Lieuwe Westra, at 31, has experience on his side and is fast becoming a well-respected rouleur. A two-time national time trial champion, Westra is also no stranger to the break and earned his first win in Astana colours with a huge solo dig in Barcelona at the Volta a Catalunya.
He was desperately unlucky not to have made it two on stage six of the Criterium du Dauphine, outdone by a fellow breakaway specialist in Jan Bakelants after being the aggressor throughout an enthralling final few kilometres.
It was not the first break he has been in during the Dauphine either – a solo dig on stage three seeing him hold off the peloton in the final kilometres before the sprint teams reeled him back in.
A stage win at Paris-Nice two years previously – where Bradley Wiggins was among the riders trailing in his wake – had already announced him as a seriously strong rider. In Vincenzo Nibali, Jakob Fuglsang and now Fabio Aru, Astana are very much a team geared towards their GC ambitions. But Westra has proved, when he gets a chance he will take it.
