Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 3 of the Tour de France, a lumpy 212.5km ride through Belgium, Luxembourg and into France from Verviers to Longwy.

ATTACK: Frenchman Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie) tears up the script and attacks from the peloton, taking Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) and a Fortuneo-Oscaro rider with him. That's an interesting move...

It's a technical and tricky finish today: not only do the riders have to negotiate a street called the Rue de l'Abbatoir, it's followed by a tight bend which funnels the riders onto the start of the climb to the finish, where the gradient hits double digits before flattening out. That means you're going to have to be near the front when the road bottlenecks if you want to have a chance of winning - otherwise you'll have way too much ground to make up.

Frederik Backaert - who looks like a cross between Bradley Wiggins and Ed Clancy - drives the pace of the break as they attempt to stave off the inevitable. They've just passed a load of hot air balloons.

The gap is steadily coming down for this break of six men, who have been out after forming around 5km into today's stage. It's the second stage in excess of 200km and so there will be some tired legs out there. They have just 1:10 to play with now.

The gap for the six escapees - Adam Hansen (Lotto Soudal), Nils Politt (Katusha), Romain Hardy (Fortuneo-Oscaro), Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Nathan Brown (Cannondale-Drapac) and Romain Sicard (Direct Energie) - is down to 1:35.

Luxembourg definitely doing better than Belgium when it comes to bike field art - the Belgians made zero effort, unlike the Germans, who at least defied the rain to have a pop.

Here's the breakaway in action...

After all the rain we had in Germany and Belgium, it's nice to see the sun shining on the Tour again. The gap is back down to 2:30 after that flurry of activity on the climb.

Confirmation of the virtual polka dot standings: Nathan Brown 3pts, Taylor Phinney 2pts, Nils Politt 2pts. The German did indeed pip Frederik Backaert for that point on the earlier climb back there, before taking another for second place in the first Cat.3 climb of the race behind Brown. So, it's not a done deal yet for Cannondale: if Politt takes a point on the penultimate climb - before the break is inevitably swept up - he could take over the polka dot jersey by virtual of his better GC placing than Brown.

Brown is still waiting for Politt: I think even he is amazed how much time he took into his fellow escapees. By the time Politt catches him, the four others had rejoined the fray too. So the six-man break is back on - and now the gap is up to four minutes. Polit and Brown share some words - but the big German can't be too aggrieved with how it all panned out. All's fair in love and war, and all that.

The climb levels out and Brown has the luxury of looking over his shoulder, easing up, liberating a gel / energy bar from his back pocket, and roll over the summit to take the maximum two points. And it's a huge lead the American has, with Politt not cresting the summit for another minute. So, Nathan Brown moves into the lead of the polka dot KOM standings - leapfrogging his team-mate Taylor Phinney. That will be two polka dot jerseys in as many days for two different Tour debutants for Cannondale.

Great scenery here in Luxembourg - never knew it was so pretty.

Brown, who is a slight rider, zips clear with a high cadence seated surge. Politt is driving a bigger gear, but he's a bigger guy, and he drops back. The German can't keep up with the Texan, who has opened up a decent gap on this climb by attacking early.

The two leaders are onto the Cat.3 Cote d'Eschdorf, which is only 2.3km long but comes in at a leg-cramping 9.3% average gradient. They have 2:45 over the pack, which is now edging across a reservoir bridge.

Politt and Brown have opened up a 30-second gap over the other escapees - and the advantage over the peloton stretches out to 2:40 accordingly. They're onto a little uphill lip ahead of the short but sharp descent towards the foot of the next climb. And that's the 100-to-go marker. Going to be some tired legs this evening...

Sniffing an opportunity with that second climb coming right up - and this time one with 2pts available over the top - Nils Politt continued his acceleration going over the top of the summit. Brown has joined him and the two riders have a little gap over the four other escapees. The gap back to the peloton is 2:08 for now.

CRASH: Thomas Boudat, the Direct Energie rider who was in the break yesterday, must have touched wheels with someone because he's gone down near the back of the pack. The Frenchman gets going again, but he looks to have hurt his wrist a bit.

Backaert gave the game away when emptying his water bottle on the road near the start of the climb - and the Belgian bounds clear accordingly near the summit. Brown and Politt lead the chase; Brown gives up but Politt could well have just pipped Backaert for the solitary point over the top - we only saw from behind, so it's hard to tell, but judging by how the Belgian reacted with a shake of the head, he's just missed out there. Either way, Phinney stays in the lead of the polka dot KOM competition with 2pts.

The leaders are onto the Cat.4 Cote de Wiltz (3.1km at 4.8%). It's a suburban ascent with houses and gardens either size of the road, plus a spattering of spectators. Expect Nathan Brown to have a dig near the top - he'll want to keep the polka dot jersey inside Cannondale, so if Phinney can't keep it today, then he'll do his best to take the baton.

The riders have passed through the feed zone with the break now on a sweeping tree-lined descent ahead of those two small climbs on the horizon. The gap is still stable at 1:55.

Marcel Kittel, who is in green, didn't get in the mix for those remaining points at the sprint. It's worth adding that it was Nils Politt of Katusha who edged clear of the break to take the maximum 20 points before the peloton came through.