Speaking after the stage finish, he said: “With 20km to go, when I saw the gap to the four breakaway riders was still so big, I decided to put one guy [Niccolo Bonifazio] to the front and it was the right thing to do.

“Everyone knows the big names that are in contention here so I’m obviously very happy to beat them.

“The temperature was quite high at the beginning of the race but coming from the World Championships, I was used to it, and after half way into the race, it was much better and not a problem for me.”