Yesterday, Chris Froome beat the Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin), his likely rival for gold in the same event in the Olympic time trial in Rio next month, by 21 seconds over a nasty, undulating 17km course from Sallanches to Megève to claim his second stage win of this year’s race.

While battle for the last two spots on the podium in Paris is still simmering nicely, the same cannot be said for the yellow-jersey battle.

Even Froome conceded that victory in Paris on Sunday will come down not so much to whether his rivals can eat into his near four-minute lead over the two days in the Alps, but whether the Briton can “stay safe, out of trouble”. In other words: stay upright.

The Belgian Eddy Merckx, who won five Tours from 1969-1974 in a reign of such terror that he acquired the nickname ‘the Cannibal’, said he was impressed by Froome, but not by his rivals. 

“Chris Froome is a very great champion,” the Cannibal told The Daily Telegraph. “I think he can win more [Tours]. If you look at the guys who are behind him, I don’t know who can beat him in the next years. He’s complete, he’s a good time trialist, he’s good at ascents, he’s overall. He’s the best of the moment. [Even] his team-mates are as strong as his rivals.”

This last point is, perhaps, the biggest bone of contention that has popped up this year as far as Sky and Froome are concerned. With speculation regarding the legitimacy of Froome’s performances far less pronounced than it was in 2013 and 2015 – largely because of the way he has created his lead this year, on descents and time trials and flat stages – attention has turned to the power of Froome’s team, with rival teams and riders complaining that moneybags Sky have bought up an army of potential grand-tour winners and got them all working for the two-time champion. In this regard, Team Sky resemble some of the big spending clubs, like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, that currently dominate European club football.

There is some truth in that. Sky’s so-called ‘pain train’ on the front of the bunch keep the pace high on climbs, almost daring anyone to have a go, to put themselves in the red, and then shutting them down if they do. Sky always have numbers at the end. They have four riders in the top 20 of the general classification, with Wout Poels, who has really come on strong in the last few days, 33rd.

None of which is a concern for Sky, who rightly point out that it is up to others to stop them. No other team, seemingly, came with a game plan even to try.

As Froome pointed out, no other team have eight riders working with the sole purpose of getting their leader home in as quick a time as possible. If nothing else, this will be a lesson that other teams will have to take away from this Tour if they are to prove Merckx' predictions wrong.