No prizes for picking  who Geraint Thomas has tipped to win today? I spoke to Chris Froome's chief lieutenant in the week before the Tour started and he was clear in his thinking.

 "With two big stages for the general classification riders following this one, I'm willing to put a lot of money on this being a day for the sprinters," he said, before picking Mark Cavendish.

Hello and welcome to live text commentary of stage 11 of the 2016 Tour de France.

What a race the British riders are having. Chris Froome is in the race leader's yellow jersey and has also picked up a stage win. Adam Yates is in the best young rider's white jersey. Mark Cavendish has three stage wins to go second on the all-time list. Steve Cummings took his second career stage win with a breakaway victory. Dan McLay has come from nowhere to have four top-10 finishes including a third.

 And Geraint Thomas is getting in on the act, having successfully predicted four of the 10 stage winners so far in his annual BBC Sport stage-by-stage guide.

Image source, AP

Hands up who thought Mark Cavendish would today be chasing a fourth stage win of this year's Tour de France?

Be honest now. I certainly didn't. And neither did the Manx Missile himself.

Image source, Getty Images