, a familiar name came out on top, that's who. EvansIsTheBest had 1st and 4th at Itzulia, with of course the 328 points from Dani Martinez being the biggest for EITB and Martinez's other 32 owners, as well as 150 points for Olav Kooij for his wild last-day GC coup at Sarthe. Add in good support points from relatively rare picks Axel Zingle (55 points, 2 teams) and Carlos Rodriguez (47 points, 16 teams) and it's enough for a solid win. BlueRoads had Martinez as well but was more Amstel-heavy in support, with 222 points from Benoit Cosnefroy (6 teams) and 112 from Tiesj Benoot (2 teams). Riverside winds up in third with 'only' 764 points, led again by Martinez and Kooij, with double digit supporting points from the likes of Pedersen, Hirschi, and Rodriguez.
Green Jersey Competition
ray10 had a 46 point lead coming into this week, then EITB scored 45 for the weekly win, and now it's a 1-point difference! No one else in the top 5 scores, so it's becoming a two-horse race at the top.
Top 10 Overall
Speaking of which, those two are the top 2 overall as well, with their positions flipped. However, EITB's good weeks have been the big point weeks, so the difference between EITB and ray10 is a bit bigger than the Green Jersey points, and Squire is breathing down ray10's neck in 3rd, quietly consistent every week. But EITB leads by 269 points, a respectable week's point score on most weeks on its own, and only 3 other teams are within 500 points. It's a long season, but EITB has a good cornerstone on which to build.
As the points build for the season, the table shakeups are a bit less volatile, so this week the only entry into the top 10 is zaka fan, while kabete slides out.
This week we have stage races in Turkey and Sicily, Brabantse Pijl, and the apex of the cobbled classics in Paris-Roubaix, back in April for the first time in 3 years.
spreadsheet at dropbox