The Tour de France leaves Yorkshire after two exceptional days which allowed the favourites to gauge themselves. For Team Sky boss Dave Brailsford, the Grand Depart was an all-round success – cycling, vastly thanks to him, has become a major sport in the UK while defending Tour champion Chris Froome looks in great shape early in this edition.

“I would like to thank every single person who came on the race today. It was just fantastic. It's very important for our sport in this country and the proof that we've come a long way.”

Described as an English version of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the second stage was as tough as expected and wore out most of the riders, especially Joaquim Rodriguez, who started the race with no ambitions and already lost 15 minutes. But for Froome's mentor, Vincenzo Nibali's takeover is rather good news.

“I'm not surprised by Nibali's performance. We know him, we know what kind of a rider he is and the course suited him perfectly. Now the Tour only really starts in a week ,” he said.

“For us, it's fine. The favourites all tested themselves and now it's up to Astana to control.”

The Tour stays one more day in Britain for a short stage between Cambridge and London, but Braislford warned that Team Sky had no intention to be in contention.

“We have no plan for tomorrow. We'll leave it to the sprinters to do their thing,” he said.