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.

After the rain that dampened the Grand Depart - but not the spirits of the mass of German fans who came out to watch - it's a sunny day in Belgium today. The riders will be pretty pleased with that. Meanwhile, the riders have started the first cateogrised climb of the day.

The Hansen group have been caught by three riders so we have a break of six now. And it looks like the peloton are letting this go now, because there's a mass pulling over for a collective call of nature. The gap stretches to above one minute accordingly.

Hansen - riding his 18th consecutive Grand Tour - had been joined by two riders, from Katusha and Fortuneo-Oscaro. They have Romain Sicard of Direct Energie in pursuit, and numerous other riders trying to bridge over.

The big story yesterday - other than Kittel's win - was a huge pile-up that brought down race favourites Chris Froome and Romain Bardet, as well as a cluster of other rider - most notably the yellow jersey, Thomas. This picture says it all...

Numerous riders have tried to have a pop and form the break - most notably Thomas de Gendt of Lotto Soudal. The Belgian is a breakaway specialist and will fancy his chances at taking the polka dot jersey today. But the peloton is giving no favours - and currently it's another Lotto rider, Adam Hansen, who is trying his luck...

Here's what's in store for the riders: five lower category climbs including the ramped finish that should suit the likes of Peter Sagan, Michael Matthews, Greg van Avermaet and Philippe Gilbert...

They're off! Christian Prudhomme wave the flat and the stage is underway...

Kittel picked up 10 bonus seconds to move within six seconds of race leader Geraint Thomas (Team Sky). The German is now third on GC. Welshman Thomas, winner of Saturday’s opening time trial in Dusseldorf, retained his yellow with a five-second advantage over Switzerland’s Stefan Kung of BMC.

Yesterday, Germany’s Marcel Kittel won a grandstand sprint to win stage 2 of the Tour de France in Liege after defending champion Chris Froome recovered from a fall. The masterful Kittel gave his Belgian Quick-Step Floors team a well-earned victory on home soil after leaving it late before blasting past rivals Arnaud Demare (FDJ) and Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) for the tenth Tour stage win of his career. Click link below for the full report.