Tuesday 3 May 2016 10:51, UK
The Tour de Romandie and Tour de Yorkshire served up some exciting racing over the past week.
Nairo Quintana emerged victorious in Romandie, while Thomas Voeckler claimed the title in Yorkshire in a thrilling finale.
Here, we discuss the key talking points from the two races…
Chris Froome's Tour de Romandie went through so many extremes that it was tricky to ascertain exactly where his condition is in relation to the Tour de France.
Losing 17min 30sec on the first mountain stage suggested he is in deep trouble, but the way he recovered by finishing fourth in the time trial the next day and then winning the second mountain stage the day after that suggested all is fine.
But ultimately, the fact his results at the Tour de Romandie in the past four years have been 1st, 1st, 3rd, 38th hints he is long way short of where he normally is at this stage of the season.
That, however, could be precisely the plan given that he could end up targeting the Tour, Olympics and Vuelta a Espana this year and will need to hold peak form deeper into the season than usual.
While Froome started badly and then improved in Romandie, team-mate Geraint Thomas' form went in the opposite direction and potentially left Team Sky with more to worry about.
Having finished fourth in the race-opening prologue, his "legs disappeared with 5km to go" on the first mountain stage and his race got increasingly worse from there, eventually finishing almost 30 minutes down in 51st.
The bad weather and even illness may have played a part, but a more plausible argument is that Thomas is simply tired after a long, tough but ultimately successful spring and he simply needs to rest up and recover for the summer.
Quintana's defining quality is his climbing ability, but his time-trialling is also looking increasingly formidable ahead of a Tour de France that could well be decided by its tests against the clock.
Having finished a narrow second to Alberto Contador in the hilly time trial at last month's Tour of the Basque Country, the Colombian went on to beat Chris Froome in the Tour de Romandie prologue and then finished dead level with the Briton in sixth in the 15.1km up-and-down time trial three days later.
The Tour de France contains a rolling 37km time trial and then a 17km uphill time trial, and on the evidence of this season so far, Quintana is unlikely to surrender much to Froome and Contador on either of them.
Smaller cycle races around the continent fight a constant battle for survival and several have succumbed in recent years, but on the evidence of this weekend, the Tour de Yorkshire should have nothing to worry about.
Firstly in its favour is the fact that the public appear to love it. More than two million spectators braved often dreadful weather to watch live on the roadsides, and they were joined by many more viewing back home on TV, so the race is a lucrative market for sponsors.
And secondly, the riders also can't get enough. They were queuing up to praise the race on Twitter on Sunday evening, and with word spreading around the peloton about huge crowds and exciting racing, the Tour de Yorkshire is only going to keep welcoming bigger teams and bigger names.
The men's race now boasts a women's counterpart, which was held for the first time on Saturday and also attracted big crowds, but the challenge for organisers is to expand it to a three-day race rather than just one.
Stage three was by far the most absorbing day of the men's Tour de Yorkshire.
Anyone who is a fan of the one-day classics could not fail to notice the parallels with races such as the Tour of Flanders in the way it became a war of attrition, whittling out the weak and leaving only a small group of the strongest riders to contest the finish.
It's therefore natural to conclude that Yorkshire would be a perfect place to stage a classic, both for men and women. Not only is the terrain and weather ideal, but the Tour de Yorkshire has also proven the huge public interest for sponsors to buy into.
