To the viewer, the bunch sprint happens in super-fast motion, a blur of bikes and colour before one rider raises his arms in triumph over the finishing line.

For the top sprinters, however, it happens in slow motion, and nobody reads a sprint better than the now 44-time Grand Tour stage winner Mark Cavendish.

The Manx Missile and his Etixx-QuickStep sprint train’s timing and decision-making were off earlier in the week, but – despite being down a man with Tony Martin abandoning overnight – Cavendish roared back into form on stage seven.

Cavendish admitted in his post-race interview, he thought he had lost it when Andre Greipel seized the initiative with the line approaching, despite having positioned himself well on the wheels of the Katusha sprint train.

But the Manxman spotted a gap and found the killer surge of power which has seen him crowned the Tour’s best ever sprinter.

In truth, Cavendish has been in top form for much of the year – winning impressively in Dubai and clocking the victories up since then.

We are in a privileged position, as British fans, to boast one of – if not the – finest sprinters in cycling history and this was Cav back to his very best.