Philippe Gilbert endured a frustrating 2013 in the rainbow stripes of world champion, but earned plaudits for his efforts on stage three in Tirreno-Adriatico. Knowing he had to attack long to hold off his more illustrious sprinting rivals, he did just that – distancing Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) among others.

Peter Sagan had the beating of him, but as an early season test Gilbert also looks in good shape. BMC Racing took charge of the bunch in the final few kilometres and set up the Belgian nicely. And though ultimately he finished fourth, with bigger ambitions centred around the spring Classics, the Belgian will no doubt be pleased with his early season test.