An enthralling opening week to the Tour de France may have made for fantastic viewing, but the tensions are clearly running high in the peloton.

When Vincenzo Nibali was brought down by the crash on stage six in which Tony Martin suffered a broken collarbone, the Astana man actually pinned the blame on Chris Froome (Team Sky).

Froome, who was forced to unclip as the Italian champion tumbled next to him but stayed upright, was faultless for the crash, and the two met immediately afterwards in the Astana bus where Nibali apologised.

While the incident is only minor, however, it shows how the tensions are running high among the GC men – with nerves aplenty in the bunch.

Nairo Quintana (Movistar) also suffered in the crash, but only suffered superficial damage.

Froome’s lieutenant Geraint Thomas had Tweeted yesterday that he was looking forward to the team time trial when there would be no other teams alongside them on the road, and all of the GC men have been full of praise for their team-mates’ ability to keep them safe so far.

Never before can anybody have been looking forward to the mountains as much as they all appear to be, when their Tour chances will be in their own hands and the current ‘phoney war’ is over.

Before then, however, there are two flat stages – the latter boasting an uphill finish on the Mur de Bretagne – to negotiate, where there could be more opportunity to take seconds and another frantic battle for position.

It’s great for us watching in, and it has certainly been a successful way to start the Tour, but there will be plenty more nervy moments for those in the peloton first.