Etixx-Quick Step branches out its Twitter feed to give us a brief history of tulips

It was a pretty sedate start to stage two at the Giro d'Italia, but that doesn't mean the social media monitors at the teams' HQs were sitting around with their feet up.

The good people at Etixx-Quick Step, for example, were digging into the history books to see just what has ever happened in Nijmegen over the years - the town where Saturday's stage finishes.

It turns out there is a flower market there, which provided a great opportunity to tell the story about the great Dutch tulip boom.

It didn't really have a happy ending, unfortunately, with the last tweet somewhat killing the mood, but it was still an interesting thing to learn.

Other interesting things about Nijmegen include the fact that the city is home to one of the country's oldest cricket teams - Quick 1888 was formed in that exact year.

Now you can act knowledgeable when the race reaches Nijmegen - tell your friends the history of the tulip. Sunday's stage three starts in the city as well, so you have plenty of time.