Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 16 of the Tour de France - a 165km rolling ride from Le Puy-en-Velay to Romans-sur-Isere.

Our friends at GCN put together this rest-day recap looking back at all the main talking points from the second phase of the race - something for you to take a look at during this post-prandial lull in today's stage.

British national champion Steve Cummings looks to be edging to attack on a slight climb out of Saint-Felician but Team Sky swamp him in bodies to dissuade the Dimension Data rider from trying anything. The pack has just passed through the feed zone and have taken on a collective mussette. The pace has dropped accordingly, but with the gap now at three minutes, it can afford to.

Contador has Colombian team-mate Jarlinson Pantano alongside him to help pace him back into the peloton, which still leads the green jersey gruppetto by 2:35.

Bike change for Alberto Contador of Trek-Segafredo, who drops off the back of the peloton on this fast descent, which has just hit a small ledge at the town of Saint-Felicien. The Spaniard announced yesterday that this will be his last Tour de France: he will ride the Giro and possibly the Vuelta next year in his final season before retiring. Expect fireworks from him, then, in the Alps and that final time trial in Marseille. Or at least, attempted fireworks.

Kittel rides on the front of the chasing group on this long descent down to the valley ahead of the intermediate sprint - but it's a lost cause for the German, who is 2:15 behind the peloton which is still being driven by Sunweb. Can a team win the combativity prize? It may have to, today...

New Zealand's George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) has abandoned the race. We're hearing that he was ill today and called it a day when more than six minutes off the pace. Terrible blow for Bennett, who was 12th this morning and in line to better the previous highest Kiwi finisher in the Tour this year (Tino Tabak finished 18th in 1972).

Yes, and there it is - Barguil takes the point over the top to move onto 119pts. His nearest opponents are both on 38 points so it's looking very good for the Frenchman.

Warren Barguil, the polks dot jersey from Team Sunweb, has come to the front of the pack - as have Team Sky, for whom Michal Kwiatkowski just picked up a mussette. Frenchman Barguil will probably target the single point over the summit to consolidate his lead in the polka dot standings.

Sunweb lead the pack onto the Cat.4 Col de Rouvey (2.8km at 5.6%). On the front of the chasing pack, Lotto-Soudal, LottoNL-Jumbo, Cofidis and Katusha all share out tempo duties - but the gap is still at 1:55.

Not so tough, it seems...

The pace is high and the gap is up to 1:50 for the main pack over the chasing group that contains Kittel et others. We've just left the Ardeche and entered the Haute Loire department, renowned for its mushrooms.

Katusha-Alpecin are the latest team to lend a hand to Sunweb in the main pack with Tiago Machado coming to the front for a pull. They know that a distanced Kittel/Groenewegen/Bouhanni/Lotto Soudal train means a bigger chance for them to get a win through Alexander Kristoff, who has nevertheless been decidedly off the boil in this year's Tour.

So, it's been confirmed by LottoNL-Jumbo: Bennett is in the gruppetto alongside the likes of an ill Dan McLay of Fortuneo-Oscaro, and his team are clearly putting a possible stage win for Dylen Groenewegen above protecting the New Zealander's attempts to crack the top ten on GC.

Bad news for George Bennett: we're hearing that the New Zealander is in a group behind that chasing group, currently more than three minutes down. The LottoNL-Jumbo rider started today in 12th position but he must be suffering from illness or something, for this is catastrophic for his top-ten ambitions, and LottoNL-Jumbo are not committing Primoz Roglic to helping him out...

Zdenek Stybar and Fabio Sabatini are leading the chase from that distanced group off the back of the peloton, working hard for their man Kittel in the green skin suit.

Lone leader Chavanel has the experience to know when it's no good - and the French veteran (currently riding his 17th consecutive Tour) sits up and lets the peloton catch him up.

The riders covered 39.7km in this active start to the stage as Chavanel rides with a 20-second gap over the pack, which has caught De Gendt. Meanwhile, the green jersey group is still 1:20 down. The race enters the Ardeche department of central-eastern France.

With the break being reeled in, Sylvain Chavanel goes for broke and attacks as the race enters a dense pine forest. Impey, Degand and Edet are caught by the peloton, while De Gendt continues to ride somewhere in between.

The winds on this plateau - plus the fast pace and tension - has stretched out this race and caused numerous echelons in the race... intriguing. For now, the big casualty is Kittel and New Zealand's George Bennett, who this morning was 12th on GC but is now behind all his rivals.

Some interesting names have been caught out in this Kittel gruppetto: George Bennett and Primoz Roglic of LottoNL-Jumbo, sprinters Nacer Bouhanni of Cofidis and Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo), and Luke Rowe of Sky. So, that's why Boasson Hagen and Matthews are motivated: some of the peloton's fast men are off the back. Andre Greipel is in the right group, but he's without his Lotto Soudal pilots Jurgen Roelandts, Lars Bak and Adam Hansen...

Dimension Data are helping out on the front of this pack with Team Sunweb with Steve Cummings - who tried his luck earlier getting in the break - putting in a decent shift. They're motivated for their man Edvald Boasson Hagen, who would be a good bet in the sprint in the absence of Marcel Kittel.