The cobbled stage over, the peloton is aware that a new Tour is starting, led by Vincenzo Nibali and without title-holder Chris Froome. Manager of the Sicilian, Alexandre Vinokourov is confident that his protégé is now the arch-favourite of the Tour and that pressure will not be a problem.

And by the words of the manager it sounds like the team is ready to defend Nibali in the mountains.

"Yesterday was a great day with two riders on the stage podium and the first two spots in the GC. We could not dream of a better performance. Now two rainy days remain before we tackle the mountain," the Kazakh said to the ASO website.

One of the advantages Nibali has is he doesn’t fear the pressure which follows with leading the biggest stage race of the world.

"Vincenzo's qualities? He's clever and sets his goals perfectly like he showed last year in the Giro. And he doesn't fear pressure. Others would feel pressure with the yell jersey. Not him," he said.

The Olympic champion also claims he leads one of the strongest teams in the race, an opinion shared by his rivals.

For Garmin Sharp and Andrew Talansky's manager Jonathan Vaughters, "two minutes is a sizable advantage".

"And Astana is the best team in this Tour," he added.

At the Team Sky bus, the Froome page is turned and the focus is now on helping Richie Porte achieve the greatest possible Tour. According to Nicolas Portal, it was the plan of the team to have two leaders for this race.

"We had planned to have a number one and number two leader.  Richie was prepared. We have now shifted completely towards helping him," said team director Nicolas Portal.