Tuesday 12 July 2016 11:29, UK
The opening week of the Tour de France far exceeded expectation for some riders but went badly for others.
Here, we rate the overall contenders and leading sprinters out of 10…
Chris Froome (1st overall)
The defending champion looked tactically and physically strong throughout the opening week and reached the first rest day with both a well-taken stage win and the overall lead to his name. The only negative was his inability to drop his rivals on stage nine's summit finish at Andorre Arcalis.
Rating: 8/10
Nairo Quintana (4th overall, +23sec)
Quintana has had a quiet but successful opening week, staying 23 seconds off the yellow jersey without even threatening to go on the attack. His form has looked good, but he should rue his naïve decision to collect a water bottle on the last climb of stage eight just as Froome was making what turned out to be a stage-winning acceleration.
Rating: 7/10
Richie Porte (14th overall, +2min 10sec)
The Australian's challenge for overall victory all but ended on stage two, when an unfortunately timed puncture cost him 1min 45sec. He performed well on stage nine's summit finish, but in truth he is now riding as much for team-mate Tejay van Garderen as he is for himself.
Rating: 6/10
Fabio Aru (13th overall, +1min 23sec)
Aru is targeting victory at the Tour for the first time in his career but has left himself with 1min 23sec to make up on Froome after being dropped on stage nine's summit finish. It was a damaging blow that he is unlikely to recover from, although a podium finish is still a possibility.
Rating: 5/10
Adam Yates (2nd overall, +16sec)
Yates started the Tour with the hope of winning stages out of breakaways but has now shifted his goal to finishing as high up the general classification as possible following an outstanding opening week, the highlight of which was going toe to toe with the likes of Froome and Quintana on stage nine.
Rating 9/10
Dan Martin (3rd overall, +19sec)
Similar to Yates, Martin has established himself as a contender for a place on the podium in Paris with a near-flawless opening week. Not only has he managed to keep pace with the likes of Froome and Quintana, but he also attacked them no fewer than four times in a thrilling - albeit fruitless - display on stage nine.
Rating: 8/10
Mark Cavendish (three wins)
Cavendish has performed far in excess of all expectations in an outstanding opening week in which he took his career total of Tour stage wins to 29. Fears that training on the track for much of this year may have affected his form were swept aside with some scintillating displays. The only blemish was stage four, when poor positioning left him eighth.
Rating: 9/10
Marcel Kittel (one win)
Kittel was expected to dominate the sprints at the Tour but has instead registered only one win from the four flat stages so far and after being overshadowed by Cavendish. Kittel has also struggled to beat second-tier sprinters and hasn't looked his best.
Rating: 6/10
Andre Greipel (no wins)
Greipel won four sprints in the 2015 Tour but has so far fallen a long way short of that standard this year. His Lotto Soudal team have been the dominant sprint team in the run-in to the last 500m, but Greipel has been off the pace and second place on stage three is his best result.
Rating: 5/10
Dan McLay (no wins)
The 24-year-old Briton is making his debut at the Tour and hadn't been expected to be challenging in sprints, but he has finished in the top 10 on every flat stage so far and even crossed the line a close third behind Cavendish and Kittel on stage six.
Rating: 8/10
The Tour resumes on Tuesday with a 197km 10th stage from Escaldes Engordany to Revel. Find out more about the route in our race guide and follow the stage live with our live blog from 1pm BST.
