Natnael Berhane, Mads Wurtz Schmidt and Xandro Meurisse have almost been reeled in over a cobbled stretch six kilometres shy of Les Bon Villiers.

The big GC teams pushed their riders up to the front to avoid any mishaps there. It looked far from comfortable bouncing over the bumps.

The three-man breakaway is just starting to be reined in. The gap is down to one minute and 18 seconds.

Down the road from the peloton looks pretty relaxed about the situation, where Deceuninck-Quick Step, Jumbo-Visma and Lotto-Soudal are controlling the tempo.

Image source, @Internationelles

Many of us have suffered for our sport. The run in the rain, the extra rep in the gym, the emotional anguish of losing a tight contest.

But would you commit to three weeks of gruelling effort, with no trophy or financial prize on offer, to raise awareness about inequality?

How about taking on the Tour de France? One of the hardest events in any sport, an iconic carnival of suffering.

Well the the number of female amateurs riding a mirror version of the Tour de France is growing. And the goal of promoting change remains the same.

Read the full story here.

The riders are still going along nicely....at an average speed a shade over 26mph.

Of course Chris Froome was another British rider hoping to make an impact in the race this year.

Froome, 34, was hoping to compete for his fifth Tour de France title this year, to move level with the 'famous four', five-time champions, Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.

Instead he's got a cuddly replacement after crashing at the Criterium du Dauphine in Roanne, France.

Still nice to see him in good spirits.

Image source, Getty Images

Now this is brilliant.

Britain's Mark Cavendish has found a way to cheer himself and a young fan up after was left out of this year's Tour de France by his team.

The 34-year-old has won 30 Tour stages - four fewer than Eddy Merckx's record and said he was "heartbroken" by the omission for the first time since 2007 - as was five-year-old super fan Evan Llewellyn.

The youngster's mother Louise had tweeted Team Dimension Data rider Cavendish with a picture of the distraught youngster, saying: "it's ok Cav because I still want to ride my bike with you".

And the 2011 world road race champion made Evan's dream come true as he joined him for a ride near his home in Nottinghamshire, with Louise saying the experience will "last a lifetime."

Lotto-Soudal is one of the three Belgian teams (along with Deceuninck-Quick Step and Wanty-Groupe Gobert) who will be under the spotlight, particularly if the expected bunch sprint takes place in Brussels later.

So does that mean the pressure is on for them?

Well not unduly according to Lotto-Soudal's 24-year-old Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan.

"The pressure for winning stage one and getting the first yellow jersey is on all the sprinters, not only those of the Belgian teams”, he said.

Going back to polka-dots and Greg van Amaeraet for a moment....

The 34-year-old will become the first Belgian to lead the KOM compeition since Thomas De Gendt, for six days in 2016.

And the first Belgian to wear the jersey in his homeland since Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke in 1980.

I know today's stage is 194.5km long but for riders of this calibre it's a relatively untaxing jaunt around Belgium.

But it should all start to hot up later with a bunch sprint expected in front of the royal palace in Brussels at around 5pm local time.

Expect to see Elia Viviani, three-time world champion Peter Sagan and debutant, Caleb Ewan in the mix?

Sagan and Ewan have both made the cut for my fantasy Tour de France team.

Image source, Getty Images

The points classification or green jersey competition, was first introduced in the 1953 Tour de France when it was won by Fritz Schar.

Mark Cavendish won the competition in 2011 but since then Bora-Hansgrohe's Peter Sagan has pretty much had a stranglehold on it.

The Slovakian won it in six of the seven subsequent years, becoming the first rider to win the classification in all of his first five attempts.

The 29-year-old is currently tied with Erik Zabel on a record six wins in the competition.

Oh and he strikes a decent pose doesn't he?

The next key point in today's first stage arrives around 45km from now when the race reaches the intermediate sprint.

The first rider across the line in Les Bons Villers will hoover up 20 points in the competition for the green jersey, while the 15th placed rider gets just one. A sliding scale.

Not a great deal going on out on the road at the moment - other than the usual picturesque scenery between towns.

The peloton has passed through the feed zone, so quite a few pictures of riders sitting up to tuck in to the odd snack.

The three-man break still has an advantage of around 90 seconds.

Just before entering Walloonia, the peloton passed Enghien where Eddy Merckx won his first race ever in the beginners’ category on 1 October 1961.

Marc: Going for a Dylan Groenewegen win today! The Jumbo-Visma man already has 10 sprint wins this season!

Matt: Is it time to congratulate Peter Sagan for another maillot vert yet?

Didn't Ineos rider Luke Rowe, describe teammate Egan Bernal as having a "pitbull mentality" on Friday?

Image source, Getty Images

No what of the internal politics at Team Sky...

I mean Ineos of course, but to be honest the Geraint Thomas/Egan Bernal situation is almost like turning back the clock to the 2018 race, when Thomas wrestled control of the team away from four-time winner Chris Froome.

But there'll be no problems according to team boss Sir Dave Brailsford who says he is confident that defending champ Thomas and young gun Bernal can work together in perfect harmony.

"I think it's about trust," Brailsford said.

"Fundamentally there has to be a degree of trust that no one is going to do something unexpected and I think ultimately the race does actually look after itself.

"The relationship between these two is very good. They are comfortable together, they communicate well. They can be straight, no nonsense between them."

Image source, Getty Images

I know what you mean Caleb.....

I grew up on a staple diet of listening to Phil Liggett commentate as Miguel Indurain crushed his opponents year after year.

He wasn't everyone's cup of tea granted but those Banesto jerseys were bang on trend in the summer.

Image source, Getty Images

Now remember what I was saying about the grandeur of Le Tour....

Well Caleb Ewan has pretty much hit the nail on the head with this:

“Any young cyclist growing up watches the Tour de France," he said.

"Maybe because I’m from Australia, at the time I thought the only race in the world was the Tour de France because the other races weren’t televised, or I didn’t know they were."

I expect the 24-year-old to be in the mix at the end of today, on his Tour de France debut.

Greg van Amaeraet is indeed done. For now.

Will the CCC rider have anything left in his legs towards the end of the stage or is it a case of job done?

Natnael Berhane (Cofidis), Mads Wurtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin) and Xandro Meurisse (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), plough on. They've got a couple of minutes on the peloton which is being led by the Lotto-Soudal team.