Marcel Kittel wins sprint finish
Kittel's second stage win of Tour, 11th of career
Chris Froome keeps leader's yellow jersey
Stage six: Vesoul - Troyes, 216km
The peloton splits to go either side of a roundabout. Katusha go one way, FDJ the other. They meet up again on the other side. Big wide road heading into the city.
The escapees still out there, but only just.
Apparently word reaching me that the Court of Arbitration for Sport have already rejected Peter Sagan's appeal.
Great timing!
World time trial champion Tony Martin is pulling the peloton along. The German was hoping to win stage one in Dusseldorf - how long ago does that seem now?!
Perhaps he'll repay everyone by dishing out the pain in the peloton.
He's making no in roads on the three out front though. Their slim advantage holding firm.
Chris Froome is about a quarter of the way back in the field.
Remember, there is a three-second rule on this year's Tour on sprint stages. That means if you finish within three seconds of the rider in front of you, you get the same time. It's designed to stop the GC riders hindering the sprinters.
There is a horn on the radio commentary. That comes from the finish line, where it is sounded to let the fans know the riders are just 10km away.
Lotto-Soudal rider Jurgen Roelandts is back among the team cars. He is one of Andre Greipel's lead-out men and needs to get himself back up near the front sharpish.
The pace is really on, with the lead down to 25 seconds.
Katusha-Alpecin arrive at the front of the peloton. They have Alexander Kristoff looking for a stage win.
Julien Vermote of the Quick-Step Floors time comes up to help Lotto and Cofidis.
The trio out front are travelling at 60km/h but that's not quite quick enough to lead into Troyes, down to 40 seconds in a couple of kilometres.
Right. Game head on. Although first, there's a main cycling across a tightrope about 25 feet up in the sky.Bizarre.
A wave and a wobble as the peloton flashes by. Perhaps that wobble was caused by the race helicopter hovering too close.
The lead is down under one minute now. Lotto-Soudal and Cofidis (Nacer Bouhanni) are dictating the pace.
I wonder if anyone has ever called Butch Sir Dave? #bbccycling
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The leading trio are 1.2km ahead of the peloton. That equates to 75 seconds at current speed, according to some data.
They whizz past a few cars, parked outside of a small village. Each car has a couple of people standing by it and a white chair or two.
I assume the seat will get used until the peloton arrives and then all will be packed away and they will meander off back to their lives.
Rob Hayles
Former GB cyclist on Radio 5 live sports extra
The finish straight and finish line doesn't come into view until 250m to go. You are going to need a strong team to put you in good position. The battle for wheels is going to be huge.
Is it going to be as big given the disqualification of Peter Sagan? I doubt the sprinters will back off.
Peter Sagan has a sequel to film. #bbccycling
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FDJ, the team of French national champion Arnaud Demare are assembling down the left of the road, with Lotto-Soudal (Andre Greipel) in their wake.
Team Sunweb (Michael Matthews) are on the right. Team Sky's train up the middle at the moment with Movistar also in attendance.
The lead staying strong at 90 seconds
Never seen in the same room #bbccycling
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I keep forgetting there's a bike race on. The trio out front have been going at 40km/h for almost four and-a-half hours today. Not a bad effort, although that puts us on course for the slowest schedule finish time, although my race book suggest 16:48 BST.
I reckon they might be a few minutes before that.
In the meantime...
It's that man Fabio Aru...
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Perrig Quemeneur, Vegard Stake Laengen and Frederick Backaert are now just 90 seconds clear as the race heads straight through the middle of the forest.
Thankfully there's a decent road for them to ride on.
Sagan would probably still end up winning the green jersey
My favourite one yet. Altogether now...One banana, two bananas, three bananas, four...(ask a grown-up) #bbccycling
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Rob Hayles and Simon Brotherton have been discussing the venue for tonight's BeSpoke podcast. Apparently they will be surrounded by thousands of bottles of champagne.
Be sure to check it out when it goes out live on the BBC Radio 5 live Sport Facebook site later, or on the podcast that will follow.
With only 42km remaining to the finish, I need to motor through a few of these. #bbccycling
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