And that’s all from me today. Thank you for reading, thank you for the emails and tweets, and see you soon for more from the world’s greatest bike race. Bye for now.

Can Adam Yates hold yellow through until the first rest day on Monday? That is clearly the plan.

“I felt pretty good today,” he said on letour.fr. “I watched the race back when I was a kid, everyone likes to be leader of the Tour de France. It was a delight to wear yellow. Hopefully I’ll keep for a few more days.”

It was an excellent ride by Nico Roche of Team Sunweb today - he took the initiative and attacked from the start, initially forging ahead on his own, before the breakaway grew steadily from four riders to the final selection of eight. That opening hour or so was seriously intense, in contrast to yesterday, when no one was interested in attacking.

By the end of that final climb + the section after it, the group favourites had been whittled down to just 29 riders -

Alexey Lutsenko, the stage winner, quoted on letour.fr: “This victory is very important for me. This is the Tour de France, the most important race in the world. I’m very happy. I’ve worked so hard to get this victory. All this work has paid off. Today we talked before the start, at the bus, with our DS’s and our manager Alexandre Vinokourov… Since I had lost quite some time in previous stages, I had the chance to go in the breakaway. I did my best on the last climb to win. I just kept a steady pace.”

Jesús Herrada, who was second on the stage for Cofidis: “I’m happy but a little disappointed. I gave everything on the last climb, but he was stronger than me.”

That was a highly enjoyable day of action, even if what promised to be a real cracker of a stage never quite took off in the way we hoped it might. Lutsenko was just too strong for his seven breakaway companions and won the stage with little fuss, while a potential GC battle further down the mountain did not materialise. In trademark style, Julian Alaphilippe’s late attack to the finish clawed back a single second in GC, and reminded his rivals that Deceuninck-Quick-Step’s Frenchman is not going anywhere.

It was good to see that powerful breakaway working so well together and holding off the peloton to battle for the stage among themselves. It is brilliant for British fans to see Adam Yates in yellow for Mitchelton-Scott - ditto Irish fans are enjoying Sam Bennett wearing the green points jersey for Deceuninck - Quick-Step, and both riders will be in those prestigious jerseys again tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s stage seven should be a sprint: 168km from Millau to Lavaur, with two category-three climbs before a category-four, and the customary one intermediate sprint point. How Sam Bennett would love to win a stage while in the green jersey ...

Over the weekend, the race hits the Pyrenees, which will be exciting on a number of levels ...

‘Job done’ for Mitchelton-Scott.

Yellow jersey Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) speaks: “It was nice, we controlled quite well, it was a strong breakaway and there were a lot of guys who really wanted to be in there today, and it was pretty much all flat until the climbs, so I think we did a good job. In the end I still had Mikel [Nieve] and Esteban [Chaves] in the final, so it was a good day.

On the lack of a GC battle on the final climb: “All the bonuses were already taken, so there wasn’t much to gain for anybody. Also the final climb wasn’t super steep, so it takes a lot of effort to get a few seconds, so everyone was saving energy for another day. We rode well today and hopefully we did the jersey proud.

“I still want to win a stage, that’s what we came here to do, but it’s pretty hard to throw away time when you’re in the lead ...”

(Not if the Alaphilippe bottle conspiracy theorists are to be believed.)

Neilson Powless (EF Pro Cycling) talks to ITV about his day in the breakaway: “In the very beginning it was incredibly hard, everybody in that group, they could roll really quick on those flat roads, and the speed that we were carrying was incredibly impressive. It’s not often you see guys that can hold a top speed of high 40s, low 50 km/h for so long, but after we were in the group and holding steady, I was really happy with the group that I was in, as almost everyone was quite a bit taller than me, so I could hide behind some of the bigger guys, like Daniel Oss or Greg [Van Avermaet] ... at the end of the day I was really happy to be racing aggressively, and I think it’s all money in the bank for my future development.”

Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) speaks to ITV, and is asked why Jumbo-Visma did not look to control the race today: “I don’t think we had any real reason to ride. Maybe if it had finished on top of the really steep one, it’d be different, but on this last climb here [with the flat section afterwards] you can’t make too much of a difference.”

And Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Ineos) on their efforts at the front of the main group: “We knew that climb [Col de la Lusette, the final climb] was pretty tricky, a really bad surface, it was basically just getting out of trouble. I think being ‘on the wheels’ on that climb, we would suffer more, so we took our opportunity and just rode at the front, at our own speed, saving energy, trying to stay safe, and I think - mission complete. We were not afraid to take it on and try it for the stage win today, but obviously, that was a pretty strong breakaway, if you looked at the names, directly we knew it would not be easy for Mitchelton-Scott to close that down, so my money was on the breakaway today, and I think people enjoyed it.”

Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) remains in the yellow jersey and will wear it tomorrow, for the second day in his career. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) sits second, three seconds back, with Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) in third, seven seconds off the pace set by Yates.

Lutsenko, Herrada, Van Avermaet is the top three on stage six. Alaphilippe, it’s confirmed, grabbed a second back with that late attack.

Alaphilippe attacks! He distances the bunch with a strong attack, but only by a few metres. Did he grab a second back in GC? I rather think he did ... After what happened yesterday, that looked to be a small statement from Alaphilippe more than anything else - “I am still here.”

Back in the main group, things look fairly calm. Van Avermaet out-sprints Powless for the third and final place on the podium. Powless takes fourth to mark his 24th birthday.

1km to go: Under the flamme rouge for Lutsenko and no one can get near him ...

3km to go: It’s a very powerful, very impressive ride from Lutsenko who is now nearly a minute clear of Herrada and closing in for the win. Is there a ceasefire among the GC teams today? No one appears to be keen to try and grab some seconds in these closing kilometres.

Lutsenko took eight bonus seconds at the top of the final climb, and will obviously gain time in GC, but he is too far back to be a threat for any of the GC contenders.

5km to go: We haven’t seen Fabio Aru for a while after his attack. And I can’t see him on the live race tracker. I think he is back in the main group. Lutsenko is homing in on a stage win - his first Tour stage win - he has previously won a stage of the Vuelta, in 2017.

But will we see any fireworks from the GC contenders behind? Ineos and Mitchelton-Scott are working on the front, holding the gap around 3’19” to the leader.

6.5km to go: Barring crashes or disasters Lutsenko has this in the bag. He has 28” over the chasing Herrada. Powless and Van Avermaet, much further back, seem to have joined forces but they will not catch Lutsenko. They are 1’42” behind our leader.

7km to go: Pogacar, in the white jersey, has a problem and has dropped off the back of the bunch of favourites. On commentary, Brian Smith on Eurosport is questioning why Aru attacked from the main bunch, especially. if UAE Team Emirates are trying to look after Pogacar. It did seem completely pointless.

8km to go: Lutsenko seemed to expect a right-hand turn while negotiating a roundabout, then realised just in time that he was meant to be going straight on. That could have spiced things up if he’d taken a wrong turn. Herrada is about 460metres behind.

10km to go: Herrada speeds down a gentle slope having crested the climb, in pursuit of Lutsenko, who crested the category-one ascent a few moments ago. Lutsenko is not showing any signs of weakness. He is stretching his advantage on the main bunch, as they are still climbing. The gap is 3’15”.

Jim Pavitt emails: “Even without the road rash I don’t think Pinot has a chance in the GC. At thirty he still hasn’t actually finished that many Grand Tours and has rarely come close to a real challenge. Great guy for a stage win but Pinot romantics need to calm down and accept the guy is not a GC winner.”

You may be right, Jim, but would be interesting to see Pinot with a team like Jumbo-Visma riding for him. His main problem seems to be a lack of top-level support.

14km to go: Lutsenko continues to eke out a few seconds on Herrada. He just looks too strong, at the moment, and seems very well set for the stage win. His lead is 28 seconds. Back down the mountain, Ineos are pacing the main bunch up the climb, but they look simply to be policing things for Bernal, rather than trying to launch any kind of attack. That may change before they reach the top of the climb ...

15km to go: Lutsenko (Astana Pro Team) gets out of his saddle again and tries to make this advantage stick. The road flattens out a bit. Herrada of Cofidis is 25 seconds behind, riding seated, and does not look as comfortable or as fast as Lutsenko. The Astana man is 3’07” ahead of the chasing peloton.

16km to go: Lutsenko looks very fresh, but Herrada seems to be making up a bit of ground as he tries to bridge across. The Cofidis faithful must be praying he can get back on terms. Back down the mountain, there is no action from the main group since Aru attacked a few moments ago.

Those switchbacks ...

16.5km to go: Lutsenko gets out of his saddle and toils up the incline. Herrada has managed to get back with Powless - they are 18 seconds behind the leader, Lutsenko. Still just over three kilometres of climbing until the summit. And Herrada drops Powless now - there will be no birthday stage win for the American rider.

17km to go: Lutsenko drops Powless! The Astana Pro Team man has distanced his EF Pro Cycling rival. Millar thinks Lutsenko has played this perfectly, sitting back, letting others attack and waiting to make one decisive move. He certainly looks very comfortable right now.

17.5km to go: Lutsenko joins Powless at the front. There are more and more fans lining the road as they ascend. Van Avermaet, dropped, is not giving up and knows he might be able to get back on after the summit of this climb, even he can’t catch up on the final four kilometres uphill.

18km to go: A stunning helicopter shot gives a sense of the difficulty of this final climb. Switchbacks all the way up. At the front, Van Avermaet sets the pace ... and now Powless attacks!

18km to go: Just the 1,156 days since Aru won a bike race ...

The break has 3’06” now, the pace at the front of the peloton is high but not frantic. Ineos are still controlling.

But what kind of shape is Pinot in? He said ‘it hurts everywhere’ after his stage one crash. Personally, I think he will lick his wounds for a while longer, and look to make inroads in weeks two and three.

19km to go: It looks as if Ineos, and the rest of them, may have accepted that they are not going to bring the break back. So the stage winner should be one of the front five riders: Roche, Van Avermaet, Herrada, Lutsenko and Powless.

It’s Powless’s 24th birthday, if you missed that little fact earlier. What a birthday present this would be for the EF Pro Cycling man.

20km to go: Herrada managed to bridge across to the front group so now we have five up there. The gap is back up to 3’00”. Fabio Aru attacks off the front of the main group, riding away from the Ineos riders at the front.

22km to go: This, from Richard Hirst re: Horner’s tweet about Ineos, is spot on.

“He said down three riders, not down to three riders. Very different.”

Now, we are on the final climb. The break is about 9km from the summit. They have less than three minutes, the gap is down to 2’43”. Powless, Lutsenko, Roche and Van Avermaet have gone off the front together so we have four riders in front.

24km to go: Breakaway rider Nico Roche of Team Sunweb is still 14 points behind Benoît Cosnefroy in the KOM standings. So even if he takes maximum KOM points on the final climb, he still can’t take the jersey today. Bennett in green and Roche in polka-dots would no doubt have seen dancing in the streets of Dublin tonight. Still, maybe it will happen soon ... The gap is 2’41”.

25km to go: It’s not true to say Ineos are down to three riders, actually. Five if not six are still up there and putting the rest of the peloton under pressure.

26km to go: Chris Horner - the winner of the 2013 Vuelta - isn’t impressed with Ineos right now. We shall see ...

The gap is down to 2’48”.

28km to go: Don’t forget, in addition to stage win glory at the end, there are also bonus seconds on offer atop the final climb: eight, five and two bonus seconds available for the first three riders across the line at the summit of the Col de la Lusette, after which, we still have nearly 14km of racing to go.

Andrey Amador of Team Ineos has dropped back after a big effort to up the pace on that climb. Up ahead, Roche takes the two points again at the second categorised climb of the day.

29km to go: We now have three groups on the road, with loads of riders having been dropped by that big acceleration by Team Ineos, Jumbo-Visma et al. So there’s a gruppetto, a peloton and an eight-man break.

30km to go: Six Ineos riders are stretched out at the front of the peloton as they attack the second climb of the day. The gap has held steady at 3’22” for the past couple of minutes, but soon, Van Avermaet will no longer be our virtual GC leader ...

32km to go: The pace has gone up considerably at the front of the peloton, with Team Ineos massed at the front. The gap between peloton and break is down to 3’22”. The breakaway is on the second climb of the day, the Col des Mourèzes, which is 6.1km long with an average gradient of 4.8%.

“Team Ineos want this to be a hard stage, it’s an interesting play by them,” says Millar on ITV.

As stated earlier, Bernal has looked happier and more relaxed today than at any point so far in this race. There was clearly some anxiety about the back injury that he carried into the Tour, but perhaps now he is feeling pain-free, in good form and in position to attack. Roglic v Bernal on the final climb?

32km to go: Roland Marshall, on email, has had an idea!

“Hi there Luke, The vague similarity of bidon chucking with firing of tortoise shells makes me think back to a mis-spent youth playing mario karts tanked up after coming home from the pub. Perhaps they could incorporate bidon-chucking à la Mario Karts shell-firing in order to spice up dull stages like yesterday’s (apart from that end bit…)?”

33km to go: Thanks to Paddy Delaney for the heads up on this tweet from Bennett, last night:

So if you held a gun to his head and asked - ‘stage win or green jersey in Paris?’ - you reckon he’d say stage win? You are probably right.

41km to go: Jumbo-Visma take control of proceedings on the climb. Mitchelton-Scott are right there too. The gap between peloton and break is now 4’15” and rather more manageable - the difference in speed on the climb is immediately noticeable, and it’s looking more likely that we see a battle royale among the GC guys on that final climb.

44km to go: Roche takes the two points on offer atop the Cap de Coste, Van Avermaet follows him across the line, and takes a single KOM point.

44km to go: Here is a snippet of the aforementioned chat between Orla Chennaoui and Matt White, on Eurosport, relating to how Yates took the yellow jersey last night:

45km to go: Now, the eight-man break is on the first climb of the day, the Cap de Coste. Nico Roche looks keen - he can go fourth in the KOM classification - and as Kennaugh points out on ITV, he is presumably in the market for taking the points on offer atop the category-one climb later on.

45km to go: Some Lance-trivia from Daniel Friebe on Twitter:

49km to go: Deceuninck - Quick-Step’s Sam Bennett has extended his green-jersey lead slightly. He took six points at today’s intermediate sprint, and now has 129 points overall. Sagan, in second has 117 points, with Norwegian Alexander Kristoff in third, on 93.

As Bennett said, it is tough to go for the green jersey and for stage wins, especially if they’ve got Alaphilippe gunning for GC too. I wonder where, on his list of priorities, he puts the overall green jersey battle vs. a stage win?

54km to go: This is a very fair point from the Mitchelton-Scott sports director Matt White via Orla Chennaoui on Twitter, which occurred to me last night. Yates may say he didn’t want to take the jersey via a time penalty, but he and the team have worked hard to put themselves in the position to do so. Alaphilippe accepted his punishment, and Yates is surely a very worthy maillot jaune, even if he didn’t take the jersey on the road.

Meanwhile, the gap between peloton and break is 5’46”. The sun is out and the wind does not seem to be a factor. Is there the time, and the motivation from the peloton to bring this breakaway back? Either way, we are going to see the GC favourites duking it out on those climbs, even if the stage win is not up for grabs.

59km to go: Dayer Quintana, of Arkea-Samsic, hits a stray discarded bidon which was rolling in the road and goes down. Quintana was looking back over his left shoulder, back down the road, and hence missed the bottle which was in front of him. He looks OK though and is back on the bike.

Shouldn’t bidon-chucking be punishable with a time penalty, if taking one inside the final 20km is worthy? It can clearly endanger other riders in the peloton. There was an example in Milan-Sanremo recently, I believe, when the eventual race winner chucked a bidon on the final descent, which might have caused a problem for someone chasing him down the hill.

61km to go: The Irishman Sam Bennett, resplendent in his green jersey, wins the ‘Best of the rest’ sprint at the intermediate. Peter Sagan is there or thereabouts - but can’t keep pace with Bennett or a few other rivals.

“It looks like that was a full sprint by Sagan, but he was still only fourth or fifth,” says David Millar on commentary.

62km to go: As the peloton nears the intermediate sprint point, the pace has slackened off noticeably, with the gap to the break stretching slightly to 5’42”.

65km to go: The break reaches the intermediate sprint. Boasson Hagen (NTT Pro Cycling) and Oss (Bora-Hangrohe) are the two riders to compete for it, and Boasson Hagen wins it fairly easily. Van Avermaet showed a vague interest, and took third place, with the other five escapees riding tempo behind them.

Roger Kluge (Lotto Soudal), meanwhile, has attacked off the front of the peloton, with seven points up for grabs at the intermediate sprint, which he will reach in three or four minutes. “Maybe he just fancies a stretch of the legs,” says Ned Boulting on ITV, because there is no obvious reason why Kluge would want those intermediate sprint points.

71km to go: The New Zealander Sam Bewley, riding the first Tour de France of his career, is continuing to get through plenty of work at the front of the peloton. His compatriot Jack Bauer is working hard too, along with Chris Juul-Jensen. The peloton is strung out, with Team Ineos still right behind Mitchelton-Scott. There is no let-up in the pace, that’s for sure. The gap is down to 5’36”.

77km to go: The intermediate sprint is coming up in about 12km.

84km to go: The gap is hovering at around six minutes. It’s going to be tough, at this rate, for the peloton to bring the breakaway back. But Mitchelton-Scott will of course be aiming to narrow the gap sufficiently for Adam Yates to stay in yellow. Will Van Avermaet, the best-placed rider on GC in the breakaway, be harbouring ambitions of wearing yellow this evening?

Vincent Clay tweets in:

93km to go: A quite beautiful heli shot.

95km to go: Speaking on ITV, Peter Kennaugh thinks the breakaway is perfectly balanced to stay away, with the powerhouses like Oss and Cavagna for the flat, and handy climbers like Roche who will come to the fore when the road kicks up. The gap is 6’28”.

100km to go: Happier times for Deceuninck - Quick-Step, before those pesky commissaires spotted the bidon infringement last night.

Alaphilippe is clearly in flying form, though. Do you think he’ll get back into yellow during this race? Do you think he stands any chance of winning the whole thing?

The gap is 6’36”.

105km to go: The gap between peloton and eight-man breakaway is 6’27”.

John O’Gorman emails: “I was under the impression that Roche, Powless, Boasson Hagen, Oss, Cavagna, Van Avermaet, Herrada and Lutsenko were the runners-up in the Nobel Physics prize from 1961 to 1968. Unfortunately, as Churchill said, history is written by the victors so there is no way of confirming whether I am correct or not.”

110km to go: Breakaway rider Boasson Hagen, now with NTT Pro Cycling, has won three stages of the Tour de France in his career - including two for Team Sky during the 2011 Tour. His victory on stage six in 2011 was the first ever stage win for a British-registered team at the race.

“He has massive ability, massive talent,” Brailsford told William Fotheringham at the time. “He is so tenacious, he just never gives up. But that is what road racing is all about. You keep knocking on the door, you keep on trying and eventually you get it.”

The gap, right now, is 6’19”.

116km to go: A reminder of the eight-man breakaway: Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb), Neilson Powless (EF Pro Cycling), Edvald Boasson Hagen (NTT Pro Cycling), Daniel Oss (Bora-Hansgrohe), Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis Solutions Crédits) and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Pro Team). The gap is 6’11”.

Powless turns 24 today, by the way. So anyone who put a fiver on him to win today’s stage, purely on that basis, has an exciting few hours in store ...

117km to go: Read some reaction to yesterday’s drama from Adam Yates, the new race leader, and Julian Alaphilippe, who lost the jersey but took his punishment with equanimity:

A beautiful photo from yesterday’s snoozefest, from Le Tour’s Twitter:

123km to go: The race has certainly settled down now and some of the riders are having a spot of lunch. Racing at this kind of pace will give you an appetite. Mitchelton-Scott, still working on the front, have reduced the deficit slightly, to 5’52”.

125km to go: A tweet arrives from Serge Nuffler:

So it is. “The Tour of Mont Aigoual is the semi-fictional cycle race in the book The Rider by Tim Krabbé.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Aigoual

Today’s stage is non-fiction, of course, but it is the same mountain.

Paul Cutting emails: “Weren’t Roche, Powless, Boasson Hagen, Oss, Cavagna, Van Avermaet, Herrada and Lutsenko the unbeaten Korfball side from the mid 90’s? If I remember rightly, they went 128 games unbeaten and only had their run broken when Oss and Cavagna refused to play in protest at Jacques Chirac being elected president.”

We are still playing ‘Name the breakaway,’ I think.

130km to go: The Cap de Coste is the first climb today, a category three, followed by the Col des Mourèzes, also a category three. The climbing will start after another 80km or so of racing. The Col de Lusette is where this stage will most likely be settled, a category-one climb that has never before been used on the Tour de France.

The gap between break and peloton is now 6’06”. Mitchelton-Scott continue to toil on the front, with Team Ineos following on, then Jumbo-Visma. It will be interesting to see if Primoz Roglic seeks to put any time into his rivals later on. And what of Bernal? His body language and general demeanour today would suggest he is feeling good.

134km to go: With 65.5km to go on today’s stage, we have an intermediate sprint.

Daniel Oss (Bora-Hansgrohe) is the best - and perhaps only - breakaway rider placed in the green jersey race, with 22 points. Sam Bennett leads overall with 123 points.

Just a 51.5km/h average for the break so far. Pacy:

140km to go: The break now has 5’37”. It’s all hands on deck for Mitchelton-Scott at the front of the chasing peloton, working hard to keep this gap to a manageable size.

Meanwhile, some typically unattractive scenery is on show:

Yesterday, it seems Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) and Carlos Verona (Movistar Team) were penalised 20” for the same offence as Alaphilippe.

“Is there anything Wout van Aert can’t do?” people were asking yesterday after his phenomenal sprint win.

Yes, yes there is. He cannot open a bottle of champagne with effortless panache. I’ve previously seen Michal Kwiatkowski lop the top off a bottle of bubbly with a sabre, so Van Aert has work to do in this area.

150km to go: The first 41km have disappeared remarkably quickly. Today is going to be fast and furious. The gap to the break from the peloton is 4’55”.

Matt Cast emails: “Yesterday’s decision at least shows that no, the Tour’s commissaires don’t give preferential treatment to French riders. Although given that it is an international panel of UCI commissaires, that allegation was always ludicrous anyway.”

According to a tweet I saw, a Movistar rider did exactly the same as Alaphilippe at around the same point. I am not sure if it led to a penalty, but will go and have a look ...

The defending champion Egan Bernal, of Team Ineos, looks nice and relaxed. He smiles and waves at the camera on a motorbike alongside him.

Nearly five minutes for the breakaway: 4’47” to be exact. This break is packed with Grand Tour stage winners - can they stay away?

The maillot jaune Adam Yates speaks to Eurosport pre-stage: “It’s pretty special. It’s strange circumstances, but I guess we’ll take it. Hopefully we’ll do it proud. I don’t think it’ll change the way we race today - we want to win.”

‘A special day.’

It’s nice to see a breakaway, it’s nice to see a team defending the yellow jersey, and it’s exciting to think what will be in store later in the stage when the climbs come.

Thomas Atkins emails: “Are we still doing “name the breakaway”? Roche, Powless, Boasson Hagen, Oss, Cavagna, Van Avermaet, Herrada and Lutsenko sound like names you’d expect to see on an understated brass plate in a very exclusive part of Geneva or Strasbourg. Possibly on the entrance buzzer to a practice of incredibly expensive consulting surgeons.”

What is ‘name the breakaway’? Seems like we are doing it, anyway. Thanks for the email Thomas.

The break now has 3’51” and Van Avermaet is the virtual leader of the Tour.

Sam Bewley is motoring on the front of the peloton for Mitchelton-Scott. They have had the word from the team car that it’s time to start riding and protecting that yellow jersey.

Over three minutes for the break now. The elastic has officially snapped.

“I’m pretty motivated, the weather is nice, it will be complicated to take the jersey back but I’ll see how today goes. If I am feeling good I will give it a try,” Alaphilippe is quoted as saying on Eurosport.

Van Avermaet is the best-placed rider on GC in the break. He is 3’17” down on Yates, the jersey wearer.

The peloton has settled down and a few riders are stopping for ‘natural breaks’.

Philipp Lohan emails: “Just wondering, Luke, on the back of yesterday’s uneventful stage, whether anyone in the peloton is wearing the red number as the previous day’s most aggressive driver? Or could the jury not determine a worthy wearer?”

Thanks for the email Philipp. Wout Poels (Bahrain-McLaren) got the nod yesterday, because he is riding with a broken rib and a damaged lung - I will take a wild guess that he sustained the injuries on that pile-up late on stage one. Chapeau to him.

The gap has fairly raced out to 1’53”. This eight-man break has created a decisive gap.

Don’t forget - you can send me a email or tweet @LukeMcLaughlin with your thoughts on the race today. Or indeed the race yesterday. As you wish.

The gap has flown out to 32” as the break works very well together up front.

Now it’s 38” ...

I should mention the other jersey-wearers - Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R La Mondiale- leads the KOM standings while Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) leads the best young rider classification.

Roche grimaces with effort and flicks his elbow before Powless comes to the front. These eight riders at the front are desperately trying to stay away ... and the gap is back out to 17 seconds.

By the way, it seems that the wind is expected to be a factor on today’s stage. So even if a break does form, there could still be plenty of nervousness in the peloton behind, for the whole stage. To be fair, they did have a nice easy day yesterday, as Roche himself said ...

The eight-man break: Roche (Team Sunweb), Powless (EF Pro Cycling), Boasson Hagen (NTT Pro Cycling), Oss (Bora-Hansgrohe), Cavagna (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Van Avermaet (CCC Team), Herrada (Cofidis Solutions Crédits) and Lutsenko (Astana Pro Team).

“Everyone is motivated after an easy day yesterday, I will be be in the battle [for the break],” Roche told Eurosport before this stage.

The gap is back down to eight seconds, so the peloton doesn’t seem to be happy with the make-up of this break.

We have an eight-man break now. Daniel Oss (Bora-Hansgrohe) is up there too. They have 15 seconds. Lively stuff.

Birthday boy Neilson Powless (EF Pro Cycling) has joined the break, as has Edvald Boasson Hagen (NTT Pro Cycling). And the breakaway is growing ... more riders are coming across. Any more of this, and it will be the break of the day.

Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team), Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Jesús Herrada (Cofidis) have joined Roche at the front. A very strong quartet, and they only have 12 seconds’ gap at the moment.

Christian Prudhomme, the race director, has waved his flag and we are off and racing. Good news too - we are actually racing. The Irishman Nico Roche is off the front for Team Sunweb already. Clearly he fancies being in a break and having a crack at the stage win.