Welcome to our live coverage of the 2013 Tour de France! The action gets under way at 11:15 UK time as the riders take on a 213km from Porto Vecchia to Bastia in Le Tour's first ever visit to Corsica.

Given the extraordinary circumstances, the race organisers have decided to award the whole peloton the same time at the finish.

Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) was second and Danny Van Poppel of Vacansoleil took third.

Alberto Contador was one of the riders to crash towards the end – he loses a large slice of time today after hitting the deck in that pile-up that included Sagan and numerous others.

Kittel was perhaps the only major sprinter left by the time the main group hit the finish – and he’ll be the first yellow jersey of this race after a completely unexpected finish in Bastia. No one could have predicted any of that. And it will take a long time for the dust to settle after all those crashes and flashpoints…

Marcel Kittel (Argos Shimano) takes the win and the first yellow jersey!

It’s all back together now for this mini peloton ahead of the finish – surely Kittel is the favourite?

Argos Shimano appeared to have avoided that spill and they have numbers on the front. Cavendish is not there, but an Omega Pharma man has gone for a long solo…

Now Greipel has a puncture and is waiting for a new bike. This is utter chaos.

CRASH: A dozen riders come down near the front of the peloton, including Peter Sagan!

It’s back on! The bus has managed to reverse! The finish will be restored as usual.

This is farcical – the new finish looks like it comes right after a bend in the road.

That has changed everything! Cannondale are now driving the pace for their man Peter Sagan, looking to take advantage of that ridiculous turn of events. Omega Pharma are there now too.

The organiser are having to improvise and bring the finish forward by 3 kilometres.

CHAOS IN CORSICA: a bus is stuck on the finish line with its roof caught in the overhead barrier. It cannot be moved and the peloton is fast approaching…

CRASH: A dozen riders hit the deck near the back of the peloton, including Garmin’s Ryder Hesjedal! There’s a Sky man there too, but it’s not any of the big names – it’s Ian Stannard.

CRASH: Johnny Hoogerland – best known for his high-speed rendez-vous with a barbed wire fence – gets caught up in a soft barrier on the side of the road. The new Dutch national champion hits the deck and will have to fight back on.

The pace has come right down now, with the front of the peloton flat – a rarity in a stage so important with the yellow jersey up for grabs. It has got so leisurely that Jens Voigt even had the time to point to the sky and say: “Look at the flying boat!” He’s not lying: a dinghy just took off from the sea and is flying overhead…

Just spotted Richie Porte on Andreas Kloden’s wheel. You’d normally expect Froome to be right alongside Porte, but there’s no sign of the Briton. He must be there though because most of Sky are near the front. Cadel Evans’s BMC are there too, as are GreenEdge. This is where things will get critical for the finish today – any false move and there could be a spill. The pressure to be near the front is huge.

Sky, Saxo and RadioShack driving the pace – the dynamic has really changed: before this was a stage being controlled by the teams of the sprinters, now it’s the GC men coming out to play. Although, as I write that, Omega Pharma-Quick Step return to the front to restore some normality.

Sky come to the front now as the race joins the motorway – and there are splits appearing in the peloton! Interesting development here… Garmin are near the front too, as are BMC. Numerous riders have been tailed off – although it looks like it will come back together now they peloton leaves the motorway.