Welcome to Eurosport-Yahoo!'s live text comments of stage 3 of the Tour de France, a 198km trek into Brittany from Olonne-sur-Mer to Redon.

We also have videos from the other main contenders for victory today, including Tyler Farrar, Thor Hushovd and Tom Boonen...

Britain's Mark Cavendish is one of the favourites for today's win. The HTC sprinter caught up with Eurosport before today's stage to talk about his objectives.

It's still Garmin-Cervelo setting the pace on the front of the bunch as the five leaders see their gap rise to eight minutes.

Today's trivia question: thanks for your answers below. You're right, both Hushovd and Boonen are sprinters who have worn the yellow jersey in previous years, but the most recent was in fact Romain Feillu. As alex7325 says, the Frenchman wore yellow for a stage in 2008 after a long breakaway in the previous stage, incidentally stage 3. Feillu was then at Agritubel. After his heroics he signed for Vacansoleil with his brother Brice, who has since left for Leopard Trek.

The lead is now 7:25 with the feeding zone coming up in about 20km time, followed by the intermediate sprint.

The race is LIVE NOW on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521) and is also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player:

Finally, Dutchman Niki Terpstra, 27, has a strong track pedigree and was the 2010 national road race champion for the Netherlands. This is Terpstra's first season at QuickStep after four years at Milram. He has ridden in the past three Tours although is yet to record a win. In 2009, he won a stage of the Dauphine and wore the yellow jersey for a day afterwards.

Spain's Ruben Perez, 29, made his Tour debut in 2007 but has yet to win a stage in the Grande Boucle.

Spaniard Jose Gutierrez, 32, rode at ONCE and Banesto before Movistar and has a strong time trial pedigree. This is his eighth Tour de France, his highest position being 21st in 2007. He is still in search of that elusive first stage win...

The gap has ballooned to seven minutes now - but let's continue our run through of the five leaders.

Mickael Delage, 25, is a track specialist who has made the step up (or sideways) to road racing, although he remains active on the track. The Frenchman made his debut in the Tour back in 2007 and has ridden in every race since, although he was forced to retire last year. This is Delage's first year back at FDJ after two years at Lotto.

Maxime Bouet, whose name means "mud" in French, is 24 and has never won a stage on the Tour - although he did finish second last year in stage 3 of the race - much to the chagrin of then yellow jersey Fabian Cancellara. Spartacus has ordered the peloton to slow down in protest of the dangerous conditions, the aim being to cross the line as one following Sylvain Chavanel's breakaway win. But Bouet couldn't resist to pull out and cross the line a bike length ahead of the bunch.

The lead dropped under the five-minute mark but then crept back up again. I think we should take this opportunity to take a closer look at the careers of the five men out in front...

Did you know that today's finish town, Redon, is famous for its chestnuts? This is the Tour's first ever visit to Redon too...

The five escapees have been working well together since attacking inside the first kilometre of today's stage. The gap is now 5:15. Garmin-Cervelo are controlling things on the front of the peloton but there's no real concern at the moment. In fact, the average speed of racing today is a pretty low 40.1 km/h.

Looking at your comments below, it seems that there is no general consensus who is going to win today. Cavendish, Farrar, Goss and Petacchi are some of your suggestions. /// Phil Hasenkamp asks: "Is­ there any possibility that Hushovd and his team could make­ enough of a time gap for him before the mountains -­ and after - to win the Tour?" >> About as much chance as seeing Mark Cavendish ride into Paris with the polka dot jersey I'm afraid...

Today's trivial question: Big Thor Hushovd is wearing the yellow jersey today but who was the last sprinter to don the maillot jaune? Answers and debate below in the comment section...

The lead has grown to 4:50. Today's stage features one fourth category climb which comes atop the imposing Saint-Nazaire bridge after 143km. With just one miserly point up for grabs for whoever crosses the summit first, one of these five men could well be in the polka dot jersey tomorrow. Perhaps that might explain the presence of Perez... Indeed, when was the last time you saw an Euskaltel rider in a breakaway on a flat stage?

A snippet from our latest Blazin' Saddles blog: "The simple reality of the first two days' racing is that crashes have proved pivotal. Things would have been so different had that lady in yellow remembered she was watching a bike race, or if Eisel had remembered that if you touch wheels on a tight bend you'll probably hit the deck. Instead of Thor in the lead and Contador languishing in 75th place, we'd have Martin in yellow and Bertie within winking distance of his rivals."

Following on from the last comment, it's actually Evans who is wearing the polka dot jersey today, although Gilbert's the only rider with a point in the competition. The same thing happened yesterday with Thor Hushovd, who wore the polka dots despite not having a point, by virtue of his third-place finish beding Gilbert and Evans. Latest on the time gap of the five escapees: 3:20.

A reminder of the leaders of all the main competitions: Thor Hushovd is, of course, in yellow - one second ahead of Australia's Cadel Evans; Philippe Gilbert, winner of stage one, leads both the green and polka dot jersey competions; Geraint Thomas is in white. Will things change today? Have your say below...