Hello and welcome to live coverage of Stage 8 of the Tour de France - and after 18 consecutive bunch sprints and around 15 wins for Marcel Kittel, it's finally the first of two back-to-back days in the mountains. To be precise, the Jura mountains - the second of five of France's mountainous regions that the Tour will visit this year.

Confirmation that it was Matthews who took second place in the intermediate sprint ahead of Kittel and behind Greipel, the winner. There was no sign of Demare, who was dropped on the climb - and has only just passed through the sprint, 3:20 down. It's going to be a long day for some of the riders already distanced by the pack.

As expected, a large group of riders has taken advantage of the chaos of the intermediate sprint to open up a small gap. Frenchman Lilian Calmejane is very much in the mix for Direct Energie, as is that man Vuillermoz for Ag2R-La Mondiale.

It's a fiercely contested intermediate sprint, and after Kittel is led out by Philippe Gilbert, it's Greipel who powers through the middle to take maximum points with Kittel and Matthews neck-and-neck either side of him. Could well be another photo finish to work out who came second in that one...

Kittel is still in this main pack, which is why Quick-Step Floors have come to the front. Kristoff is there for Katusha, as is Colbrelli - the intermediate sprint king - for Bahrain Merida.

With the intermediate sprint coming up, it's getting feisty again. So many of the sprinters have been dropped, so others are sensing an opportunity. One of those is Michael Matthews of Team Sunweb: the Australian is third in the green jersey points classification on 123pts. Yesterday, Marcel Kittel took the jersey back off the shoulders of Arnaud Demare with his third win of the race - the German has 197pts, with Demare on 182pts. The top five in what is a tight competition is completed by Andre Greipel on 110 and Alexander Kristoff on 102pts.

Chavanel and Pauwels are reeled in as the road levels out after the climb. Another UAE Team Emirates rider has a pop - it's Diego Ulissi.

Chavanel has managed to open up another gap - this time with Serge Pauwels of Dimension Data.

Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal) and Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) are active on the front, too. Sprinters and domestiques continue to be dropped.

Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) drags numerous riders back to Feillu and Barguil, and the two Frenchmen are reeled in. Luke Rowe of Team Sky has been dropped - he's not the only one.

Warren Barguil (Sunweb) pings clear, joined quickly by Brice Feillu of Fortuneo-Oscaro. Two Frenchmen out ahead...

It's all over for the break as Chavanel, van Avermaet and Lutsenko are caught by the Sunweb-led pack. Already, some sprinters have been canned out the back of this pack - including the French national champion, Arnaud Demare.

Chris Froome and his Team Sky colleagues are near the front as the road starts to kick up a little. A reminder that Froome, the defending champion and triple winner, leads his team-mate Geraint Thomas by 12 seconds in the overall standings, with Italy's Fabio Aru (Astana) at 14 seconds, Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors) at 25 seconds and Richie Porte (BMC) at 39.

The gap is still only 28 seconds for the three leaders as Sunweb continue the chase. It will all probably blow apart on the uncategorised climb coming up, which drags the riders up to a plateau ahead of the intermediate sprint.

Team Sunweb are pulling on the front of the pack, which has quietened down a little. Perhaps they are going to let these three riders go clear? Chavanel is the best placed rider of the trio, 3:03 down on GC. Remember, it was in a stage like this last year that Greg van Avermaet took his win and rode into the yellow jersey - at Le Lioran in the Massif Central.

The gap is 22 seconds for the leading trio of Chavanel, Van Avaermaert and Lutsenko. The thing is, there's an intermediate sprint coming up in another 20-odd kilometres - so if it's still close, then the sprinters' teams may bring it all back together for that...

The chasing riders are neutralised before more bound clear. Still, Steve Cummings rides right on the back - he doesn't seem interested in today's stage, after all. On paper, it suits him perfectly, but perhaps it's still too soon for him after his injury lay off. Stage 14 to Rodez in the second week perhaps is a better option, or stage 15 in the Massif Central perhaps.

Chavanel and van Avermaet have been joined by Alexey Lutsenko of Astana. They have a small gap, but about a dozen riders in pursuit.

Just as that leading group is reeled in, Chavanel has another pop - this time with Greg van Avermaet, the Olympic champion at BMC. The reason why Chavanel is so motivated today is that he won in Station des Rousses in 2010 - the only time the race has finished here before. The win catapulted the Frenchman back into the yellow jersey he had surrendered in Arenberg.

Numerous riders trying to ride clear of the peloton - and some of them are managing just that. For those of you who have tipped Steve Cummings today: well, he's not showing any interest at the moment - the British national champion is currently right on the back of the pack.

The Dimension Data rider has managed to bridge across - it's Edvald Boasson Hagen, the man denied by 6mm / 0.0003 seconds yesterday. The four would-be escapees have about 10 seconds.

Three riders with a little gap: Chavanel, Brambilla and Bettiol is the Cannondale rider - but the gap is very small. There's a Dimension Data rider in pursuit.