Postpublished at 20km to go
Tim Wellens scored two more King of the Mountains points atop the Cote de Champillon.
That's five in the last three climbs. He'll receive the polka dot jersey if he completes the stage in the time cut.
Julian Alaphilippe wins in Epernay to take yellow jersey
Geraint Thomas finishes 13th as 215km stage ends with uphill sprint
Defending champion loses five seconds to Ineos team-mate Egan Bernal
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Steve Sutcliffe
Tim Wellens scored two more King of the Mountains points atop the Cote de Champillon.
That's five in the last three climbs. He'll receive the polka dot jersey if he completes the stage in the time cut.
Caleb Ewan and Alexander Kristoff were dropped up the Cote d'Hautvillers while yellow jersey holder Mike Teunissen now looks like he's suffering up the hill to Champillon.
He should hold on here but Cote de Mutigny and a 12.2% ascent is on the way!
Really nice scenes between Paul Ourselin (Total Direct Energie), Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Stephane Rossetto (Cofidis) and Anthony Delaplace (Arkea-Samsic) as they were gobbled up by the peloton.
The quartet found the time to acknowledge 180km or so of pure graft with some fist bumps.
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Tim Wellens takes two points as he crests the Cote d'Hautvillers. He could well be wearing the polka-dot jersey on Tuesday if he wins the next climb.
And he's got a 90 second lead over the main pack. Safe as houses.....?
Tim Wellens is giving it everything as he heads towards the second categorised climb of the day, the Cote d'Hautvillers.
He should take two further two points here to become the new virtual leader in the mountains classification.
Two-time stage winner and breakaway specialist Steve Cummings, 38, looks like he's struggling.
The British Dimension Data rider appeared to be slipping off the back of the peloton up that last climb.
Next up is the Cote d’Hautvillers, which is a 900m shuffle up 10.5% category three climb.
Tim Wellens is out of his saddle and powering up the first categorised climb on the cote de Nanteuil-la-Foret to take the first King of the Mountains point today.
The 28-year-old Belgian has earned a reputation for being pretty strong in these sorts of circumstances and he's got a two minute and 20 second lead over the main bunch and about 40 seconds or so over his ex breakaway buddies.
Will he be able to hold on if and when the peloton hits top gear?
AG2R La Mondiale's Romain Bardet lost a huge chunk of time in the GC race on Sunday in the team trial and it looks as though he's had a puncture.
Zut alors, you can almost hear him say. He's going to have spend some time getting on the back of the main bunch and hope none of his rivals make a move in the meantime.
Tim Wellens has gone. The Lotto-Soudal rider has powered away from the breakaway group with a fraction under 50km to go, in a trademark move.
What's the Belgian got left in his legs?
Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott) and Lars Bak (Dimension Data) are down on the side of the road but both look ok as they resume in the middle of the vineyards of Champagne.
Thibaut Pinot has also had to pull after after suffering a puncture. The Groupama-FDJ man, considered one of the main contenders for the Tour this year looks pretty relaxed about it all.
He's being paced back towards the peloton by teammate William Bonnet.
The four categorised climbs get under way around 42km from the end of that stage
I can feel my thighs already!
As I mentioned earlier Greg van Avermaet leads the King of the Mountains competition with two points, level with Xandro Meurisse.
But while he might not keep it after the four categorised climbs in a 16-mile stretch near the end of today's stage, the likes of Bevin will be crucial to helping him stay in the hunt for a stage victory.
CCC rider Patrick Bevin is down as the peloton hits a bottleneck on its exit from Reims.
He's Greg van Avermaet, first lieutenant. The New Zealander is up and looks ok but he'll need to get a shift on to catch the peloton, if he's to contribute further on down the road.
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The breakaway group have been up front for the last 150km or so but how much longer can they hold out?
Paul Ourselin (Total Direct Energie) Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Stephane Rossetto (Cofidis) and Anthony Delaplace (Arkea-Samsic) have a one minute and 40 seconds lead on the main bunch.
Surely it's just a matter of time as we head towards the four categorised climbs.
Easy street for Ineos at the moment. Geraint Thomas is tucked safely away near the front of the peloton.
No doubt he's getting ready to enter full-on race mode in the last 60km.
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Before Epernay, the peloton will sweep through Reims, the other capital of the Champagne area scooting past the cathedral where the the kings of France used to be crowned.
Reims has got history when it comes to cycling as well, hosting two world championships, in 1947 and 1958, won respectively by Dutchman Theo Middelkamp and Italy’s Ercole Baldini, the French championship in 1952 and 1960, won by Adolphe Deledda and Jean Stablinski, as well as the Grand Depart of the 1956 Tour de France.
The five leaders are in Bourgogne, not to be confused with the Bourgogne (Burgundy) and their lead is down to two minutes and 20 seconds.