Mark Cavendish is at the front of his team, on the right of the road, sitting on Peter Sagan's wheel.

The peloton is all together, packed right across the road, like a beautiful giant blob of colour when you see it from above. They are riding into a headwind and no-one has upped the tempo yet.

The usual suspects are at the front of the race - Jumbo Visma and Alpecin-Deceuninck among them. I can't see Mark Cavendish or his Astana team-mates up there at the moment. What will his tactics be today?

The sprinters' teams are massed at the front of the peloton, spread right across the road in their little groups, trying to protect their fastest man.

The race is back together again. In many ways... well, every way actually, it is only really starting now.

French riders Anthony Delaplace (Arkea-Samsic) and Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroen) are only 10 seconds clear of the peloton now.

Neilson Powless is very much the King of the Mountains after monopolising most of the points up for grabs in the first three days but unless the peloton catches the front two before the top of Cote de Damu, he is going to miss out on the one climbing point that is up for grabs today.

Powless's polka-dots are near the front of the bunch just in case but the front two are only 200m from the summit and they are not going to be caught before they get there.

The Nogaro motor-racing circuit will give the riders plenty of room for the bunch-sprint at the finish - I am sure Wout van Aert will be happy about that after what happened to him yesterday - but there is apparently a bit of a squeeze at the entrance which might cause the peloton some problems.

One of Mark Cavendish's lead-out men for Astana, Spanish rider Luis-Leon Sanchez has had a problem with his chain and had to stop to get it sorted. He is more than a minute behind the peloton now but has got time to get back up there.

At the front of the race, the two escapees are now 35 seconds clear.

I know I said today's stage is flat but before the race gets to the finish, on the Nogaro motor-racing circuit, they have got tiny a bit of climbing to do - the category four Cote de Demu is coming up shortly.

It's 2km to the summit at an average incline of 3.5%, so shouldn't take much out of the sprinters' legs.

The sprinters' teams will start jostling for position a few kilometres out from the finish.

For now, though, the entertainment is being provided by a giant chicken on the side of the road. Not a real one, I hasten to add.

I think everyone will be glad to get to the finish of today's stage. I promise it will get more exciting then.

Jayco AlUla, Soudal-Quick Step and Alpecin-Deceuninck are the teams taking turns at the front of the peloton, and the gap to the front two is coming down quite quickly. It's now only 37 seconds.

Image source, Reuters

The gap to the two escapees did go up ever so slightly, out to about one minute and 15 seconds, but it's back down under a minute now...

French riders Anthony Delaplace (Arkea-Samsic) and Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroen) are being left to dangle out the front for very little reward, although they seem quite happy - Cosnefroy has just asked the TV motorbike if they want to do the post-stage interview with him now, to save time afterwards.

Plenty of British fans on the roadside today by the looks of the banners for Mark Cavendish, Fred Wright and the Yates brothers... I guess Adam and Simon have probably got used to seeing one sign for the pair of them, apart from when their mum and dad are involved as we saw earlier.

Image source, Getty Images

Many of the riders are grabbing a bite to eat as they pass through a feed zone, so expect that gap to the front two to grow, a little.

I'm not sure they've done much to work up an appetite so far today, but I suppose they will need some energy for the finish.

Image source, Reuters

On the subject of sprinters, we already know Mark Cavendish did not manage a record 35th Tour stage win yesterday, but the 38-year-old Manxman was quite happy with his form at the finish of the first sprint of his farewell Tour de France.

He actually clocked the highest speed of any rider - clocked by the Tour’s data providers at 73.3 km/h - on his way to finishing sixth, and was pleased with his performance.

“I’m happy with that,” Cavendish said at the stage finish. “Obviously we’d like to win but I’m happy with how the boys rode, happy with the speed. You see the teams up there, the more dialled teams, the teams that do it day-in, day-out.

“We had a plan to get me at the front there in to 2km to go, that U-turn, that’s what the boys committed to, what they did perfect. It was down to me to find the right wheels after that. I was OK, I’m happy with the speed. At 500 metres to go I was maybe 15th, so sixth…I’m quite happy.”

Image source, EPA

The two riders up front are not harbouring any serious thoughts of winning today's stage - the sprinters' teams simply won't allow it.

At the moment it is Jasper Philipsen's Alpecin-Deceuninck team-mates setting the pace at the front of the peloton and they are not letting the gap to the escapees grow, it is still only about a minute.

Yes, French riders Anthony Delaplace (Arkea-Samsic) and Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroen) have gone clear, and opened up a gap of about a minute on the bunch.