The green jersey of Jonas Abrahamsen bursts clear of the peloton to collect the last king of the mountains point available today before being engulfed by the group.

There is still some climbing to do before the descent towards the finish, but there are already sprint teams and General Classification teams jostling for position at the front in an attempt to control the pace.

The rain has stopped, for now at least.

And the race is back together again as Russo and Vercher are reeled in one kilometre before the top of the climb.

A fist-bump between the two French riders. They were the only two to give it a go today, so fair play to them both.

Clement Russo and Matteo Vercher have reached the final categorised climb of the day, their lead reduced to a mere 10 seconds.

The peloton can see their prey up the road now. It's been fun for the Frenchmen (well, possibly) but their day out appears to be rapidly coming to a close.

The blue jerseys of Mark Cavendish's Astana Qazaqstan team have taken charge at the front of the peloton as the Cote de Lhuis approaches.

This one is down as a 3km climb at an average incline of 4.8% - but that doesn't tell the full story, with a fair bit of climbing to come beyond the marked finish for climbing points.

It is absolutely chucking it down now as the peloton press on in pursuit of the breakaway, with that gap quickly coming down now as the sprint-focused teams look to assert themselves at the front.

The gap is less than 40 seconds now. This could be a frantic finish in the rain.

Less than 50km to go now - and an advantage of just 50 seconds for French riders Clement Russo and Matteo Vercher.

Around 10km remain until the second and final categorised climb of the day at Cote de Lhuis, which might be the breakaway pair's final hoorah on stage five.

Mads Pedersen takes the maximum remaining 15 points in the sprint at the front of the peloton.

The breakaway are within one minute on the road now and the expected sprint finish to today's stage looks inevitable.

Pello Bilbao, Nelson Oliveira and Gregor Muhlberger were among the riders to fall in that incident.

Watching the replays, I still have no idea how Tadej Pogacar got himself out of that one.

At the front of the race it's Clement Russo who takes maximum points at the intermediate sprint, unchallenged ahead of Matteo Vercher.

But the breakaway's advantage is now down to just 80 seconds.

Ooooft!

A narrow escape for Tadej Pogacar, who swerves away from a central island at the very last minute.

But the riders immediately behind him are not so fortunate, and a fair few are brought to the tarmac.

It appears everyone is getting back to their feet OK.

Approaching the final 60km now and there's around 5km to go until the intermediate sprint at Aoste.

The gap between breakaway and peloton remains at around two-and-a-half minutes now, but the peloton appear to be eating into that with ease whenever they choose.

Our brave breakaway pairing are followed over that category four climb with their lead reduced to two minutes and 20 seconds.

So, it's not looking great for Clement Russo and Matteo Vercher, but they'll continue to push on and see how far they can get.

The final categorised climb at Cote de Lhuis comes with around 35km to go.

Here we go then, Clement Russo and Matteo Vercher have arrived at the first of our two categorised climbs today.

This one at Cote du Cheval Blanc is a 1.5km rise at a 4.3% incline. There's a bit of rain in the air too, which could spice things up a bit in the peloton.

We're into the second half of stage five now and a check-in with the Lidl–Trek team radio tells us they're happy with the gap to the day's two-man breakaway.

Clement Russo and Matteo Vercher are working nicely together but their lead continues to come down, momentarily dipping below the three-minute mark.

How long can they keep this up? Or rather, how much longer will they be allowed to keep this up?

That's a great point, James.

Joao Almeida and Juan Ayuso in particular were superb for Tadej Pogacar yesterday. By contrast, Wout van Aert is obviously not yet back to his normal self following his nasty crash in Belgium.

James: More than the individual performances of Tadej/Jonas (both incredible), I think the most telling thing yesterday was the state of their respective team mates. UAE looking dangerous.

Clement Russo and Matteo Vercher are holding firm with their slightly reduced three-and-a-half minute lead.

They've come off an uncategorised climb that they had been riding up into a bit of a headwind, so will hope to recover somewhat before taking on the first categorised rise at Cote du Cheval Blanc.

Image source, Getty Images

History was made in the first sprint finish of this year's race.

Eritrean Biniam Girmay made history as the first black African to win a Tour de France stage with his victory on Monday.

"Since I started cycling I was never dreaming to be part of the Tour de France but now I can't believe it. I want to say thank you to my family, my wife, Eritrea and Africa," Girmay said.

"We must be proud. Now we are part of the big races and have success. Now is our moment, now is our time. This for all Africa"

Mark Cavendish was held up by a late crash on the run into Turin that day but will hope to avoid any setbacks as he too looks to rewrite history in 2024.

Not lots to report on the road so far, so do get in touch with your thoughts as we build towards the big finish in Saint Vulbas.

Will it be a historic day for Mark Cavendish?

Let me know how you rate his chances today.

As for the GC, Tadej Pogacar has made his first big move. Can you see him losing control from here? Personally, I can't, but there's obviously a long way still to go.

Include #BBCCycling in your messages on 'X'...

The peloton continue to chip away at the breakaway's advantage as the kilometres tick by.

Clement Russo and Matteo Vercher are now three minutes 30 seconds up the road as we enter the final 100km of stage five.

Mark Cavendish has won in the French department of Ain before, taking his 30th stage victory in Villars-les-Dombes Parc des Oiseaux in 2016.

That isn't something that escaped the attention of the Manx Missile and his team. Can it give them a big advantage today?

"We said it is pretty similar, talking on the bus. The finish isn't the same but it's a similar final couple of kilometres," Cavendish said to ITV.

"It makes no difference. We have to take it like any other sprint and prepare like it's the first time we have ever done it."

Image source, Getty Images