A crash has pulled a few out of the peloton. Adam Hansen of Lotto-Soudal looks to have come off worse. He gets help from a support car and, it seems, a few punters, before getting on his way again.

The rain is falling pretty heavy now, it's the wettest moments of the Tour so far. It's that fine stuff which may or may not soak you through. The camera lens on the camera needs a good wipe.

This is a very stubborn breakaway. They don't know when they're beaten. The peloton is within a few yards but yet Barta and Clement are gritting their teeth and pummeling on. It's to no avail. They're mow in the mixer.

We mentioned Geraint Thomas was caught up in a crash. You may remember he managed to win the Commonwealth Games road race despite a dramatic puncture near the end, so this is nothing new to him. He's back at the front with his Sky team-mates having a natter.

Plenty of bright yellow umbrellas alongside the road as we go into Hoogvliet. That tells you all you need to know about the weather. But loads of locals are braving the moist blusteriness. We're nearing the coast, where things could get very interesting.

Three in the breakaway: Stef Clement of IAM, Armindo Fonseca of Bretagne-Séché Environnemen and Jan Barta of Bora-Argon.

Image source, AFP

You've got to give Jan Barta props here. It looked inevitable that he would have been swallowed whole by now but the Bora-Argon rider is out on his own at the front, a minute ahead of the peloton. Although he's got Clement and Fonseca just behind him.

A minor collision has put a few off their bikes. Britain's Team Sky rider Geraint Thomas is on the tarmac, as is Wilco Kelderman. The support cars are working frantically and they should be able to get back on to the rear of the peloton.

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The first four in the breakaway - Barta, Clement, Quemeneur and Fonseca - have the sprint wrapped up, with Barta over first.

Mark Cavendish opts to not go for fifth, suggesting the stage is more important to him than the points. Instead it's Degnkolb, Kristoff and Sagan who take fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

All that effort to catch the breakaway and now they don't seem that bothered. The gap is at 28 seconds and the peloton seems happy with that.

Meanwhile, this could be Rotterdam.

Or anywhere. Liverpool or Rome.

Driven on by Tinfoff-Saxo and Team Sky, the breakaway is up the road. Bora-Argon's Jan Barta fancies trying to open the gap a bit more though. He pulls the first group on a bit and opens up a 24-second gap.

The four in the breakaway are manically looking over their shoulders. They're about to be eaten up by the peloton, with about 13km until the intermediate sprint.