Boasting one of the finest sprint trains in the business, Mark Cavendish’s forced withdrawal from the Tour left a void in the Omega Pharma-Quickstep line-up.

And while the Manx Missile can rightly be considered irreplaceable, Mark Renshaw sprinting to third place has at least proved there is still life after Cav for the Belgian super team’s sprinting armoury.

With Tony Martin, Niki Terpstra, Alessandro Petacchi and Renshaw all in the ranks, the team still looks a strong one when it comes to the sprint, albeit one missing the final piece in the jigsaw.

And with Paris-Roubaix champion Terpstra one rider fancied for the cobbled stage five, Michal Kwiatkowski targeting a strong GC challenge and Martin already proving on stage two he is chasing the long breakaways there will be plenty of opportunities to come anyway.

It will be interesting to see how the re-jigged sprint train fares however, with multiple Grand Tour stage winner Petacchi seemingly happy to remain in the ranks and Renshaw the man entrusted to lead the charge.

Marcel Kittel appears unstoppable, but the Omega Pharma-Quickstep train has foiled the team in black and white before.