Welcome to stage five of the Tour de France - a 196.5km jaunt through the Picardy region from Rouen to St Quentin that will no doubt end in a mass bunch sprint (not to mention the odd pile-up).

Bradley Wiggins stuffs what looks like a huge slab of cheese into his mouth and is munching away inside the peloton.

About 80 percent of the peloton has stopped for a natural break. World champion Mark Cavendish takes the chance to change his right shoe. That is one mass 'comfort stop'.

The peloton is now approaching the sprint and the lead out trains are forming... and it's Cavendish who takes fifth ahead of Goss, who surged fast from way back, and then Renshaw, Sagan, Van Hummel and Boasson Hagen.

The four leaders have passed through the intermediate sprint at Breteuil. They crossed in this order: 1. Ladagnous, 2. Urtasun, 3. Simon, 4. Ghyselinck. But it was uncontested.

QUIZ: Name the one rider who has finished in the top 25 in every stage so far, including the prologue.

Eurosport caught up with Rabobank's Mark Renshaw this morning before the start and asked him about yesterday's crash: "Unfortunately Eisel and Cav crashed in front of me and I had nowhere to go so I did a commando role. There's only Lotto, GreenEdge and Skimano who have a train and so there are queues of sprinters trying to get on the end of three trains."

Lunch time for the four leaders, whose advantage has come down to 3:30 but will no doubt rise once the peloton get their hands on their own musettes.

Team Sky's Bernie Eisel, who was at the centre of that huge pile-up yesterday, drops back to the medical car for some attention. The German had five stitches above his right eye yesterday, plus hirt his left arm and left hip.

The second hour of racing today was even slower than the first, with an average speed of 38.5kmh for the leading quartet. It's Philippe Gilbert's 30th birthday today. Perhaps he's one to consider in St Quentin? Although only if he has a long-pop from distance - the kind of audacious coup he pulled off frequently last year...

Today's intermediate sprint is coming up in about 20km. It will be interesting to see who takes part - should Cavendish stay in the pack, it may be a sign that he's lost all interest in the green jersey competition. You'd expect Matt Goss to have a go - he's up to second in the standings. Of course, they will be racing for fifth place: the four leaders still have 4:45 over the bunch.

Gary, I think you're getting in a muddle. Greipel did not contest the intermediate sprint yesterday - he prefered to stay fresh for the finish. Perhaps you're thinking about the incident on Tuesday when Cavendish laid into Kenny van Hummel after the intermediate sprint after the Dutchman served a bit to box in Cav?

This is what Gary believes: "I think Cav will have a point to prove today, he's­ probably thinking he would have won yesterday so will­ want to prove to the others that he can still dominate­ in a bunch sprint when given the chance. I am­ intrigued to know what he said to Greipel after the­ intermediate on Wednesday, he seemed from the video­ that he was turning towards him as he tore past and­ gestured to him afterwards too."

Who do you think will win the stage? Can Cavendish bounce back from his fall yesterday and take a second win - or will that pleasure go to Greipel? The uphill finish may suit Peter Sagan, the green jersey, who would make it a debut hat-trick were he to win in St Quentin. Others to consider are Goss, Petacchi and Veelers, not to mention Hutarovic, Renshaw and Van Hummel. Internet users, have your say below...

The finish today is not that straight forward. There are two tight bends in the penultimate kilometre and then just before the Flamme Rouge, there's a roundabout that looks like it can be negotiated either side. As for the actual finish, it's slightly uphill at 2.8% for the final kilometre, with a max of 4% before it eases for the line.

The peloton is really taking it easy - with riders grouping together in teams and rolling along at a gradual pace. Hard man Jens Voigt leads the pack for RadioShack. Meanwhile, yellow jersey Fabian Cancellara and Ivan Basso have a chat about 30 riders back, behind a cluster of Europcar riders. For the first time since the start of the Tour, there are no Europcar riders in the break.

The sun is still shining, but the clouds on the horizon are grey and ominous. Apparently it's raining chats and chiens at the finish in St Quentin. The leaders are on a light uphill drag and have 5:11 over the pack.

Sean Yates spoke to the Tour's official website today about Mark Cavendish, who crashed yesterday. "I think his morale is okay," he said. "We shall see how he gets through the day and hopefully the hand will be okay. If it’s not then obviously it's going to be a little tricky. First and foremost we’ve got to see that he's okay on the bike. At the moment he looks okay but we won't really know until he's riding properly in a race situation. We’ll take it from there."

Spaniard Pablo Urtasun was part of a break in stage one. He has five UCI wins to his name and this is the 32-year-old's second Tour. He finished 149th in his debut last year. Finally, Julien Simon is making his debut in the Tour. The 26-year-old Saur Sojasun rider has four UCI wins to his name this year: GP de Plumelec-Morbihan, Tour de Finistere and two stages in the Volta a Catalunya.

Let's take a closer look at the four breakaway riders. 27-year-old Matthieu Ladagnous is a track specialist with 11 UCI wins to his name. This is the Frenchman's third Tour and his best result is 5th place in the opening stage in 2010. Belgian Jan Ghyselinck is riding his debut Tour for Cofidis. the 24-year-old Belgian is a former U23 national time trial champion.

Lotto Belisol, RadioShack, Saxo Bank and FDJ are all near the front of the peloton. Sky, in their yellow helmets, are sitting in the middle of the pack at the moment. The gap is 5:18 for the four leaders.

In the youth standings, Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) is still one second ahead of Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen, with Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) in third, 12 seconds back. And finally, in our standings round-up, Team Sky are still the best overall team and as such wear those notorious yellow helmets.