Bonjour le Tour! Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 6 of the Tour de France - and yet another sprint stage in excess of 200km... It's a 216km schlep from Vesoul to Troyes via two small Cat.4 climbs.

Kristoff and Bouhanni completed the top five in an all-star cast of a top ten.

An eleventh Tour stage win for this man, Marcel Kittel.

Demare rode perilously close to the barriers as he rounded Matthews before powering clear of Greipel to take second place.

Kittel in wonderland: The German powerhouse left it late before powering through the middle to take his second win of the race and draw level with compatriot Andre Greipel's tally of 11 Tour stage wins.

Victory for Marcel Kittel of Quick-Step Floors!

Sabatini, the lead out man for Kittel peels off, but there's no sign of the German - who is onb the wheel of Demare further back...

It's very messy and chaotic out there as the pack passes under the flamme rouge with Mark Renshaw setting the tempo for Dimension Data...

Now Cofidis bring their train alongside Dimension Data, with Katusha behind. It's a real fight now.

It's all over for our three leaders, who are swept up as Dimension Data come to the front. With Cavendish out injured, their man is now Edvald Boasson Hagen. Wouldn't that be a good story?

Just 10 seconds to go now for the three leaders - as numerous riders ping off the back of the peloton, their work for the day done. We also didn't mention Ben Swift of UAE Team Emirates - another rider to watch, and his team have not had to chase the break either, by dint of having a man in it.

So it's Katusha on the left, FDJ on the right, and Lotto Soudal and Trek-Segafredo (whose rider John Degenkolb I didn't mention earlier) in the middle. 5km and the gap is still 20 seconds.

Interestingly, while Quick-Step Floors have Vermote on the front, the rest of their team is quite far back and surrounding their man Kittel. They'll have to muscle up before the finish, which could be another hectic one.

Our three leaders have 10km to go but only 27 seconds to play with. Katusha have now swamped the front of the pack - as have BMC, to keep their man Richie Porte out of trouble.

Julien Vermote, the Belgian from Quick-Step Floors, leads the chase as the gap comes under a minute for the first time. Surely there's no other scenario than a bunch sprint - it just depends whether it's in the rain or not. The drops which were falling in Troyes have now ceased, so it should be a dry finish - but you never know.

So, we've talked about the big favourites today in Demare, Kittel, Greipel and Bouhanni, but who else could win today? Dutchman Dylen Groenewegen of LottoNL-Jumbo has been knocking on the door for a bit, while Michael Matthews (Team Subweb) finished second to Sagan in Longwi. Alexander Kristoff of Katusha-Alpecin hasn't won on the Tour for a few years but came second behind Demare in Vittel. There's also Sonny Colbrelli of Bahrain-Merida, who has been quite feisty, and Dan McLay of Fortuneo-Oscaro, who hasn't, but who was last year.

Cofidis have now sent a man on the front to fight for the right to launch Nacer Bouhanni at the finish. The Frenchman has yet to win a stage on his national Tour, but he's getting closer - and with Messrs Sagan and Cavendish absent, this could be his chance. The gap is 2:15 for the three leaders.

If Arnaud Demare wins today then he'll be the first French national champion to win multiple stages on a Tour since the great Laurent Fignon in 1984.

The gap has stretched out to 1:35 again. None of these riders have won a stage on a Grand Tour before, but Perrig Quemeneur came close in last year's Vuelta. The 33-year-old was third in stage 8 to La Camperona behind Russian winner Sergey Lagutin and compatriot Axel Domont.

We're hearing that the weather has really closed in at the finish in Troyes and there are threats of some sudden showers. That could spice things up - especially after this 30-degree heat the riders have had all day.

Frenchman Perrig Quemeneur (Direct Energie), Belgian Frederik Backaert of Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Norway's Vegard Stake Laengen (UAE Team Emirates) have been out since the first kilometre but their gap is now just 1:15 after what has been a very long - and hot - day in the saddle.