Team Sky cover the first 10km of the course in 11 minutes five seconds, continuing to rotate their riders at the front.

French squad Groupama FDJ become the fourth team to start the TTT.

Don't expect much from them today - sprinter Arnaud Demare will be looking to tomorrow's flat stage with interest though.

Team Sky have four current or former national time trial champions in their line-up - Geraint Thomas, Jonathan Castroviejo, Michal Kwiatkowski and Gianni Moscon.

Add in Chris Froome as another strong TT rider and you have a team that should be firmly in contention for the stage win today.

Meanwhile, Mitchelton-Scott continue to protect Adam Yates in the middle of their pack, the likes of strongmen Luke Durbridge and Michael Hepburn doing big turns on the front.

Movistar, another of the favourites for the stage win, get under way.

Alejandro Valverde is the highest-placed rider on GC, 16 seconds back on the yellow jersey. Mikel Landa is up there too but Nairo Quintana needs to regain time after he lost 1'15'' on his GC rivals after breaking his front wheel during the chaos at the end of stage one.

There are two time checks on the course - the first comes at 13km and the second at 26.5km just after the 12% gradient climb of La Seguiniere.

Team Sky roll down the ramp and are on their way...

Team Sky are lining up on the start line.

The British squad won the TTT at the Criterium du Dauphine early this year, with Geraint Thomas taking the overall title there.

They are one of the favourites again. Geraint Thomas is just 15 seconds off yellow - can he grab it today?

Rob Hayles
Ex-GB cyclist on BBC Radio 5 live, in France

It's an anti-clockwise loop and a strong tailwind on the way out. You think the wind is blowing you out quick but then on the way back you've got a headwind and that's where you can lose so much time.

Mitchelton-Scott roll down the start ramp to get stage three of the 2018 Tour de France under way...

What can the Aussie team do to get Adam Yates back in contention with his GC rivals?

The Briton lost 51 seconds to the likes of Romain Bardet, Tom Dumoulin, Mikel Landa, Rigoberto Uran and Vincenzon Nibali in a crash on day one.

Mark Cavendish
Winner of 30 Tour de France stages

I did a similar individual time trial circuit in my second Tour de France in 2008. It's open roads and it's relatively straightforward but that means horse power is needed.

My Dimension Data team will be trying to save energy for upcoming stages. We know we're not really in with a chance of winning but we'll give it our best shot.

My one to watch are BMC. In general, the team time trial will show how strong teams are for the rest of the Tour.

Read more of Mark Cavendish's stage-by-stage guide here.

The TTT course is a 35.5km circuit around Cholet.

It's a tricky route with long, exposed roads and drags of 10 and 12% gradient in places.

Teams will need to get their pacing spot on to avoid splintering.

Image source, Tour de France

BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

Tom Fordyce and Rob Hayles are on air, bringing you live commentary of stage three over on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra.

Tune in by clicking the tab at the top of this page.

In fact, unusually for a TTT, most of the top teams are actually heading off early.

Mitchelton-Scott, Team Sky, Movistar and BMC are all among the favourites for the stage win, with Sunweb and Quick-Step the other two to really look out for.

The start times are in reverse order of the team classification - apart from Bora, who go off last as the team of yellow jersey Peter Sagan.

Mitchelton-Scott and Team Sky have had a tough start to the Tour so Adam Yates and Chris Froome will be off early, trying to lay down impressive times that their GC rivals can't match later on.

1. Mitchelton-Scott - 14:10 BST
2. Team Sky - 14:15
3. Movistar - 14:20
4. Groupama FDJ - 14:25
5. BMC Racing - 14:30
6. EF Education First-Drapac - 14:35
7. UAE Team Emirates - 14:40
8. AG2R La Mondiale - 14:45
9. Fortuneo-Samsic - 14:50
10. Direct Energie - 14:55
11. Lotto Soudal - 15:00
12. LottoNL-Jumbo - 15:05
13. Cofidis - 15:10
14. Sunweb - 15:15
15. Dimension Data - 15:20
16. Katusha-Alpecin - 15:25
17. Bahrain-Merida - 15:30
18. Trek-Segafredo - 15:35
19. Astana - 15:40
20. Wanty-Groupe Gobert - 15:45
21. Quick-Step Floors - 15:50
22. Bora-Hansgrohe - 15:55

Peter Sagan won a sprint finish from reduced bunch after a late crash yesterday, taking the yellow jersey from Fernando Gaviria.

The world champion joked after the stage that he would only be wearing it for one day - fully aware his Bora team are far from the favourites for this stage.

Gaviria is just six seconds back so his Quick-Step Floors squad could look to return him to yellow.

A quick note - there were some late changes to the results after stage two, with Marcel Kittel - who punctured late on - not given the same time as the main bunch in the end and thus dropping out of the top on GC.

As a result, Geraint Thomas has moved up one place to sixth overall, just 15 seconds off the race lead. Could Team Sky look to put the Welshman in yellow today?

And talking of our team out in France, make sure you listen to the Bespoke daily podcast, available shortly after each stage.

Missed either of the episodes so far? Don't worry you can download them all here.

So how do the teams approach a team time trial?

Let our team of Rob Hayles, Tom Fordyce and Gareth Rhys Owen be your guides...

Rob and Tom will be providing live commentary over on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra in about 10 minutes. You can tune in by clicking the tab at the top of this page.

A team time trial is a race against the clock involving the whole squad.

The teams will set off at five minute intervals and try to complete the course as quickly as possible.

Riders will take turns pulling on the front, with their team-mates riding in their slipstream, and teams can leave behind anyone who cannot last the pace.

But they can't drop too many - the time is taken from the fourth rider to cross the finish line.

It's team time trial day.

After two manic sprint stages that saw several overall contenders lose time, this is an early chance to grab it back.

A tricky, undulating 35.5km circuit around Cholet could see some large time gaps between the teams and ensure some significant implications for the rest of the race.

Britons Adam Yates and Chris Froome are looking to make up for the 51 seconds they lost to several of the favourites on stage one. And their Mitchelton Scott and Team Sky squads are up first and second respectively in about 25 minutes' time.

Here we go...