The race is calm again. But we are only 30km from the cobbles. And that means the action will start in around 20km as the peloton picks up the pace to put their riders in position.

Geraint Thomas told BBC Sport before the race that being up near the front is good for several reasons. Firstly, the roads narrow so there's less space. Secondly, you are less likely to be involved in, or caught behind and therefore delayed by a crash.

The other bonus for Team Sky is that because they have Chris Froome in yellow, their team car is first in the line of 22 that follow the race. Therefore, if Froome crashes, or punctures, his car will be with him the quickest.

Matt Lewis: (re Elliott 14:27) Vincenzo Nibali, last year? Got it stage 2, lost it stage 9, regained it on stage 10 and kept it till the end.

Jess Parsons: Peter, loving the live text but there's nothing like Big Si getting me animated all afternoon whilst I sit at my desk! #bbccycling, external

Glad to be the warm-up act Jess. Not long to wait for 'Big Si' and Rob Hayles. Live coverage on BBC Radio 5 live sport extra from 15:00 BST. Buttons to push at the top of this page.

A nice touch from Peter Sagan there. He follows Cavendish, Greipel and Degenkolb over the line and while they have been battling for points, the peloton has been left a couple of hundred metres behind. Sagan, with a smile, gesticulates that they should go off on the attack.

His cheeky request is met with stony looks. He shrugs, laughs and they all drop back to the comfort of the bunch.

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And it is Cavendish that takes the 11 points. Behind him Greipel and John Degenkolb have a little coming together as they battle to get on the wheel of Cav. Six of one and half a dozen of the other but it knocks Greipel off his stride and he will be seventh over the line.

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Thomas de Gendt of Lotto-Soudal suddenly takes off and he takes the 20 points (and 1500 euros prize money). De Gendt is a team-mate of Andre Greipel and he is two minutes behind and in the middle of his sprint. Mark Cavenidish is in the shadow of his lead-out man Mark Renshaw....

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Up the road the four in the break are not looking too interested as they edge into the outskirts of Havay. Astana's Lieuwe Westra is doing the least work, he has bigger battles to come when his team leader Vincenzo Nibali decides to make use of him.

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The intermediate sprint in Havay marks this year's entry into France. The sprinters are lining themselves up in the peloton...

Elliott Riddle: Has any rider ever secured yellow this early on, subsequently lost it, and then regained it again come the Champs-Elysees? #bbccycling, external

Elliott, I'm sure one of your fellow readers will supply you with an answer...

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It's all rather quiet out on the road and that, given the carnage of yesterday and the chaos to come, is probably no bad thing.

The leaders are approaching the intermediate sprint in Havay. The four in the break will get 20, 17, 15 and 13 points. The first man from the peloton will get 11. Expect Mark Cavendish, Andre Greipel, who leads the classification, and Peter Sagan to be interested.

Tom Oxley: Cobbles is doing the pave a disservice, these things are the size of a baby's head.

Ken Smith: Hoping Tony Martin can pinch some bonus seconds & therefore yellow. Sky don't want it now! G is in top form, go G (that's Geraint Thomas).

Amber Gahan: It's that time of year again when I am glued to #bbccycling, external text commentary of Le Tour at work

Lieuwe Westra, the Astana team-mate of Vincenzo Nibali, drops back to his team car and hops off his bike. He too is changing for a more cobbles-friendly racer.

He is of course in the break and the quartet's lead is hovering around the the three minute mark with 100km, or about 60 miles if your prefer, of today's stage remaining.

Image source, Getty Images

One rider not looking forward to the cobbles is Michael Matthews. The Orica GreenEdge rider went down and took a couple of layers of skin off, prompting Rob Hayles to say on commentary: "Matthews looks like he may well have lost some of his tattoo on his back. That will take some touching up in the coming months."

Matthews says: "My goal is just to get to the cobbles and see how it goes and make the time cut basically. Last night I was really struggling to breathe. That wasn't great. I had little panic attacks I could not breathe, it was quite scary."

Andrew Harvey: Favourite's for this stage have to be Kristoff and Degenkolb. Both had quality classics campaigns and should finish strongly. If Stannard and Thomas can get Froome safely to the end then he should stay in Yellow. Whether he wants to is another matter. #bbccycling, external

The pace has been knocked off by the chasing peloton after that burst of speed into the cobbles. That means our four plucky riders out front are extending their advantage again and are now more than three minutes clear.

They are: Lieuwe Westra (Astana), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) who initiated the breakaway, Perrig Quemeneur (Europcar) and Frederic Brun (Bretagne-Seche Environnement).

A couple of riders have changed their bikes after that opening section of cobbles, also known as pave. Alberto Contador was one of them.

It was a planned move and he will have slightly wider tyres and better suspension to absorb the bouncing around on the cobbles. Team Sky are also on specialist bikes for today's stage. It's all about marginal gains.

The riders have 110km remaining - the next section of pave comes 46km from the finish.

Image source, Getty Images

Fabian Cancellara has taken to Twitter as he contemplates the end of his 2015 Tour with a fractured back. The rider who goes by the nickname Spartacus, wrote: "One day you win one day you lose but I will not give up on what happen #spartacus @TrekFactory thanks for all your messages and comments.

"On the way home with lot's of pain all over my body. Doesn't feel nice to crash at 75km/h. This morning it felt horrible to stand out from bed."

Image source, Peter Scrivener

Here's a slightly closer look at the finish that awaits our riders in about two and-a-half hours..

BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

Image source, Gemma Sterba

The BBC Radio 5 live team have stolen a march on the peloton. They're at the finish line in Cambrai. Guess what - there's cobbles.

You can listen to commentary from 15:00 BST on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and on this page.

Mark Cavendish is on the front of the peloton. He will be working for his Etixx - Quick-Step team-mate Tony Martin, who is second behind Chris Froome - one second adrift.

The Manx Missile is burying himself here to help his team-mate. Cavendish was clearly gutted to miss out on winning stage two but that is a long way behind him now.

The first section of pave is safely negotiated. An army of team mechanics wait at the end with tyres held high just in case any of their riders have punctured. But all seem safe and on we go.

Here we go on to the cobbles. They look pretty smooth to me, in comparison to some of the sections in Paris-Roubaix. The leaders enter the first of seven sections 70- seconds ahead of the peloton.