The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry – and the same can be said of The Gorilla apparently. Andre Greipel made a flying start to the season as his Lotto-Belisol team-mates showed the profits of the work they put into their lead-outs by earning their team leader six victories before February had ended.

Strong form – albeit without adding to his tally of wins – followed at Tirreno-Adriatico though he was unable to live up to his pre-race billing at Milan-San Remo. But then, all his early-season work came crashing down – quite literally – after he hit the deck at Gent-Wevelgem.

A collarbone fracture meant a month off the bike, and Greipel is now facing a battle to return to the sort of form which brought three stage wins and the points jersey at the Tour of Oman. It was not just his victories which impressed either, but the stages on which he was performing too – a lumpy stage into Al Bustan looked more set up for the rouleurs in the bunch, but Lotto-Belisol worked hard to set up Greipel instead.

Likewise, en route to Angastan at the Tour Down Under, Greipel had been in top form, taking second on a course which saw Mark Renshaw finish more than two minutes back and Marcel Kittel cross eight minutes later.

To have returned from injury so quickly shows the German’s commitment to starting the Tour de France, but his green jersey hopes will be resting on his race fitness.