Not the best of days

It was not a noteworthy day for Euskaltel in Tirreno and Paris-Nice today. In Paris-Nice, Igor was the best placed rider in 21st place, closely followed by Gorka in 22nd. In Tirreno though, it was a lot worse. The best rider was Juanjo in 45th.

The mythical Mont Ventoux was on the menu for the riders in Paris-Nice today. My expectations were high given Igor and Gorka's good form of late, and I was also expecting to see Haimar back in the action. It wasn't a total failure by any means, but it'd be fair to say I was a little disappointed after the race. Igor and Gorka came in with the same group, 2:18 down on winner Evans, meaning that Gorka is now an excellent 7th overall. Igor is 13th overall, and, even though I didn't get to see the stage, I assume he did a lot of work for Gorka today. Haimar, who seems to have lost his excellent form overnight, was nowhere to be seen, coming in 4:09 back. Dioni was next, 8:58 down, while Aitor finished 15:09 back. Aitor has not been riding as well as I had hoped he would, but, hey, there's still some stages left for him to leave a mark. Markel and Lander came in with a big group 18:28 adrift.

Not much to say about today's 2nd stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico. Juanjo and Iñigo performed reasonably well, coming in with a big group a minute and six seconds down on surprise-winner Illiano. Egoi, Alán, Rubén and Aitor Galdos came in with another big group, some 8 minutes down, while Javier crossed the line another four minutes later. Antton sadly had to drop out today. I don't know why, if it's down to injuries or illness or something, but I'll let you know once I find out.