If the riders bidding for the maillot jaune this summer were not already aware of the perils of the pavé, they will be now.

It was little surprise to see Alberto Contador already hitting the cobbles to prepare for stage five of this year’s Tour and you can guarantee many of his rivals will plan their own recce of the route from Ypres to Arenberg.

All four cobbled Classics were incident-packed, with crashes the order of the day in particular at E3 Harelbeke, Gent-Wevelgem and then Paris-Roubaix. Contador and co will want to do all they can to stay out of trouble when the Tour takes on nine sectors of pavé on Wednesday July 9.

The cobbles claimed plenty of casualties through the spring Classics as Greg van Avermaet only knows too well after his spectacular crash at Paris-Roubaix – despite his BMC Racing team having done much of the leg work early on.

As ever with the early stages of the Tour de France, the race will not be won on stage five but it could certainly be lost.