After Renshaw helped steer Mark Cavendish to three sprint stage successes it was time for the team’s other British rider, Stephen Cummings, to leave his mark on the Tour with a breakaway win in stage seven.

Cummings went clear of a large breakaway group before ascending the Col d’Aspin and was able to hold on for his second Tour de France victory, following his first win in last year’s event. 

“That was sweet. After what has already happened this week, it is just fantastic to have won. Of all my victories, I think this has to be my best one,” Cummings said post-race on Team Dimension Data’s official website. 

“I wasn’t confident in that big group and putting pressure on them, I thought, was my best option. The Aspin is also a climb that suits my characteristics. The group behind was obviously on the limit so I just carried on, as you do, and I was able to win.

“I am really happy for the team and thankful that they believe in me.”

It was tougher going in Sunday morning’s stage eight for Renshaw and his team as the Tour introduced its first mountain stage, a 183km ride from Pau to Bagnères-de-Luchon.

The stage included the formidable Col du Tourmalet towards the mid-point, followed by three more categorised climbs.

For Dimension Data the goal in stage eight was to simply survive and make sure all nine riders made the time cut-off.

They were successful in that task though it took plenty of effort for them to achieve it.

“That stage was just horrible. Now time to delete it from the memory,” Renshaw wrote on Twitter post-race.

Former two-time Tour champion Chris Froome (Team Sky) took the stage win and with it the overall leader’s yellow jersey.

An attack towards the end of the stage from Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) was pulled back by Froome who then went on to produce a blistering descent down the Col du Peyresourde on his way to victory.

Froome’s stage win gave him a 16-second advantage over Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Team Katusha).