ZELANDE: With the Tour de France yellow race leader's jersey no longer his, Rohan Dennis will get to reflect on his spell in the race leadership with fondness, but also on what he may have done differently to avert having surrendered cycling's most prized jersey earlier than he had planned.

Dennis, 25, showed remarkable team spirit to not think of himself and chase the lead group that he missed joining and which included five BMC teammates – including his American team leader Tejay van Garderen, who was one of three overall contenders in the 24-strong front group. The other two contenders there were Briton Chris Froome (Sky) and Spaniard Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo).

After starting the day in first place overall, Dennis fell to 23rd position at 1 minute, 26 seconds to Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara (Trek), who took the overall race lead by placing third in the sprint finish to Sunday's 166-kilometre second stage from Utrecht to Zelande that was won by German Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) ahead of Slovakian Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo). Dennis, meanwhile, finished 88th on the stage and second last in a group of 64 riders that finished at 1:28 to the front group.

That meant Cancellara had an overall lead of one second over German Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) and three seconds on Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) going into Monday's 159.5km third stage in Belgium, from Antwerp to Huy in the Ardennes.

BMC team president Jim Ochowicz said that Dennis still had a big task ahead in the Tour – in the stage-nine team time trial and also in the mountains of the Pyrenees and Alps. "He is playing a big role in the team for us," Ochowicz said.

But Ochowicz still lamented Dennis not finishing Sunday's stage with the lead group. He empathised with Dennis, saying that when the peloton split with 50km to go, a crash had just occurred and the stage was not "at a point in the race where everyone could slow down and stop".

"The guys [at BMC up front] had to stay with the QuickStep and Tinkoff. They were riding. We couldn't sit up and wait," he said. "It's too bad Rohan couldn't make it, but we had Tejay so we had to protect him."

Ochowicz said had Dennis ridden closer to his teammates and followed them, it might have been a different story for the South Australian, whose stage-one time-trial win put him in the yellow jersey.

"You have to stay around the team," he said. "Obviously, they were all in the right position, and you've got to trust them that they are kind of getting a feel for what is going to happen next. I think when you saw QuickStep and Tinkoff in the same position we were in, with a group of five or six … that tells you something.

"They were feeling and smelling the air ... it was the right moment to be in front. He needs to trust the guys. If they are near the front he should be there."

To his credit, Dennis told his teammates through his radio to continue riding and not wait for him once he realised that he was isolated in a stage that was stricken by wind, rain and even hail.

But van Garderen said it was initially difficult for them to do so, despite knowing that it would provide them with a rare opportunity to gain time on many rivals, including Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar).

"It was a tough call …" van Garderen said. "For a while we were thinking, 'Don't work, let them catch up, [but then] all the other 'GC' [general classification] guys would catch up … [Dennis is] professional. He'll understand.

"He knows what the stakes are and what the situation was. He is still going to have fond memories of being in the jersey, if only for a day."

In that, van Garderen was correct, as Dennis still said afterwards of his first and one day in the yellow jersey: "It was a good experience. It was an honour to wear and I hope it happens again. "