Never switch off: The art of staying in overall contention in the Tour's first week

You can't win it here, but there's a certain skill to staying in touch as a GC contender in the Tour de France's opening week, with more riders seeing dents to their overall aspirations after stage two of the 2016 edition

(Image credit: Watson)

You'll know the clichés by now: the Tour de France is the Tour de France, riders take it one day at a time, there's a long way to go until Paris.

The expressions on Alberto Contador and Richie Porte's faces as they crossed the finish line in a charmless part of Cherbourg at the end of Sunday's stage suggest otherwise.

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Nick Bull is an NCTJ qualified journalist who has written for a range of titles, as well as being a freelance writer at Beat Media Group, which provides reports for the PA Media wire which is circulated to the likes of the BBC and Eurosport. His work at Cycling Weekly predominantly dealt with professional cycling, and he now holds a role as PR & Digital Manager at SweetSpot Group, which organises the Tour of Britain.