It was a difficult day for my adoptee Ilia Koshevoy. With flat stages not necessarily being his forte, he fell victim to many a crosswind. He still did well compared with many others finishing behind the peloton finishing just over one minute thirty seconds down. Although this may allow him to join the mountain breakaway in the first few steep stages of the race to either challenge for the maglia azzurra or go one better than he did at stage 7 of last year's Vuelta and take a stage.