After a horror start to the season, epitomised by zero wins and the awful training camp crash, Team Giant-Alpecin are hoping that Tom Dumoulin’s Giro TT win and stint in the Maglia Rosa will be the catalyst for more top results in 2016.

"We had an accident that was bigger than cycling," team manager Iwan Spekenbrink told Cyclingnews before stage 2. "At that moment there were lives at stake. We had to accept the setback. Some people needed support recover and also to mentally leave it behind. We needed time and we said, 'if everyone keeps working the team will get back to full strength we will show we are better again. Just give us a bit of time'."

Spekenbrink revealed he hoped to have a strong team once more by the Tour de France, but his riders have impressed him already with their good start to the Giro.

"I said, 'you will see us at full strength in the Tour de France – that was my expectation, though it was dependent on medical things. But you see that the team has grown and we are now already back to a good level," said Spekenbrink. "Now the team is getting complete. We saw it in the Ardennes Classics, where we did pretty well, Romandie as well, and this was a really nice tipping point."