Young French sprinter Bryan Coquard (Team Europcar) has certainly put his name out there during the first three stages.

Foiling the big-name sprinters at the intermediate sprints he has showed character already and two fourth-place finishes on stages one and three have proved he is certainly a man to be reckoned with at the denouement.

His vision on stage one, accelerating away from the crash from the far side of the road to avoid missing the split, showed experience well beyond his 22 years of age.

And Team Europcar showed they are not to be written off when it comes to leading out the sprint, with them keen to show themselves on the front and set Coquard up at every opportunity – intermediate or at the denouement.

A couple of euros in the team’s coffers is seemingly all that is on offer at the intermediate sprints – Peter Sagan having already claimed a firm hold of the green jersey – but having been inducted to the WorldTour for the first time this season, Team Europcar have proved they are a developing team with a lot of potential.

Stage wins at a handful of lower-ranked UCI events prove Coquard’s potential but are no reason yet to consider him a major sprinting contender.

However, if he keeps getting into the positions in the final sprint, he is going to be one to watch for in future.