Remco Evenepoel lives up to his favourite's tag in the individual time trial by winning stage five of the Tour de France as defending champion Tadej Pogačar's tops the general classification.

A three-week Grand Tour will always contain natural ebbs and flows, and, for much of Monday’s stage between Valenciennes and Dunkirk, it looked as if the peloton had declared an unofficial rest day, with the riders happy to cruise back towards the coast after a weekend of wind, rain and intensity.

A star-studded peloton are set for a three-week battle royale over lumps, bumps and mountains as the Tour de France gets underway. This year’s Grand Depart is held in Lille in northern France with stage one beginning and ending in the city near the border with Belgium.