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...

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.

The Groupama-FDJ team of Arnaud Demare come to the front as the road narrows ahead of the first cobbled section. And both Bora and Sky are there as the peloton his sector 29 at Troisvilles. It's show time!

The nine leaders get through the first sector - which didn't seem as muddy as reported - without any problems, although they have already lost a minute of their advantage. The peloton is driving towards the cobbles with Bora and EF-Drapac on the front.

COBBLES AHOY! The first sector at Troisvilles a Inchy (2.2km) is under way. The gap is eight minutes for the break.

BMC have confirmed that Kung is out because of a crash involving team-mate Jurgen Roelandts.

We're hearing that Stefan Kung of BMC has withdrawn from the race - we're not sure if that's because he's ill or had a crash, but it's a big blow for Greg van Avermaet the defending champion.

CRASH: Frome nowhere a Movistar rider skids and comes over his handlebars and lands heavily on his shoulder on the grass verge. That was acrobatic and extremely dramatic. We think it's Carlos Barbero. // CORECTION: It's Nelson Oliviera.

More info on the tried-and-tested favourites...

And finally, the slight outsiders with a one-star rating... They are: Florian Senechal, Magnus Cort, Edward Theuns, Dylen Groenewegen, Marcel Sieberg, Damien Gaudin, Sylvain Chavanel, Mathew Hayman (the surprise 2016 winner), Geraint Thomas, Luke Rowe, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Heinrich Haussler and Stijn Vandenbergh.

The two-star riders? Arnaud Demare, John Degenkolb, Daniel Oss, Jurgen Roelandts, Tony Martin, Oliver Naesen, Matteo Trentin, Gianni Moscon, Dylan van Baarle, Mads Pedersen. Since winning in 2015, Degenkolb hasn't quite been the same rider following his subsequent training crash in Spain. Belgian champion Naesen was in the wars last week in Flanders, while Denmark's Pedersen rode with gusto for second place behind Terpstra in Oudenaarde after featuring in the break with Sebastian Langeveld, who was third last year and has two more top tens in Roubaix.

What of the three-star riders? Well, I've put Peter Sagan there. Many will think that the triple world champion merits a higher rating - but the Slovakian showman has never finished in the top 5 here and last year, after two punctures, was a lowly 38th. But he does have Daniel Oss as a loyal Bora-Hansgrohe team-mate today, and that could make a huge difference for him in the finale. Others on three stars are the 2015 Flanders winner Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates), Belgian nearly-man Sep Vanmarcke (EF-Drapac) and a fourth from the Wolf Pack, Yves Lampaert. Kristoff has been a bit off-the-boil since his move from Katusha, but he knows what it takes to win over the cobbles, Vanmarcke surely must deliver some time soon, while Dwars door Vlaanderen winner Lampaert could go under the radar because of his illustrious team-mates.

Latest mud-on-cobbles news from the first sector (#29 at Troisvilles) coming up in a 10 minutes or so.

Right, let's take advantage of this lull to run through the main favourites. The way I see it, Quick-Step could finish with three on the podium - although clearly they won't. But they are that strong. For me, the five-star riders for today are last week's Ronde van Vlaanderen winner Niki Terpstra and his Quick-Step team-mate Zdenek Stybar, who was runner-up last year. The four-star riders are Philippe Gilbert - despite not having raced here since 2007 - and the defending champion Greg van Avermaet of BMC. The latter has had a disappointing season - and clearly misses Daniel Oss, who was so influential in his victory last year - but cannot be discounted because of his class. Outsiders Wout van Aert (Verandas Willems-Crelan) and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) also merit four starts - the former because of his promise and skills in the mud, the latter because of his consistency.

The lead balloons to 8:18 for the nine escapees, who are combining well together ahead of the first cobbled section on the horizon. Quick-Step, Bora-Hansgrohe, Ag2R-La Mondiale are all prominent on the front of the peloton working for their men Gilbert/Stybar/Terpstra, Sagan and Naesen.

The temperature is much warmer than many expected today - as you can see...

In total there are 29 sectors of cobbles covering 54.5km. Ranging from just 700 metres long to 3.7km, the first sector of cobbles comes after 93.5km of racing while the past is located just 1km from the finish inside the historic Roubaix velodrome. Like the famous hairpin bends of Alpe d'Huez, the cobbled sectors are numbered and tackled in reverse order. The three most famous sectors are the five-star rated Trouee d'Arenberg (#19 with 95km remaining), Mons-en-Pevele (#11 with 48.5km remaining) and the Carrefour de l'Arbre (#4 with 17km to go).

The gap is up to 6:40 for the nine leaders at they edge within 25-odd kilometres from the first cobbled section at Troisville - yes, that one with all the mud tweeted just minutes ago...

More mud! Look at the conditions of the cobblestones at Troisvilles, courtesy of Andy McGrath of Rouleur magazine.

The two groups have now joined forces so we have nine leaders with a gap of almost five minutes. They are: Sven Erik Bystrøm (UAE Team Emirates), Silvan Dillier (AG2R La Mondiale), Marc Soler (Movistar Team), Ludovic Robeet (WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic), Jimmy Duquennoy (WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic), Jelle Wallays (Lotto Soudal), Geoffrey Soupe (Codifis), Jay Robert Thomson (Dimension Data) and Gatis Smukulis (Delko Marseille Provence KTM).

The pace has slowed in the pack. Everyone is taking a leak, talking to their DS, chewing the fat and taking a breather. Philippe Gilbert and Jack Bauer are deep in conversation. They're former Quick-Step team-mates, with Bauer now at Mitchelton-Scott after making the move with Matteo Trentin over the winter. They're apparently talking about Bauer's little spill earlier. Perhaps they're talking about Gilbert's prospects, too. The Belgian needs to win Roubaix to keep up his quest to win all five of cycling's monuments - he also lacks Milan-Sanremo. But it's odd to see the 36-year-old named the favourite today, given this is his first time on the cobbles of northern France for over a decade.