Guillaume Martin-Guyonne is caught by the bunch, with the breakaway now 30 seconds clear.

Jayco AlUla's Eddie Dunbar then sets off in pursuit of the five leaders.

Image source, EPA

Speaking at the start line, Kevin Vauquelin said: "It's incredible. We're right in front of the Place Saint-Patrice, which is where I really started cycling.

"We used to race the Triangle des Jeunes. That was the beginning, and now I'm coming full circle. I'm seeing supporters who have been cheering me on for a long time, and now, with all the new ones, it's going crazy. I can only thank them."

On yesterday's time trial: "I'm really happy. My legs were responding well. I had a whole crowd cheering me on. I couldn't even feel my legs anymore, I just wanted to go even faster. I had so many friends, family and supporters, it was overwhelming. A flat course like this isn't really my thing, so I'm really happy."

On stage six: "Today is a great stage, on the roads where I grew up and learned to love the hills. I'm really keen to do well. We'll see how it goes. It's a bit 50-50 [whether the breakaway will make it to the finish] but being third overall, I don't know if I'll be able to go for the breakaway."

Image source, Reuters

Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet is chasing the breakaway. The Groupama-FDJ rider is racing on home territory today, along with Kevin Vauquelin of Arkea-B&B Hotels.

The 24-year-old moved into third on the general classification standings yesterday and was born in Bayeaux, where today's stage started, so he's getting plenty of support.

Image source, Reuters

Ireland's Ben Healy and American Quinn Simmons are again making their presence felt, with Mathieu van der Poel, Harold Tejada and Will Barta completing a five-man group that is trying to get away.

All those early movers are swallowed up on the Cote de la Ranconniere and it's Tim Wellens of UAE who takes the two points, followed by Canadian veteran Michael Woods of Israel-Premier Tech.

Wout van Aert and Pablo Castrillo are caught at the bottom of the climb up the Cote de la Ranconniere.

Bastien Tronchon attacks, followed by Ben Healy and Gregor Mulhberger, and then Alexey Lutsenko.

The leaders are caught, before Wout van Aert and Pablo Castrillo attack.

Versatile Belgian star Van Aert is expected to be given a free role by Visma-Lease a Bike today, while the rest of his team protect Jonas Vingegaard after he lost time in the GC battle yesterday.

There are six categorised climbs on today's stage, all category three before we finish with a category four:

• Cote du Mont Pinçon - 2 points, 1 point
• Cote de la Ranconniere - 2 points, 1 point
• Cote de Mortain - 2 points, 1 point
• Cote de Juvigny-le-Tertre - 2 points, 1 point
• Cote de Saint-Michel-de-Montjoie - 2 points, 1 point
• Cote de Vaudry - 1 point

Quinn Simmons is first over the top of the Cote du Mont Pinçon for the two points, followed by Marc Hirschi.

Harold Tejada and Victor Campenaerts catch the lead duo, and are soon joined by Thymen Arensman, Marc Hirschi, Lenny Martinez, Ivan Romeo and Einer Rubio.

Ben Healy's EF Education-EasyPost team-mate Neilson Powless and Marco Haller (Tudor) set off in pursuit of the lead pair, who have opened a gap of 15 seconds to the bunch heading onto the category three climb on Cote du Mont Pinçon.

Image source, Reuters

Ben Healy and Quinn Simmons tried to break away after the sprint.

For Healy's EF Education-EasyPost team, a stage win is the height of their ambitions this year.

They are without a GC contender after Ecuadorian climber Richard Carapaz was ruled out a week before the Tour due to a gastrointestinal infection.

Today's stage resembles a one-day classic and is sure to be a challenging day.

A lumpy route gives puncheurs the chance to open up a gap over the GC contenders and makes it one of the best chances for a breakaway winner on this year's Tour.

Going along some narrow roads, the breeze and heat could also play a factor.

Jonas Abrahamsen had a spell as the King of the Mountains last year and the Uno-X Mobility rider said before the start that he hopes to get in the breakaway.

"I think today is one of the best chances so far to go in the breakaway and I'm looking forward to it," said the Norwegian. "I feel good and we have strong riders in the team.

"It depends on Alpecin and if they have the taste for it or not, so we'll have to take a look."

Tadej Pogacar is now the mountain and overall leader, while Remco Evenepoel's time trial win saw the 25-year-old Belgian claim the white jersey for best young rider.

Jonathan Milan was only wearing the green jersey as Tadej Pogacar was also the general and mountain leader at the start of the day.

The Slovenian's performance on stage five saw him become the first rider to claim the yellow, green and polka-dot jerseys at this stage in the Tour since Belgium's Eddy Merckx in 1970.

Milan's sprint win means the Italian debutant is now the points leader again, though.

Image source, EPA

That move paid off for Lidl-Trek as Jonathan Milan, who is wearing the green jersey, comfortably takes maximum points on the intermediate sprint:

1. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) 20 points
2. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 17 pts
3. Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) 15 pts
4. Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) 13 pts
5. Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) 11 pts
6. Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) 10 pts
7. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 9 pts
8. Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) 8 pts
9. Laurenz Rex (Intermarche-Wanty) 7 pts
10. Bastien Tronchon (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) 6 pts

The day's one and only intermediate sprint came 22.2km in at Villers-Bocage.

Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek) and the Intermarche-Wanty team looking to control the bunch, with the speed well over 50km/h over the first 10km.

Ouch! - De Buyst & Jeanniere are latest riders to abandonpublished at 12:42 British Summer Time 10 July

12:42 BST 10 July

At 201.5km, today's stage is the second longest of this year's Tour and it is already under way, with 179 riders lining up in Bayeaux.

Five riders have now been forced to abandon the race, with Lotto's Jasper de Buyst (illness) and Emilien Jeanniere of TotalEnergies (fractured shoulder blade on stage three) unable to start today.

Image source, ASO

Six categorised climbs and more than 3,500m of elevation gain mean this is regarded as the most challenging 'flat' stage in the Tour's recent history.

A difficult day in the saddle concludes with a 700m-long 10% ascent to the finish line in Vire Normandie.