The gap to the breakaway dips under two minutes for the first time since very early on in stage four.

The peloton can catch Anthony Perez, Dimitri Claeys, Guillaume van Keirsbulck and Jerome Cousin whenever they want but will leave them out there for now.

Talking of Chris Froome, he momentarily has to pop back to the team car and is off the back of the bunch.

But the four-time winner has several team-mates with him and is soon able to work his way back up the peloton.

And Froome was also busy signing autographs before the start of stage four...

Some fans also held up a sign in French saying Froome deserved respect...

Image source, Getty Images

Chris Froome and Team Sky were indeed jeered at the pre-Tour presentation event. There were also some pantomime boos for the Team Sky bus and cheers from some sections of the crowd when Froome crashed on stage one.

However, today there has been a better reception for the British team...

Team Sky boss Dave Brailsford, speaking to ITV4: "My comments have caused a bit of a storm but it wasn't meant to be confrontational.

"When you take the role of of a president of an international federation you've got to do so with a clear, non-biased view.

"If you're a town mayor you are going to look after your constituents and fight for them - it's not derogatory. But in an international role you've got to look after the international community and not be influenced by national bias.

"Given the events over the last nine months, the UCI had a process and found a rider to be innocent but it's clear a lot of people on the road side in France haven't understood that.

"It's his role to come out and make sure everyone exactly understands tit and that it's not down to teams having bigger budgets."

Image source, Getty Images

Adding to the intrigue today is the fact the race finishes in town of Sarzeau, whose mayor is UCI president David Lappartient.

Lappartient told BBC Sport last week that Team Sky's wealth allowed them to fight Chris Froome's recently-dropped asthma drug case in a way other teams could not have done.

Team Sky boss Sir Dave Brailsford hit back by accusing Lappartient of still having a "local French mayor mentality".

Those comments were met with some criticism, so what has Brailsford had to say about it today...

Our commentary team of Tom Fordyce and Rob Hayles are now on air to guide you through the last section of stage four.

It's available online only by clicking the tap at the top of this page.

The gap is coming down at a fair lick now, with Quick-Step and Lotto Soudal driving the bunch in service of their sprinters Fernando Gaviria and Andre Greipel.

The leading four-man group of Anthony Perez, Dimitri Claeys, Jerome Cousin and Guillaume van Keirsbulck is now at 2'21'' after 110km of racing.

With Belgium and France facing off in tonight's World Cup semi-final there has been plenty of friendly disagreement over the result throughout the Belgian and French riders in the peloton.

France's Julian Alaphilippe is particularly having fun, riding for that most Belgian of teams Quick-Step Floors. Team-mate Philippe Gilbert is trying to put him in his place.

I suspect Adam Yates and Kristijan Durasek might get asked about the England v Croatia match tomorrow.

This is your 10-minute countdown until live commentary of stage four starts.

Tune in to Tom Fordyce and Rob Hayles by clicking the tab at the top of this page from 15:00 BST.

That surge from the peloton to contest the intermediate sprint has brought the gap to the breakaway down to 3'22'' after just over 100km of racing.

Can they stay clear for the next 30km or so until the sole climb of the day?

Quick-Step come to the front as the peloton bears down on the sprint point after FDJ had come through for Arnaud Demare.

But once again Quick-Step time it perfectly and Fernando Gaviria gets the jump on his sprint rivals to take the maximum 11 points remaining.

Andre Greipel, Peter Sagan, Marcel Kittel and Arnaud Demare all follow.

Mark Cavendish's Dimension Data team did come towards the front but the Briton wasn't interested in the end.

The gap is down to under four minutes as the peloton bear down on the intermediate sprint.

There are still points on offer for 5th to 15th position over the line.

Will the likes of Sagan, Gaviria, Cavendish, Kittel, Demare and Greipel go for the maximum 11 points remaining?

It appears that chat was Guillaume van Keirsbulck just checking with everyone else in the break that they didn't want to go for it because he did.

The Wanty-Groupe Gobert rider comes to the front and rolls through the line with the other three tucked in behind, not remotely interested in challenging the Belgian.

So victory to Belgium then! Can't really call that an omen for tonight.

There are two Belgians - Dimitri Claeys and Guillaume van Keirbulck - and two Frenchmen - Jerome Cousin and Anthony Perez - in the break.

Will we see a warm-up for tonight's World Cup semi-final with a race for this intermediate sprint?

They're having a few words to decide what to do with about 2km to go.

The breakaway are 5km away from the intermediate sprint point.

A strong turn from Thomas de Gendt on the front of the bunch has slashed their advantage by a minute down to 5'19'' with around 102km to go.

Sunglasses? Check. Shorts? Check.

Tom Fordyce and Rob Hayles preview stage four before stepping into the commentary booth from 15:00 BST.

You'll be able to tune in from then by clicking the tab at the top of this page.

Peter Sagan is a man who seems to love not wearing his team's regular jersey.

He's won three straight world championship titles, meaning he usually gets to wear the rainbow jersey for road stages, except for yesterday when he wore the leader's yellow jersey and today, where he's in the green points classification jersey.

And you can expect him to be resplendent in green for the rest of the race - Sagan is chasing a record-equalling sixth green jersey and already has a 26-point lead over Fernando Gaviria in the competition.

Given he's a uniquely versatile rider, who can contest bunch sprints and hillier finishes, it's almost impossible for any rider to deny him this prize.

The only thing that did last year was when he was disqualified for his part in a collision with Mark Cavendish on stage four.

Image source, Getty Images

The gap to the leading four-man group has come down to 6'30'' after 85km of racing.