A memorable opening week in the Tour de France will be remembered for the dominance of Wout van Aert. The Jumbo Visma rider was 2nd on all three stages in Denmark but a massive win - when he blew everyone away with a 10km solo attack - to win stage 4 into Calais.
Yesterday, when the race hit the pavé on stage 5, he crashed early but was still able to drag his team mate Jonas Vingegaard back towards the front of the race to keep his - and the team's - general classification hopes intact.
Today, Van Aert was on the attack again. But this time the aggression was harder to understand. He attacked relentlessly from the start and eventual got away with Jakob Fuglsang (Israel Premier Tech) and Quinn Simmons (Trek Segefredo) in a breakaway that lasted 150km.
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Even when it became clear they would be caught, Van Aert pressed on until he was alone out front. Then he continued to power away until he was caught, by which time he was so spent he couldn't stay in the reduced peloton.
"It's hard for me to understand Van Aert's tactics today,” said Alberto Contador, expressing the views of many people. “Even if he got the victory... at the cost of what? This is a tremendous effort.
“Several factors come together here, he feels mega powerful, but you have to think three weeks ahead. He is a fundamental man for Jumbo. Perhaps for all his successes, no one on the team has the authority to tell him ‘hey, today be calm’.”
In the end Van Aert relinquished his yellow jersey, on a stage he could have won. He extended his lead in the points classification, which he is highly likely win anyway despite the small gains he made on his main rivals for the jersey by winning the intermediate sprint.
So what exactly was he trying to achieve?
It appears he was trying to get up the road to take pressure off his team. When he did get away, he says he was in the wrong group but he decided to press on anyway, for the sake of bowing out of yellow in style.
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"I wanted to be in a big breakaway. That way, we wouldn’t have to waste too much energy in the chase," he said. "Right from the start, I took the initiative. A lot of teams had the same idea.
"Unfortunately, we only got away with three. Because I had already used up all my energy at that point, I decided to push on. I did my best and said goodbye to the yellow jersey in style.
"I enjoyed today's stage and I hope the fans did too. It was a nice way to end my time in yellow. It's not bad at all to be wearing the green jersey now."
Whether emptying the tank today - 24 hours before the first proper summit finish at La Super Planche des Belles Filles - comes back to bite him and, specifically, his team's GC challenge remains to be seen.
And while Tour champion - clear favourite, now race leader and today's stage winner - Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) is in the driving seat, and hasn't put a foot wrong, Vingegaard has said he is more confident as the first proper climbing approaches.
"Long climbs suit me better than steep and explosive finishes like today. Supported by our strong team, I believe we can show some great things in the upcoming stages”, Vingegaard said.
