The first week of this year’s Tour was an absolute stormer. With cobbles, crosswinds and crashes all playing their part in the opening stages, it felt at times like we were watching a one-day Belgian classic, not a cagey and tactical three-week stage race.

We saw the unfortunate departures of Fabian Cancellara and Tony Martin, both of whom were wearing the maillot jaune at the time – a sad loss for the Tour, and a sign of the punishing nature of the first week. But we also saw some inspirational riding, especially from Michael Matthews, who grabbed himself the most aggressive rider award after a gutsy couple of days with bruised ribs and tattered lycra.

On Saturday, a statistic was bandied around the Twittersphere about Quintana taking more time from Froome in the mountains, with Froome’s time gains on the flat and in the time trial proving to be decisive. In fact, the time gaps created by crosswinds in Zeeland way back on stage two actually came to define the race.

The diminutive Colombian found himself on the wrong end of an echelon at a crucial point, shipping a minute-and-a-half to Froome who was ably marshaled by Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard and Luke Rowe – all men who love the really grisly conditions of springtime in Belgium. Had Quintana stuck with Froome at that point, the whole race could have had a different complexion, but the Tour de France isn’t a race merely for the mountain men, but one which seeks to test riders across a variety of terrain and conditions.