Ian Stannard’s victory at the Omloop Het Niewsblad raised hopes this could be the year Team Sky started to challenge for one-day success, particularly when Ben Swift kicked off the Monuments season with a podium spot at Milan-San Remo.

It didn’t quite work out like that in the end, but Team Sky at least look like they are getting closer to finding the winning formula.

Geraint Thomas, in particular, was on top form. His third place at E3 Harelbeke was fully deserved after the superb effort he put in to first help form the race-winning break, and then keep it clear and together as Omega Pharma-QuickStep looked to use their numerical advantage.

And while Sir Bradley Wiggins took the plaudits at Paris-Roubaix, it was Thomas who was the first Team Sky rider home in seventh, as part of the elite chasing group with Wiggins behind the triumphant Nikki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-QuickStep).

Thomas was also Team Sky’s best finisher at the Ronde, recovering from a crash to finish eighth. While there’s work to do to convert top ten finishes and podium into Monument victories, Team Sky have every reason to be optimistic at the end of the cobbled Classics and in Thomas they have a man capable of doing just that.