It is fair to say Team Sky have had a mixed bunch of a season so far – with two victories for Chris Froome, at the Tour of Oman and Tour de Romandie, their best results so far.

Froome has raced just three times this season however, illness and injury ruling him out of Tirreno-Adriatico and Liege-Bastogne-Liege and forcing a re-think of their plans.

Richie Porte, too, has suffered illnesses – eventually costing him his place as team leader for the Giro d’Italia – while a bug was also blamed for Peter Kennaugh missing the Corsa Rosa.

The upshot has been a lot of huffing and puffing for Team Sky, with no real reward to show for it.

Ben Swift came within inches of beating Marcel Kittel on stage three, in Dublin, but that has been as good as it got for the British team.

But there have also been positives for Team Sky – not least the resurgence of Sir Bradley Wiggins.

Frequent changes to his race programme raised questions as to what shape he was actually in, but a top-ten placing at Paris-Roubaix and Tour of California success reminded everyone of his unbelievable skill as a bike rider.

And, furthermore, he has no stated he will be happy to support Chris Froome at the Tour de France – meaning Sky could line up with the two previous Tour winners on the Leeds startline.

Ian Stannard won the Omloop Het Niewsblad and Geraint Thomas also enjoyed a successful Classics campaign to boot – having earlier been in good form at Paris-Nice, only to suffer a crash which ended his overall chances.

In all, looking through the negatives and frustrations, there is plenty of cause for optimism in the British team’s camp.