Jan Bakelants is a man who knows plenty about heroic solo attacks – stage two of the 2013 Tour de France being arguably his finest career moment. The signing of the Belgian in the winter appeared a shrewd bit of business by Omega Pharma-Quickstep – even if it was overshadowed by the arrivals of Rigoberto Uran and Mark Renshaw. But the 28-year-old more than proved his worth with a fantastic support effort for Tony Martin.

Taking Martin’s share of the workload in the break, he remained an unwavering source of support up until his final attack – even providing the cover needed to keep Gorka Izaguirre out of reach of the German’s wheel as he shot off up the road. And for the second time this season, Bakelants still had enough left in the tank to finish among the peloton. It is certainly not the last we will have seen Bakelants in the break this season.