Considering they lost their poster boy and number one sprinter ahead of the Tour de France, five days in to this year’s race and the German fans have had plenty to cheer.

Television broadcasters in the country pulled the plug on the Tour in 2011 in the face of dwindling audiences and a plethora of doping scandals.

But ARD’s decision to return the sport to free-to-air German television this year has already paid dividends thanks to Andre Greipel and Tony Martin.

If Greipel’s win on stage two was impressive, then stage five was even more so – the Gorilla showcasing his explosive sprint to power past Mark Cavendish.

With flat stage wins given more weight in the race for the green jersey too, it means Greipel has extended his lead overall – more on that in a moment – to confirm a very successful first five days for the Lotto-Soudal man.

For Martin, meanwhile, his day in the yellow jersey passed by relatively incident-free – staying safe in the crosswinds and avoiding the crashes.

He played his part in the lead-out for Cavendish, too, ramping the pace up in the final few kilometres, and will roll out as race leader again on stage six – the first man to successfully defend the jersey in this race so far.