Here's a quick snapshot of the general classification after stage five:

1. Jai Hindley (Aus/Bora-Hansgrohe) 22hrs 15mins 12secs

2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Jumbo-Visma) +47secs

3. Giulio Ciccone (Ita/Lidl-Trek) +1min 03secs

4. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger/Bora-Hansgrohe) +1min 11secs

5. Adam Yates (GB/UAE Team Emirates) +1min 34secs

6. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) +1min 40secs

7. Simon Yates (GB/Team Jayco-AlUla) Same time

8. Mattias Skjelmose (Den/Lidl-Trek) +1min 56 secs

9. Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa/Ineos Grenadiers) Same time

10. David Gaudu (Fra/Groupama-FDJ)

The peloton swept out of the neutralised zone in Tarbes a little earlier and racing proper is under way with Wout van Aert kick-starting the early breakaway by zipping off as soon as the flag was waved.

Talk about setting off early alarm bells for UAE Team Emirates!

A fairly impressive group of 15 escapees also includes: Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates), Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost), Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step), Nikias Arndt (Bahrain Victorious), Benoit Cosnefroy (Ag2r-Citröen), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Krists Neilands (Israel-PremierTech), Chris Juul-Jensen (Jayco-AlUla), Matîs Louvel (Arkéa-Samsic), Tobias Halland Johannessen and Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X).

Wednesday saw the race take an early trip to the Pyrenees and it proved to be a pretty brutal day for Tadej Pogacar, who was dropped on the final climb up the Col de Marie Blanque by Jonas Vingegaard.

Pogacar pretty much said he couldn't really find his mountain legs on stage five which doesn't really bode well for the Slovenian.

The two-time winner broke his wrist in April and arrived at this year's Tour having spent a significant period off the road. Will he be able to fight back today or will the Dane smell blood and try to establish a significant, maybe even race-winning advantage?

If that were to happen the organisers might wonder about the wisdom of visiting the Pyrenees so early.

Image source, Getty Images

Now in case you're wondering who is wearing what...

Jai Hindley is the overall race leader, so the Bora-hansgrohe rider is draped in yellow.

Felix Gall leads the mountains classification so is in the polka-dot jersey, while Jasper Philipsen is in the green jersey for the second day.

Tadej Pogacar is in white as the leader of the best young rider classification.

Image source, Getty Images

Good afternoon and welcome to our coverage of stage six of the Tour de France which sees the race travel 144.9km from Tarbes to Cauterets-Cambasque.

Will Jai Hindley hold on to yellow? Can two-time winner Tadej Pogacar respond after losing time to defending champion Jonas Vingegaard on Wednesday?

And could one of the British riders excel and ride to victory on a route that takes in the iconic Col du Tourmalet?

Quite a few things to be going at eh. So let's get this show on the road.