It’s half past 11 at night on the eve of the Tour’s first time trial. A gang of small French women wheel some heavy machinery out of Team Sky’s hotel in the Rhône Valley, dragging behind a trail of thin yellow thread over the threshold of the automatic glass doors and into the dark car park.

They had been busy burning the nearly-midnight oil customising Chris Froome’s yellow skinsuit ahead of the Tour’s longest test against the clock. The same was happening at three other jersey holders’ hotels, although it’s fair to say none were taking things quite as seriously as they were here.

In a 37.5km time trial, a good skinsuit can save a rider minutes. As part of its sponsorship of the Tour’s classification jerseys, since 2014 French brand Le Coq Sportif has offered a skinsuit customisation service.