When their sprint train fires it seems there is no stopping Lotto-Belisol’s insatiable charge for success. Not even strong, sudden crosswinds on stage one could hold them back as the Belgian team sent Andre Greipel on the way to his fourth victory of the season. But on stage two we finally found something not even they can overcome – an ill-timed mechanical failure.

Andre Greipel threw a chain in the closing kilometres and despite Lotto-Belisol’s desperate bid to get back involved in the sprint they had too much ground to make up to gain a suitable road position. Alexander Kristoff was the main beneficiary of the failure, while Leigh Howard earned a day in the red jersey in place of Greipel as a result. But if it is only mechanical failure which can de-rail the Lotto-Belisol train, their rivals will have to raise their game to stop the Gorilla continuing his fine start to the season.