diff --git a/modules/@angular/router/src/resolve.ts b/modules/@angular/router/src/resolve.ts
index 955bec6009..24f35578c9 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/router/src/resolve.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/router/src/resolve.ts
@@ -17,17 +17,25 @@ export function resolve(
 function resolveNode(
     resolver: ComponentResolver, node: TreeNode<ActivatedRouteSnapshot>): Observable<any> {
   if (node.children.length === 0) {
-    return fromPromise(resolver.resolveComponent(<any>node.value.component).then(factory => {
+    return fromPromise(resolveComponent(resolver, <any>node.value).then(factory => {
       node.value._resolvedComponentFactory = factory;
       return node.value;
     }));
 
   } else {
     const c = node.children.map(c => resolveNode(resolver, c).toPromise());
-    return forkJoin(c).map(
-        _ => resolver.resolveComponent(<any>node.value.component).then(factory => {
-          node.value._resolvedComponentFactory = factory;
-          return node.value;
-        }));
+    return forkJoin(c).map(_ => resolveComponent(resolver, <any>node.value).then(factory => {
+      node.value._resolvedComponentFactory = factory;
+      return node.value;
+    }));
+  }
+}
+
+function resolveComponent(
+    resolver: ComponentResolver, snapshot: ActivatedRouteSnapshot): Promise<any> {
+  if (snapshot.component && snapshot._routeConfig) {
+    return resolver.resolveComponent(<any>snapshot.component);
+  } else {
+    return Promise.resolve(null);
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/modules/@angular/router/test/resolve.spec.ts b/modules/@angular/router/test/resolve.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2237bb60a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/@angular/router/test/resolve.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+import {DefaultUrlSerializer} from '../src/url_serializer';
+import {UrlTree, UrlSegment} from '../src/url_tree';
+import {RouterStateSnapshot} from '../src/router_state';
+import {recognize} from '../src/recognize';
+import {resolve} from '../src/resolve';
+import {RouterConfig} from '../src/config';
+
+describe('resolve', () => {
+  it('should resolve components', () => {
+    checkResolve([
+      {path: 'a', component: "ComponentA"}
+    ], "a", {ComponentA: 'ResolvedComponentA'}, (resolved:RouterStateSnapshot) => {
+      expect(resolved.firstChild(resolved.root)._resolvedComponentFactory).toEqual('ResolvedComponentA');
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('should not resolve componentless routes', () => {
+    checkResolve([
+      {path: 'a', children: []}
+    ], "a", {}, (resolved:RouterStateSnapshot) => {
+      expect(resolved.firstChild(resolved.root)._resolvedComponentFactory).toEqual(null);
+    });
+  });
+});
+
+function checkResolve(config: RouterConfig, url: string, resolved: {[k:string]:string}, callback: any): void {
+  const resolver = {
+    resolveComponent: (component:string):Promise<any> => {
+      if (resolved[component]) {
+        return Promise.resolve(resolved[component]);
+      } else {
+        return Promise.reject("unknown component");
+      }
+    }
+  };
+
+  recognize(RootComponent, config, tree(url), url).mergeMap(s => resolve(<any>resolver, s)).subscribe(callback, e => {
+    throw e;
+  });
+}
+
+function tree(url: string): UrlTree {
+  return new DefaultUrlSerializer().parse(url);
+}
+
+class RootComponent {}
+class ComponentA {}
+class ComponentB {}
+class ComponentC {}