The Visma-Lease a Bike team of Jonas Vingegaard were the protagonists, with several contenders for the overall classification — including Remco Evenepoel — distanced as the echelons formed. That main part of the peloton, which also contained Primoz Roglic and Geraint Thomas, ended up losing 49 seconds to the stage winner.

If riders were hoping for a relaxing stage 2 to recuperate then they may be disappointed: today’s stage is the longest of the entire Tour, 209km from the small village of Lauwin-Planque to Boulogne-sur-Mer on the northern coast of France.

After a win two days ago, Mathieu Van der Poel stuck close to today’s Stage 4 winner Tadej Pogačar to hold tight to his

A three-week Grand Tour will always contain natural ebbs and flows, and, for much of Monday’s stage between Valenciennes and Dunkirk, it looked as if the peloton had declared an unofficial rest day, with the riders happy to cruise back towards the coast after a weekend of wind, rain and intensity.

Tour de France kicks off on July 5 as the Grand Départ returns to France, with the peloton set to roll out from Lille after three foreign starts.

Grand Depart updates and stage 1 route as Evenepoel distanced in crosswinds - Who will take the first yellow jersey of the Tour as three weeks of racing kick off in France?