Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage six of the Tour de France - a 191.5km rolling ride along the Normandy coast from Abbeville to Le Havre.

Puncture for Edvald Boasson Hagen of MTN-Qhubeka. The Norwegian is one of the riders who has been tipped for victory in today's uphill finish in Le Havre... and ominous start.

ATTACK: Luis Angel Maté of Cofidis bounds clear of the peloton pretty much at the outset. His team-mate Nicolas Edet did the same yesterday, before all hell broke loose when Bouhanni went down with three fellow Cofidis riders.

They're off! Stage six of the 102nd Tour de France is under way...

Following Albasini's withdrawal last night, Orica-GreenEdge were down to six riders. The Australian team already lost Daryl Impey and Simon Gerrans after that high-speed crash in stage three - and with Michael Matthews soldiering on despite cuts, bruises and two broken ribs, things are looking tricky for GreenEdge ahead of Sunday's team time trial. To make matters worse, they were tipped as favourites for that TTT too...

Two riders withdrew yesterday after a flurry of accidents in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France. Frenchman Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) broke a wrist in a fall 12km from the start while New Zealander Jack Bauer (Cannondale-Garmin) broke a femur after 32km. Both riders were taken to hospital. Switzerland's Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge) crashed and completed the stage with a broken arm. He will not take to the start this morning.

The remaining 188 riders are rolling through the neutral section ahead of today's start at Abbeville. After a couple of days of rain and drizzle the sun is back out. The temperature is currently 18 degrees Celsius so we should - in theory - have a cleaner day of racing. That said, winds are expected to buffet the riders when they hit the Normandy coast at Dieppe...

There was no change in the overall standings as another German, Tony Martin of Etixx-QuickStep, retained his yellow jersey. Martin leads Britain's Chris Froome (Team Sky) by 12 seconds and Amercian Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) by 25 seconds.

Yesterday, jolly green giant Andre Greipel - the Gorilla from Rostock - picked up his second win of the race with a commanding victory in stage five at Amiens. The Lotto-Soudal rider extended his lead in the green jersey competition in a day marred by crashes galore and large splits in the peloton after crosswinds caused chaos.