The lead is dropping like a stone. Down to 35 seconds with around 6.5km remaining.

Peter Sagan has a Bora team-mate sheltering him, while Lotto Soudal's entire team appears down the right-hand side, battling with Quick-Step Floors. Greipel v Kittel there.

The road suddenly widens and the lead-out trains become evident.

For the first time today Taylor Phinney looks like he's blowing a bit.

Team Sky and Movistar are down the right-hand side of the road. FDJ are going down the middle.

Taylor Phinney and Yoann Offredo are sharing the duties out front. Perhaps helped by the carnage behind, their lead is around 50 seconds.

Rob Hayles says the drying roads mean the advantage swings back to the peloton.

Here comes Cav. The Manxman is moving up towards the front of the peloton. He has fellow Brit Scott Thwaites and long-time lead-out men Bernie Eisel and Mark Renshaw helping him out.

The sun is starting to peak out as Laurent Pichon, who had been in the break, casts a glance over his shoulder, and watches the peloton swallow him quicker than he can devour the energy bar he had been unwrapping.

The roads are drying as they race into Liege, which will certainly help the confidence of the sprinters.

Image source, Getty Images

Phew. That all got a bit hectic. And it shows how nothing can be taken for granted. With four riders in the top eight after stage one, Team Sky could easily have lost both race leader Geraint Thomas and race favourite Chris Froome in a heartbeat.

Taylor Phinney continues his effort over the top and opens up a bit of a gap. Yoann Offredo bridges the gap. The two of them making a brave bid for glory.

17km remaining and Chris Froome is back in the peloton again.

The leaders are on the Cote d'Olne. Laurent Pichon goes early but Taylor Phinney is having none of that and takes the point on offer for reaching the summit first.

He will wear the polka dot jersey on Monday as leader of the King of the Mountains. He is the first American since Tejay van Garderen in 2011 to lead that classification.

Chris Froome has his hand in the air though. He is calling for some help from the team car.

He ditches the bike on a roadside verge and another bike is put in front of him and he is chasing again. Former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski has dropped back again to help him.

It will be another big chase back on for the defending champion. He takes a 90-degree left-hander extremely carefully. He is 27 seconds behind the peloton, which is, in turn, 27 seconds behind the leading quartet.

There are riders spread out across the road. France's Romain Bardet has one team-mate in front of him as he tries to limit his current losses.

Has the peloton eased off a bit there? Froome and Bardet are back with the peloton. I think I just saw Geraint Thomas up near the front of the peloton.

The gap to the leading quartet is 45 seconds with around 25km to go.

Rob Hayles
Former GB cyclist on Radio 5 live sports extra

"You never know what can happen in the Tour de France. The third rider in the peloton went down and pulled down almost everybody with him. The weather definitely played a part."

There are no pictures of Geraint Thomas. There is no news of the Welshman. The TV pictures are showing replays off the crash.

It was a Katusha rider who went down and took out the Sky rider in front of him and a good 15-20 behind him.

Geraint Thomas did go down but he could well have bounced back up.

Chris Froome is back up and pedalling. His shorts are ripped and he is being paced back up to the peloton by Michal Kwiatkowski.

It looks like it was a Sky rider that went down first as the peloton came off a roundabout. Geraint Thomas may well have gone down too.

The pace is on at the front of the peloton though as the sprinters line up for the finish, with 30km remaining.

A big crash in the peloton - Chris Froome is down. A few Team Sky riders are down. Romain Bardet, the big French hope is down.

Rob Hayles
Former GB cyclist on Radio 5 live sports extra

Image source, Getty Images

"Peter Sagan may as well start the Tour de France with the green jersey - it's almost a done deal. He just walks away with the points in the green jersey competition and barring illness or injury, it's his."

Katusha-Alpecin are leading this chase. Their rider Alexander Kristoff showed he is up for getting involved by winning the race for fifth in the intermediate sprint a little earlier.

The team of FDJ is also prominent. They are riding for the French national champion Arnaud Demare.

Are the legs tiring out front, or is the pace high in the peloton? The four out front now just have a 50-second advantage. Another minute gone in around 7km.

Team Sky are assembled up near the front of the peloton. They have Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas to keep safe today.

Just 35km remaining.

And Chris Froome was happy to see his team-mate and long-time key Tour domestique finally get the stage win that his efforts have deserved.

Really happy with that start and amazing to see @GeraintThomas86, external in the #yellowjersey, external

Rob Hayles
Former GB cyclist on Radio 5 live sports extra

"Geraint Thomas will be a priority for Team Sky, but he is not and will not be their overall leader. It will be interesting though to see what the race presents and how long Thomas can stay around the top of the overall standings."

The peloton is being dragged along by riders from Lotto-Soudal (riding for Andre Greipel), Quick-Step Floors (Marcel Kittel), Dimension Data (Mark Cavendish) and Katusha-Alpecin (Alexander Kristoff).

The four out front are now just 100 seconds clear with a little over 40km remaining.

Don't forget there is a category four climb between here and the finish. the Cote d'Olne won't trouble the sprinters but it may provide a launch pad for a rider who may fancy a shot at a solo win into Liege.

Rob Hayles
Former GB cyclist on Radio 5 live sports extra

"Today will be a relatively stress-free day for most, riders will just need to keep their legs moving and concentrate on recovering from the time-trial yesterday. Tomorrow is more of a day for the general classification."