The group containing Marcel Kittel have just reached the intermediate sprint point almost six minutes behind Michael Matthews.

Brutal day for the German.

Christopher M. Selby: Andre Greipel will be strong favourite here - he will be desperate to find form in the last week. Don't forget Britain's Ben Swift of Team UAE Emirates.

Who will win today's stage? Let us know your predictions on #bbccycling

Rob Hayles
Former GB cyclist at the Tour de France

A job well done by the Sunweb rider. He can sit back in the bunch now and wait for the final sprint.

Here's confirmation of the top three at the intermediate sprint:

1. Michael Matthews (Aus/Sunweb) - 20 points
2. Andre Greipel (Ger/Lotto Soudal) - 17 points
3. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita/Bahrain Merida) - 15 points

I'd suggest Greipel and Colbrelli were just testing their legs for the final sprint, if it comes to one.

Greipel would dearly love a stage victory today to make up for a poor Tour overall.

The peloton are barrelling towards the intermediate sprint point, Sunweb still on the front for their man Michael Matthews.

And, as expected, he's allowed to take the line in first almost uncontested.

That's 20 points out of Marcel Kittel's lead in the green jersey competition.

Can the Aussie get up for the stage win now? 30 points on offer there.

The race is into the final 50km and this is where the crosswinds are expected to really impact the race.

But how exactly do crosswinds cause problems?

Basically, because the tradition set up of riding in the slipstream behind the rider in front no longer offers the same protection as it does into a headwind.

Instead the rider behind might want to position himself to the opposite side of the rider in front to shield themselves from the wind - and so on behind.

That forms what is called an echelon across the road - but that also means the riders run out of room.

Multiple echelons can then form as the group strings out and splits can occur. It's then extremely difficult to bridge those gaps.

More from Chris Froome's school-friend Marcus Church, who is waiting for the Team Sky leader at the finish line...

"We actually used to ride bicycles together down hills in the 1990s. We all had motorbikes and he was always the one on a mountain bike, so it's amazing to see him reach this level.

"At school, he was pretty much the same as he is now - very sporty, outgoing guy, we used to play rugby. One thing he used to love - which many people might not know - is that he used to keep snakes and occasionally we used to sneak them into school. He was always down to earth and an all-round good chap.

"It's amazing to watch him on TV because he's always so cool about the whole thing, and that's part of his character. His mother was a really strong part of his life and she used to support him a lot when we were growing up, and I think that's made him what he is today - a calm, collected individual.

"It's very close but he's got it in him to make it number four."

The peloton are firmly onto the flat lands now and starting to think about the intermediate sprint point in about 10km or so.

Will anyone challenge Michael Matthews for the 20 points on offer?

The Aussie is the only rider still battling Marcel Kittel for the green jersey and the rest of the sprinters will be more interested in the stage win.

Image source, AFP

Simon Brotherton
Radio 5 live at the Tour de France

Great ride from Cyril Lemoine to bring back Cofidis team-mate Nacer Bouhanni to the front of the race.

You can hear more from Simon and Rob Hayles on commentary by clicking the tab at the top of this page.

Chris Froome rides for Britain but the Team Sky leader was born in Nairobi, Kenya.

Our team out near the finish line have spotted some Kenyan fans - and it turns out one of them - Marcus Church (in the blue t-shirt below) - went to school with the yellow jersey...

Marcus Church: "I was at school with Chris Froome - the Banda School - which is this flag below. We've come all the way from Nairobi, Kenya to see the Tour de France and see Chris. This is all my family here...nieces, nephews, sister, father, brother-in-law.

"It's great to be here and have the chance to see Chris. I haven't actually seen him for 10 years but I hope I get to see him today and have a brief catch up."

"He does kind of know because his brother still lives in Kenya and we've been in communication with his bro, and he's given Chris a heads up, so we're hoping to catch him.

"We started planning this two years ago. We just wanted to experience this with him. He's got a big connection to us and we've got a connection to him.

Image source, BBC Sport

A big last push from Nacer Bouhanni and the French sprinter is back in the peloton, aided by Cofidis team-mate Cyril Lemoine and Katusha's Nils Politt.

Huge effort from Bouhanni - but has he got anything left to challenge for this stage?

Sunweb still driving the peloton forward as the race approaches flatter terrain.

Nacer Bouhanni is going great guns behind - he's now just 50 seconds off the peloton.

That would be another sprinter to throw into the mix for the stage win, should the Frenchman have enough left after his chase.

The gap to Kittel continues to grow as Sunweb line it out up front.

Nacer Bouhanni is doing a decent job behind, though. The French sprinter is down to 1'21'' behind the peloton.

Rob Hayles
Former GB cyclist at the Tour de France

The wind has finally arrived! We've been waiting for the wind to blow and today the crosswinds could play a part in the finale.

So with green jersey Marcel Kittel out of contention on today's stage, Michael Matthews has a brilliant opportunity to cut a huge swathe out of the German's advantage.

The Aussie will be targeting 20 points for first at the intermediate sprint and 30 points for the overall stage win, with his day deemed a 'medium-mountains' stage, rather than outright flat.

Kittel currently leads the points classification by 79 points so Matthews could be 29 points behind by the end of the day

You'd still be on Kittel to win a straight-up sprint, like the final stage in Paris, but Matthews and his Sunweb team have proven themselves to be canny riders and will look to exploit every remaining opportunity to catch out the Quick-Step sprinter again.

Thomas Wright - How much will the cut-off time be for a stage like today's? Any danger of Kittel being caught out?

Good question, Thomas. How's your maths? Because the cut-off time is rather complicated to calculate as the time the last riders are allowed to finish behind that of the stage winner differs according to the difficulty of the stage and the average speed of that day.

Our green jersey should be safe today, though, as he has a big group to help him home, but it does seem his designs on a sixth stage win are over for today.

Contador is back on at the back of the peloton.

At the front, Sunweb are still setting the pace, trying to hurt Marcel Kittel as much as possible - the green jersey is now 2'36'' behind.

Nacer Bouhanni is still in no man's land in between.

Contador is still battling to rejoin the peloton but now has Trek team-mate Jarlinson Pantano back with him.

BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

Our esteemed commentary pairing of Simon Brotherton and Rob Hayles are now live! You can listen to them by clicking the tab at the top of this page.

Alberto Contador has a problem and is forced into a quick bike change.

The Spaniard is descending through the cars, but should bridge the gap to the peloton soon enough.