The opening image of our gallery reveals what with hindsight appears to be a fairly astonishing coincidence. 

Two riders, their faces contorted with pain, ride within inches of each other on the Côte du Salario, pushing themselves to the limit in the hope of gaining an advantage.

Twelve kilometres later, and the same pair would again be separated by inches, but this time the gap would mean the difference between victory and defeat.

Jan Bakelants (Radioshack-Leopard) and Peter Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling) may have ridden in similar proximity on hundreds of occasions, but today the short distance that separated them mattered.

Bakelants discovered previously untapped reserves to record what in any circumstances would have been likely to have been the biggest victory of his career. The fact that it was his first made it sweeter still.

Official UCI WorldTour photographer, Stefano Sirotti, was our man with the lens in the Corsican town of Ajaccio.