Hello and welcome to live coverage of Stage 7 of the Tour de France - yet another 200km+ stage which should culminate in yet another bunch sprint finale.

That's how close it was from the front...

No change in the overall standings ahead of the weekend in the Jura mountains, with Chris Froome retaining his yellow jersey.

Kristoff took fourth and Degenkolb in fifth ahead of Groenewegen and Greipel. Demare was nowhere to be seen - probably busy slapping Bouhanni, who was also notably absent.

Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) had to settle for second place very much 'a la Coquard' while Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) was third.

How the jury came to that decision, I don't know. It looked like a dead heat, but instead it's a hat-trick for the Quick-Step Floors powerhouse.

Victory for Marcel Kittel of Quick-Step Floors!

The photo is inconclusive... from above, it looks like Boasson Hagen, but from the side it's a DEAD HEAT!

Boasson Hagen and Kristoff go shoulder to shoulder in the finale... but Kittel comes up... PHOTO FINISH!!!

The Dimension Data train comes to the front ahead of the flamme rouge... But it's Quick-Step who take over.

Lotto Soudal and Katusha taking a back seat for now...

LIghtening fast now as FDJ and Sunweb come to the front. Speeds above 70kmph.

The pack splits around a central reservation - and already Bouhanni and Demare are going shoulder to shoulder... they almost came to blows there.

It's now a tail-wind as the pack passes under the 5-to-go banner. We're about to witness a ding-dong bunch sprint - and they've been fairly intense so far in this year's Tour to date, so buckle up and get ready.

Van Baarle has a pop, then Mori, but they can't get rid of Bouet - and it looks like they will all be caught at the same time... Mori shakes his head - then offers his hands to his companions. They all shake each other's hands - and then that's that. Game on!

Yohann Gene is first to call it a day - and he'll soon see his Direct Energie team-mates, who are riding on the front of the pack. Perhaps they fancy things for Adrien Petit, who was 12th yesterday.

Attack from Maxime Bouet, who's clearly keen to get the combativity prize today. He's reeled in by the others and van Baarle once again takes it up.

These four breakaway riders have amassed 203km out in front now - but they only have 20 seconds to play with. Movistar are getting in the mix, while Quick-Step have at least five riders - with Julien Vermote, who else, doing the honours.

Philippe Gilbert has taken it up now for Quick-Step Floors, the Tour of Flanders champion helping to reduce the gap to 30 seconds. Katusha are the other team there, while LottoNL-Jumbo have moved up for Groenewegen.

The gap is getting larger - probably because the GC teams have swamped the front and they're not concerned about reeling them in. It's up to 50 seconds now for Gene, Bouet, van Baarle and Mori.

So many major players of the Tour are near the front because they all need to make the most of their opportunities. The wind and splits may never materialise, but you need to be there just in case they do. In a race where there won't be many opportunities to catch out your rivals, you need to be on it all the time. The gap goes up to 30 seconds.