It's all been a bit of a slumber so far, but things liven up briefly for the intermediate sprint. The six leaders get their heads down and it's Thomas De Gendt of Lotto Soudal who crosses the line for a cool 20 points in the searing heat.

Still the same six of Alexandre Geniez, Nathan Haas, Pierre-Luc Perichon, Thomas De Gendt, Wilco Kelderman ans Cyril Gautier out in front, although the gap has dropped to 3mins 30secs. And we're about to hit a sprint...

We want to see and hear about your fancy bike upgrades (it's got a few of us reminiscing about Spokey Dokeys). But look at this. If my mum or wife are reading this, take heed - I WANT WANT WANT WANT ONE.

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You're a very helpful bunch. I queried earlier why Joaquim Rodriguez ended this celebratory tweet with the words "the milk!".

It turns out it's a Spanish turn of phrase which means the best, referring to his fans. I guess it's a bit like the cream of the crop.

A few km back Alberto Contador suffered a puncture. But the Tinkoff-Saxo rider - a GC contender - is back among the peloton. We've also just seen a Giant rider almost cycle straight into a plastic road barrier - wake up sunshine.

Alexandre Geniez is one of the men out in the breakaway six, and he has more reason than most to give today's stage a crack. The FDJ rider is from Rodez, where the stage finishes. He's group are 3mins 50secs ahead of the peloton.

Image source, AFP

It's Giant-Alpecin who have been doing all the work at the front of the peloton, they may fancy giving their man John Degenkolb a tilt at winning the stage. The breakaway is holding steady at around four minutes.

What have you stuck on your bike to make it the coolest ride in the world? A big tick for Katherine's lucky turtle.

The heat is searing as we hit the 60km mark and head through the small commune of Lavaur - it's hovering around the 34C point. We're about 30km from the only sprint on today's stage and our breakaway six of Alexandre Geniez, Nathan Haas, Pierre-Luc Perichon, Thomas De Gendt, Wilco Kelderman ans Cyril Gautier are still about 3mins 40secs ahead. The peloton has Chris Froome and all of his rivals safely tucked away together.

But the day belonged to Joaquim Rodriguez, who stole a march in the final 10km to win his second stage of this year's Tour. 

My Spanish isn't great. But I'm pretty sure Rodriguez's tweet starts with the word "speechless" and ends with "the milk". I'm not sure how we ended up on dairy.

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Our six renegades out front are being pegged back a tad. The gap to the peloton has dropped to 3mins 30secs. I'm expecting quite a few to go and get dragged back again today.

It's sunnypublished at 12:51

12:51

Riders had to deal with pretty much all of the best known elements yesterday, as well as some of the lesser known ones. At the moment, particularly at the finish line in Rodez, it's glorious south-France sunshine. It's warming me up just looking at it.

Image source, Getty Images

40km down and the six riders out in the breakaway, four minutes ahead of the peloton, are Alexandre Geniez, Nathan Haas, Pierre-Luc Perichon, Thomas De Gendt, Wilco Kelderman ans Cyril Gautier.

If I could go back in time and tell my parents what to name me, it would probably be Wilco. Or Ace.

Chris Froome's rhino motif on his Team Sky bike is pretty awesome. And that's got me thinking...

It's likely to be a day of prodding and jostling for breaks today, so while the riders settle into their rhythm, we'll have a recap of events yesterday and look ahead to what we can expect in the south of France today.

But first...