Final climb of the day and Jumbo-Visma's Tony Martin waves his arms to call a truce on the front of the peloton.

Nothing silly on the way up or down here chaps, he seems to be saying.

Nice to see British Tour debutant Connor Swift riding serenely near the front of the peloton.

Looks like he is acting as a bodyguard for his Arkea Samsic team-mate Nairo Quintana.

It looks as though Slovakian Peter Sagan has started his quest to add a record-extending eighth green jersey at the Tour de France.

He bolted towards the intermediate sprint before to pick up 13 points

The 30-year-old three-time world champion, whose only failure to win green arrived in 2017 after he was disqualified for his role in a crash with Mark Cavendish, is the undisputed king of the points competition and will be on a mission to add to his 12 previous stage wins.

It is a near certainty that the versatile Bora-Hansgrohe rider will be an unnerving presence among the bunch sprints and punchy climbs once again.

At this rate if he can get through to the finish without hitting the tarmac it'll have been an achievement.

Speaking on the start line, race favourite Primoz Roglic has told French broadcaster France Televisions that he is just happy to "start the Tour" after crashing at the Criterium du Dauphine.

"I’ll see how I go," he said. "We’ve waited for a long time for racing to resume this year. Luckily, we’ve had a few races before the Tour and we’re here at the start now.

"I don’t only watch Egan Bernal as my rival. There are a lot of riders and everyone can take his chance.”

The intermediate sprint went to Michael Schar but the breakaway is well and truly being reeled in.

The main pack is just 30 seconds or so back now with Fabien Grellier dropping right back to join them.

Luke Rowe joked that he will need to brush up on his Spanish at this Tour de France as the only British rider in the Ineos Grenadiers team.

With Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas left out, Rowe, 30, starts his sixth Tour behind defending champion Egan Bernal of Colombia and the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz.

Sir Dave Brailsford has insisted this remains a global team with a British heart, but Rowe said there was no denying a change of accent on the team bus.

"We've got four native Spanish speakers on the team," Rowe said. "They all speak pretty good English so that helps but it's got a slightly different feel.

"Every Tour I've done, Froomey and 'G' have been here and guys like Wout (Poels), so there's been a bit of a reshuffle and a changing of the guard.

"It's certainly changed a lot but you get on with the job. We've got a good bunch of boys whether you're Spanish, German or Mexican, whatever. We've got a similar mindset, we want to get stuff done."

Image source, Getty Images

Another dozen or so riders on the deck...

This is getting ridiculous. Lotto-Soudal's Caleb Ewan is one of them and Richie Porte looks to have gone down in a separate incident.

Pavel Sivakov has crashed again and changed bike.

What a welcome to the Tour for the Russian. His shorts are ripped and he looks like he's in some discomfort and a little ticked off as he rides alongside the medical car.

He's a good four minutes or so back. He looks ready to throw the towel in to be honest.

Hello....

Another crash and looks like a big one. Another of Ineos' key men Andrey Amador is down. There are riders scattered all over the ground.

Utter chaos on the Promenade des Anglais.

This circuitous route skirts around Nice today avoiding the low Alps until Sunday.

With the peloton now largely all together and the gap to the three leaders standing at around two minutes and 20 seconds, a mass bunch sprint could well be the order of the day.

I'm expecting Lotto-Soudal's Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan to feature prominently if that's the case.

It's like a splash zone out there at the moment.

Julian Alaphilippe has indeed just latched on to the back of the peloton. Tom Dumoulin looks to have come a cropper though.

He's a minute further back down the road.

France's puncheur supreme Julian Alaphilippe looks in trouble. He's off his bike and needs a new front wheel.

Looks fine as far as I can tell but frustratingly has to wait for his team car to get to him through a long line of traffic.

He's a superb on descents though as those that can remember stage 18 into Valloire last year can testify. He narrowly avoids a fall and looks like he's already got the back of the peloton in sight.

The King of the Mountains competition is the second oldest classification in the Tour de France, after it was added to the race back in 1933.

The polka-dot jersey, which is a pretty big deal has been won by French riders in the last two editions of the Tour, with Warren Barguil claiming it in 2017, Julian Alaphilippe winning it in 2018 and Romain Bardet taking the honours in 2019.

Britain's Chris Froome was the last man to win both the polka-dot and yellow jerseys in the same race back in 2015.

Crikey....

The race has slowed right down here.

TV cameras have just shown a very nasty looking cut on Pavel Sivakov's arm. He's lost about two minutes on the main pack.

Looks like there have also been a couple of tumbles near the front of the peloton, an Arkea Samsic rider looks to have gone down and now I'm hearing that Mitchelton-Scott's Daryl Impey has gone down.

Fabien Grellier claimed the first two points in the race for the polka-dot jersey.

The 25-year-old Total Direct Energie rider was first over the summit of the Cote de Rimiez with Swiss rider Michael Schar just behind him.

Image source, Getty Images

Look as though Sivakov was involved in a second crash.

Pierre Latour (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Benoot Cosnefroy (AG2R-La Mondiale), Omar Fraile (Astana) and Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) all look like they've been affected by that as well.

Probably not helpful that the rain is coming down fairly steadily now making the roads extremely slippery.

Is this really the French Riviera? It's dark and grim.

Ineos' Pavel Sivakov looks in a bit of bother...

The Russian rider is crawling along off the back of the main pack. I'm not sure if it is mechanical or he was involved in that earlier crash.

I suspect it may be an injury judging by the way he is holding himself.

Given what Sir Dave Brailsford had to say this is a tad more reassuring...

Apparently the chances of the Tour de France not being completed because of the Coronavirus pandemic are very slim, says the French sports minister Jean-Michel Blanquer .

Speaking on Saturday he said: "On every subject, whether it's the Tour or anything else we have to be able to adapt, to be able to make decisions depending on the situation.

"That type of thing could happen but of course I hope that it won’t and I think that it won’t because the Tour organisers have done an extraordinary job.

"The chances (of the Tour not reaching Paris) are very slim."

Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome says his non selection for the Ineos squad at the Tour boiled down to his form and how he felt at the Criterium du Dauphine.

Froome finished 71st at the pre-Tour warm-up race which is usually viewed a barometer of form before La Grand Boucle.

Speaking to ITV4 he said:"I would have liked to have been there that was my big goal since the crash last year. It boils down to the Dauphine where I wasn’t feeling as I would normally feel coming into the Tour.

"At that stage it made sense to move the goalposts. I was willing to go in and help Egan [Bernal] but it made a lot more sense for me to give the Vuelta [a Espana] a good go.

"I’m definitely missing the race days. Not only am I coming back from the crash but also two months of lockdown.

"Tirreno-Adriatico followed by a couple of altitude blocks should get me in the shape for the Vuelta. I have to keep reminding myself where I have come from in the last 12 months.

"I was flat on my back for six weeks only really able to wiggle my ankle. The fact I am back in the peloton now and racing I have to be extremely thankful. I am just hoping to get a good Grand Tour in my legs this year."