For the second consecutive day, the peloton took a calm approach to nurse some beaten bodies on stage seven of the Tour de France.

Five riders formed the day’s break, but as the last day for the sprinters for some time, it was always going to be brought back for a bunch kick.

For ORICA-GreenEDGE, it was another day of recovery and another step forward.

“Regardless of our Tour so far, today was never a day for us to feature in the final,” sport director Matt White said. “It was always one for the sprinters and potentially it could be the last opportunity for them until the Champs Elysees so the sprint teams were never going to give it up.

 “For us, we were pleased for another relaxed day in the peloton. It was another day without incident, in fact without a major incident for the peloton as a whole, which is nice to see this Tour.

“Another day of recovery is another step forward and another day closer to being in a position to target our second week goals.”

The five attackers of the day were Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN Qhubeka), Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis Solutions Credits), Kristijan Durasek (Lampre-Merida), Anthony Delaplace and Brice Feillu (Bretagne – Seche Environnement).

They remained under control but in front until the final ten kilometres when the sprint trains formed and took hold of racing.

In the end, it was Mark Cavendish (Etixx – Quickstep) for his first victory of the Tour, whilst ORICA-GreenEDGE stayed well out of the push at shove at the head of the race to roll safely across the finish line for what was another much needed drama-free day on the bike.

Stage 8 is characterised by the category three climb to finish, with many predicting the stage will decided in this final two kilometres.

Additional considerations however include the undulating stage, often on exposed roads, prior and the pending team time trial on the following day that will see some teams or riders preferring to conserve.