Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 3 of the Tour de France - a long and largely flat 223.5-kilometre schlep from Granville to Angers, and a chance for the pure sprinters to battle it out for a stage victory.

Here's Armindo Fonseca sharing his lunch with some fans shortly after the feed zone - a classy touch from the local rider, whose advantage is back up to 3:15.

Fonseca receiving many cheers from the fans lining the road - they've clearly been listening to the radio and know that their local rider is passing through in pole position. But not for much longer: his gap is down to 2:45. It's now a question of how long can he hold on - not just out ahead but back in the peloton once they gobble him up.

The pace is really sedate in the pack - even so, Fonseca's advantage has come down to 3:30. It's no bother - his aim was to ride into Brittany alone and pass though his home region on the head of the race. He knew he'd have no chance staying out all the way to the end.

The jersey we haven't mentioned today is the white youth jersey, which is being worn by Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe of Etixx-QuickStep. Alaphilippe finished second yesterday and leads compatriot Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin) by six seconds on GC. Below, Alaphilippe is chatting at the start in Granville with his mate Alexis Gougeard of Ag2R-La Mondiale.

Armindo Fonseca (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) passes through the food zone at Javene with a gap of just over four minutes. He makes a big effort to dish out his musette and empty bidons to fans on the side of the road. But he's probably just rather lonely out there, having been on the attack since the opening kilometre. It's a good moment to link to Jono Harris-Bass's daily food blog, which he's writing during the Tour. Bon appetit!

Our lone leader is on another uphill drag as he approaches the town of Fougeres. He won the GP de Fougeres here in 2010 as an amateur, so he'll have happy memories of the place. His gap is now 5:15 so he's clearly struggling now after his early exertions. It's worth adding that Balzac's novel Les Chouans takes place in Fougeres during the French Revolution. And of course, Mark Cavendish won a stage in last year's Tour at Fougeres.

Meanwhile, it's the Tinkoff team of yellow jersey Peter Sagan who set the pace on the front of the pack, with Jasper Stuyven's Trek-Segafredo team tucked in just behind. The pace is very slow today so we could well have a later-than-scheduled finish in Angers. Fonseca's gap is now 5:35.

Here was the moment Armindo Fonseca attacked inside the first few kilometres today. His lead was 11 minutes and now it's down to just under seven minutes as he approaches his home region - a lovely day out for him, his family, friends and fans.

Armindo Fonseca realises his dream by leading the race into his native Brittany via the town of Les Loges-Marchis - which is where Greg LeMond famously threw in the towel during stage 6 of the 1994 Tour de France. That marked the end of the American's cycling career and so our Eurosport ambassador will have an emotional day no doubt today. Fonseca's lead has crept back up to 6:45 for the Frenchman.

The average speed over the first two hours of the race today has been 34.2km/h - a reflection on both the energy-sapping rolling roads and the weary legs of the riders after two tough opening stages. Unlike yesterday, there's no rain and the sun is out with a temperature of 24 degrees celsius.

It was all smiles for Sagan yesterday but a bittersweet stage for his Tinkoff team after Alberto Contador crashed for a second day running. The Spaniard hit the deck in a mass slow-speed pile-up in the pack - and while it wasn't serious, added to his opening day high-speed tumble, it clearly had an impact. Contador was distanced on the final climb and lost 48 seconds to his main rivals. Here you can see the spill that brought down the two-time winner yesterday...

Decked out head-to-tow (pretty much) in green today is Britain's Mark Cavendish, winner of the opening stage at Utah Beach. Cavendish is actually second in the points standings - behind Peter Sagan - but the Slovakian is in yellow today (instead of his usual rainbow stripes as world champion). Sagan has 87pts to Cavendish's 63, with German duo MArcel Kittel (50) and Andre Greipel (40) a bit further back.

Fonseca was born in Rennes, which is 30km from the route when the race passes through the town of Vitre. He's the only rider from Brittany in the Fortuneo-Vital Concept team and so he'll be enjoying his day out in front of the race. Currently 3:06 down in 97th place on GC, Fonseca is the virtual maillot jaune - although his lead (which was 11 minutes at one point) is down to 5:45.

It's also worth noting that four current riders in the peloton have won races in today's finish town - as stated by our friends at Le Tour.

It's worth noting that Fonseca's hometown of Ile-et-Vilaine comes after 66km of riding - so that's probably the motivation for him being out today. He's clearly tiring out there, with his lead dropping to six minutes now. The 27-year-old is riding his third consecutive Tour having finished 138th and 119th in his first two efforts. He has two pro wins to his name - the Tour de Vendee and stage 1 of the Boucles de la Mayenne both in 2013. The race enters the Mayenne department today so Fonseca will know these roads well.

Lone leader Fonseca picked up the solitary KOM point atop the Cat.4 Côte de Villedieu-les-Poêles earlier in the stage, which came after 25km of riding. That puts him in joint third in the polka dot jersey standings on one point alongside team-mate Vegard Breen and Roman Kreuziger of Tinkoff. Paul Voss (Bora-Argon 18) is on two points while Belgian Jasper Stuyven - the Trek-Segafredo rider who came so close to winning yesterday in Cherbourg - leads with four points.

Back in the house after the Facebook live, so let's bring you the latest: that man Armindo Fonseca has a huge lead of almost eight minutes. It was up at 11 minutes earlier, but the pack has managed to claw back some time. Impressive stuff from the Frenchman at the wildcard pro-continental team - but it's a long day in the saddle and so too early to say he's going to hold on.

Right, I'm heading to the Eurosport studio to do a Facebook chat about the opening two days of the race - tune in here in about five minutes to join and ask your questions...

ATTACK: After four kilometres we have our first attack of the day... And it's Armindo Fonseca of Fortuneo-Vital Concept who has soloed clear on his lonesome. Bold.

Peter Sagan, yesterday's winner and the yellow jersey from Tinkoff, was all smiles as the riders rolled out of Granville this morning...

Here's what's on the menu today for the 198 riders - all of whom took to the start today despite some sore limbs following those opening weekend crashes...