Garmin-Sharp played a prominent role in today' second stage of the Tour de France as Tom-Jelte Slagter set a brutal pace on one of the climbs to whittle the peloton to just 20 riders. Team leader Andrew Talansky explained that it was mainly a question of making the race hard and so stay out of trouble.

All day Garmin-Sharp were riding attentively near the front of the peloton in today's second stage of the Tour de France, constantly keeping Andrew Talansky out of trouble. In the finale, the team even took over the pace-setting when first Alex Howes and later Tom-Jelte Slagter injected more speed to the main group.

The acceleration reduced the main group to 20 riders but as Slagter started to fade, more riders were allowed to rejoin the group. That was a slight regret for Talansky who had wanted to make the race hard which would make it easier to stay safe in a dangerous stage.

“I just wanted to make the race as hard as possible by keeping ourselves up at the front and out of trouble. Often the best way to do that is to control the race," he said.

“Maybe we were missing one guy to keep the pace on. But Tom Jelte Slagter rode it down to 15 guys just two days into the Tour de France – that’s pretty impressive.

“It’s no secret that days like today are not my speciality with short, punchy climbs all day. My speciality is 20-, 30-, 40-minute climbs. But it’s mission accomplished. I got through it and am feeling good.

“I don’t think we’ve really seen anything yet. Everybody looks good. We’re all at a pretty similar level. Nobody could get away from the rest up the hill. But we’re only two days in.”