Injury and illness have restricted Chris Froome (Team Sky) to just two races so far this season, winning at the Tour of Oman and finishing sixth in Catalunya. After an intense training block however, the Kenyan-born Brit is reportedly raring to step up his Tour de France preparations and showed he is not far off his mark despite a stop-start season so far. His time, nine seconds behind Kwiatkowski, placed him 13th for the stage and while he was unable to replicate his domination of last year’s race as a result it is an encouraging sign.

Over little more than five-and-a-half kilometres it is premature to spectacular as to where the defending Tour de France champion is at form-wise but it is at least a marker he is not suffering too much. The big test now will be how he and chief lieutenant Richie Porte – himself on the comeback trail after illness – will deal with the rolling parcours awaiting on the road stages. Impress there, and all of a sudden things will be looking rosy for Team Sky again.