Hello and welcome to live coverage of the 116th edition of Paris-Roubaix - a brutal 257km slog over the cobblestones of northern France. They don't call it the Hell of the North for nothing...

Things are calming down - ever so slightly - as Tony Martin sets up shop on the front for Katusha, alongside Keisse and Senechal of Quick-Step. The nine escapees have 4:10 to play with, while Demare is still trying to ride back to the main favourites after his wheel change.

The leaders come through the new section of cobbles, #25 at Saint-Vaast, without any problems. Their lead is 4:35 with Quick-Step still setting the tempo through Florian Senechal. The latest rider to rejoin the pack after early toil is Marcel Kittel, making his first appearance in this race since 2011.

CRASH: A handful of riders skid over on a tight right-hand bend in the peloton. Nothing serious, but it just goes to show that it's not only the cobbles that cause damage and take their toll. It looked like Daniel Oss and Gianni Moscon who went down first.

Wheel changes for the French and Belgian national champions as Arnaud Demare and Oliver Naesen stop because of punctures. They'll have a fight on ahead of the next cobbled sector.

Here was that big crash on the first sector...

The leaders are onto section 26 of Quievy, the first four-star section and a long one at 3.7km. Kristoff has also made it back to the strung-out peloton now, with Quick-Step still setting the tempo.

Greg van Avermaet is back with the peloton after his scare. It's worth remembering that he was distanced in last year's Roubaix after an early incident but still managed to fight back and win.

Another withdrawal to report - Magnus Cort Nielsen of Astana appears to have called it a day after coming down hard in that early crash.

Meanwhile, the nine leaders are down to eight after Ludovich Robeet has a mechanical issue with his gears. The Belgian has another team-mate in the break - Jimmy Duquennoy - and should fight back once he's sorted out his shifter. The gap is 5:15 for the leaders as the peloton starts to regroup behind.

The pack is onto the third sector, #27, at Saint-Python. Another rider distanced by early strife is the European champion, Alexander Kristoff of UAE Team Emirates.

And it looks like Geraint Thomas of Team Sky also came down in that early crash...

Van Avermaet has three BMC riders working him back into the main pack, while Quick-Step have sent Yves Lampaert on the front to keep the tempo high before the next cobbled section. Groups all over the road in this race, which has blown apart after that early crash on section 29.

Tony Martin (Katusha) opens up a gap and strings out the main pack accordingly, the German really throwing down the hammer. We also saw a Verandas Willems-Crelan rider lying prostrate on the side of the road after what must have been a nasty crash in the mud. It's carnage out there.

Tom Van Asbroeck of EF-Drapac was involved in the crash and now rides covered in mud in one of those chasing groups alongside Sky's Dylan van Baarle, who must have been caught out.

Marcel Seiberg is on the front for Lotto Soudal of this main pack. Vanmarcke, Sagan and Tony Martin are all near the front as well. But it's only about 45-strong, with a second peloton about 20 seconds back and the van Avermaet group 40 seconds back.

Greg van Avermaet is one of the riders fighting back after that crash. Things now going well for the defending champion, who has already lost BMC teammate Stefan Kung. The main pack has just started sector 28, which is 3km long and quite muddy. Iljo Keisse has taken up the slack for the Wolf Pack.

Meanwhile, the leaders are onto sector 28 at Viesly a Briastre. Their advantage is down to 6:15.

The peloton has split following that crash with a large gruppetto chasing back now that the first cobbled section is over. On the front of the main pack, it's Bora and QuickStep who are setting the tempo.

We're hearing that the Movistar rider who crashed before the cobbles was Nelson Oliviera and that he's withdrawn from the race. "We can confirm Nelson Oliveira is conscious and stable after his hard crash before the first cobbled sector."

CRASH: A dozen riders hit the deck in the middle of the peloton after an incident in the mud caused a right skittle in the pack. Loads of riders are held up and a Katusha man looks rather worse for wear. Oliver Naesen was held up but didn't go down.

Right away we have Niki Terpstra of Quick-Step Floors - the Ronde van Vlaanderen winner and 2014 Roubaix champion - who comes to the front to drive the pace.