Welcome to live coverage of stage six of the Tour de France where severe crosswinds could be a factor as the peloton take on the exposed 176.5km from Aix-en-Provence to Montpellier.

Thierry Bricaud, the directeur sportif of FDJm has just spoken to French TV about the struggling Nacer Bouhanni: "He's not going very well. The start was fairly calm because he was well supported. But since the pace has gone up, he's really started to suffer. It's a nightmare day which has just started for him. I know that he will do his best to hang on because he's a courageous chap." That may be, but he looks like he's about to cry as he downs a can of coke alongside his team car.

GreenEdge, Katusha, Saxo Bank and Sky are all prominent on the front of the pack. Alberto Contador is there in the wheel of Mick Rogers, formerly of Sky.

Nacer Bouhanni is really struggling. The Frenchman reaches the top of the climb on his own more than two minutes down on the peloton. The crowds beside the road on the climb are huge - and so he's getting a good cheer. And once at the top, his team car slows to allow him to draft on the downhill. To be fair, it's a scandel that Bouhanni is still on the race and yet Ted King of Cannondale was thrown off the other day. FDJ are breaking practically every rule in the book.

The riders are onto the Cat.4 Col de la Vayede, which has an average gradient of 7% but lasts only 700m. Sky have come to the front, with BMC and Movistar.

Eurosport spoke to Andre Greipel this morning about today's stage. "It's sad that we've lost one of our main riders in Jurgen van den Broeck, who is such a solid rider. But we must look forward. I'm sure it will be a sprint finish today and I think we have a chance. We came to Montpellier two years ago and so the finish is familiar. I'm not nervous because I have proved myself in the intermediate sprints."

Andre Greipel takes the points at the intermediate sprint ahead of Mark Cavendish, Alexander Kristoff and Peter Sagan. The German rider from Lotto Belisol has been very convincing in the intermediate sprints - but has just not done the business so far at the business end of stages. That sprint puts Sagan up to 124pts, with Cavendish on 93pts, Kristoff on 91pts and Greipel on 85pts.

Nairo Quintana is receiving some attention from the medical car - just a bit of lotion on that cut knee of his. The intermediate sprint is coming right up - and then we'll have the only climb of the day ahead of the long and flat ride to the finish. Quintana is joined by Bouhanni off the back - the FDJ sprinter looks utterly miserable.

CRASH: It's that man Quintana of Movistar, who hits the deck after catching the kerb on a round-about. He's ok and back on his bike, but that will have ruffled his feathers a bit. Many think the Colombian can ride to a top five finish in Paris - but today he will face serious pressure in the crosswinds. He is exactly the kind of rider who could get caught out by the echelons...

The white jersey is Polish 23-year-old Michal Kwiatkowski of OPQS. He's 16 seconds ahead of Garmin's Andrew Talansky and 19 seconds clear of Nairo Quintana of Movistar.

It's a Omega Pharma-GreenEdge mulch on the front of the pack. It's an odd scenario, not having a break out in front. But with the winds that are expected, the race inside the peloton should be the main event today.

Luis Angel Mate has been caught by the peloton. The Cofidis rider went away at the outset, hoping to tempt someone else along with him, but no one was playing ball, and the Spaniard had to ride along on his own. He did have a five-minute advantage at one point, but has seen the futility in it and so took his foot off the gas.

Poor Nacer Bouhanni - the FDJ sprinter is suffering another tricky day. His Tour has been hampered by gastroenteritis and then yesterday, he was involved in that big pile up when ploughing into the back of one of the sprint lead-out men when they peeled off after the final bend. Bouhanni is currently riding off the back of the peloton and shaking his head.

WEATHER UPDATE: It's hot, hot, hot, with the thermometre drifting between 29°C and 33°C. The winds later on are expected to get up to as high as 50kmh, which would be very entertaining for us viewers. Mate is currently riding through the shade of a collonade of plane trees - he'll like that brief respite. His lead is tumbling down, mind: just two minutes at the latest check.

Pierre Rolland retained the polka dot jersey despite being caught up in that crash on the Col de la Gineste. He didn't go down hard, but both he and Europcar co-leader Thomas Voeckler did taste the tarmac. Rolland is milking the polka dots once again today, with a spotted bike on top of the full outfit and helmet. He has 10pts with Simon Clarke and Blel Kadri both on 5pts, and Thomas de Gendt on 4pts after he went on the attack yesterday.

Luis Angel Mate eats a cereal bar as he continues his lone ride on the front of the race. He has five minutes over the pack now and he's the first Cofidis rider to attack in this year's Tour de France. He'll certainly wish he had some company out there in the blazing early afternoon heat...

Sean Kelly thinks wind could be a factor today. The Eurosport TV analyst said: "The echelons will be a recipe for disaster for some of the GC riders and I can foresee some riders losing time today."

Sylvain Chavanel at the start: "Many think Cavendish is the favourite today but we're not going to be complacent. There's still a lot of work to do and we will have to be ready for the crosswinds. The objective will be to place ourselves on the front and avoid any split."

Luis Mate is 31:26 down on Simon Gerrans on GC so he's no threat to the yellow jersey. The gap continues to grow for the Spaniard - almost five minutes now.

The Omega Pharma-Quick Step team of Mark Cavendish have come to the front of the peloton to monitor the situation. They will relish the cross winds later in the day before trying to set up their man for successive wins. Cavendish likes Montpellier - he won here in 2011.

Lone escapee Luis Mate (Cofidis) now has four minutes over the peloton. It looks like the Spaniard will have to tackle those expected crosswinds later in the stage all alone...

Christien Vande Velde also crashed badly yesterday, coming down hard on the left-hand side of the road on the mini-pile up than split the peloton on the Col de la Gineste 15km from the finish. The American landed heavily, and his bike was thrown about 10m through the air. He had his ankle run over by a Cofidis rider, but more seriously he aggravated an old collarbone injury (loosening a metal screw), hurt his back and suffered a blood clot to the neck. He's in pain, but continues - for now.