While Peter Sagan was ruing another near miss, it was a fellow perennial contender who was celebrating victory.

Whether Sagan made a mistake or not, van Avermaet’s gutsy performance deserves credit, for having the strength to lead the sprint out and the tactical awareness to prevent Sagan passing.

With the Slovakian champion breathing down his neck, van Avermaet headed to the barriers to cut off a pass on the inside, and Sagan was unable to come round to pass on the outside.

It means a first Tour stage win for the Belgian – a man who was also likely to be in contention after his victory in Arezzo at Tirreno-Adriatico.

These sort of finishes are ideally suited to a man who finished third at both of the cobbled Monuments this year, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders.

It has been a successful race for BMC Racing so far, with Rohan Dennis winning the stage one time trial and the team victorious on the stage nine team time trial.

Now they have a road stage victory too, and with Tejay van Garderen second overall, it will be all hands on deck to keep the American on the final podium.

Van Avermaet’s victory takes the pressure off in some respects now, with the focus on GC now less likely to be side-tracked by any individual bids for glory.