Hello and welcome along to our live coverage of stage 14 of the Tour de France. Today's route takes the riders 181.5km from Blagnac to Rodez and rolls gently for much of the day, so it should be won by an all-rounder, and possibly out of the breakaway.

Still no sign of Quick-Step Floors chipping in at the front of the bunch. Either Philippe Gilbert is on an off-day, or they're going to let BMC and Sunweb do all the work and then try to steal the glory at the end.

John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) is another potential winner today. Here's what he had to say before the stage: "We have to make sure that it's small group in the beginning and not too strong. It's not easy. The day is always up and down with quite difficult climbs approaching the finale. BMC and others should be strong enough to control the break and I hope I arrive in perfect conditions to the final climb and hope for the best."

Colbrelli is indeed the man Bahrain-Merida are working for. Here he was speaking before the stage: "I know that my name is often cited for this stage and it is true that it is a finale that suits me perfectly. But it also suits other riders like Greg Van Avermaet or Michael Matthews. We did a recon with Philippe Mauduit and I think I now the finale pretty well. The form is pretty good. We'll see."

The breakaway's lead is now 2min 20sec. It dropped briefly to about 1min 50sec, but BMC Racing and Team Sunweb knocked off the pace to let it swell again. They're getting help on the front from Bahrain-Merida. Not quite sure who they are working for, but my guess would be Sonny Colbrelli.

Here was the result of the intermediate sprint:

1. Thomas De Gendt, 20 pts

2. Maxime Bouet, 17 pts

3. Thomas Voeckler, 15 pts

4. Reto Hollenstein, 13 pts

5. Timo Roosen, 11 pts

At 2.05:

6. Marcel Kittel, 10 pts

7. Michael Matthews, 9 pts

8. Fabio Sabatini, 8 pts

9. André Greipel, 7 pts

10. Sonny Colbrelli, 6 pts

11. Jack Bauer, 5 pts

12. Roy Curvers, 4 pts

13. Zdenek Stybar, 3 pts

14. Amaël Moinard, 2 pts

15. Danilo Wyss, 1 pt

The peloton now come through the sprint, with Kittel taking sixth place (behind the five breakaway riders) and Matthews having to settle for seventh. So Kittel extends his lead of the points classification.

The breakaway have just gone through the intermediate sprint, with De Gendt taking maximum points ahead of Bouet and then Voeckler.

One man to keep an eye on today is UAE Team Emirates' Diego Ulissi, who could be a decent outside bet for the win. Here's what he had to say before the stage started: "Yesterday we pulled hard for Louis [Meintjes] because his position on GC was threatened by riders like Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana, who were close to him in the overall ranking. It helped me understand that my condition is good ahead of a few stages that suit my characteristics.”

The riders are now approaching the day's intermediate sprint. If Michael Matthews is going to keep his hopes of the green jersey alive, he has to bag a big haul of points today. Here are the current standings in the points classification:

Today's stage finish is an exact replica of stage 13 of the 2015 Tour, which was won by Greg Van Avermaet, just ahead of Peter Sagan. Those two finished three seconds ahead of third-placed Jan Bakelants and seven seconds ahead of the main body of the peloton. That's why, with Sagan already out of this year's race, Van Avermaet is being looked at as the man to beat today.

It seems waiting for Hollenstein was futile for the breakaway, because their lead has been cut to 2min 20sec. This is turning into a nice, steady day for the general classification teams, who are all tucked deep inside the peloton getting plenty of shelter.

It seems the decision was taken in the breakaway to wait for Hollenstein, which may have been part of the reason the gap held at 2min 45sec for so long. Here's Fortuneo-Oscaro sport director Denis Leproux to explain: "It's better to have him with us; he's a super rouleur. I told Maxime Bouet to wait for him and to not take any turn as long as the other riders wouldn't wait for Hollenstein. Luckily, all four have agreed on waiting for him. Considering what's happening at the head of the peloton, the breakaway is destined to fail again, but whoever doesn't try has no chance to succeed.”

The breakaway's lead is still being held at under three minutes by a combination of BMC Racing and Team Sunweb. Philippe Gilbert is another big favourite for today, but so far his Quick-Step Floors team haven't shown their noses at the front, which will be a relief for them given the colossal amount of work they've done on the sprint stages.

Here's Hollenstein joining the breakaway.

Hollenstein has now made it across to the leaders, so the breakaway is up to five. That's a fine effort from the Swiss and he'll need a bit of a rest for a few kilometres now.

Here is what Van Avermaet has to say at the start line a little earlier: "Without Richie [Porte], our main objective now is stage wins. Today is my big chance. I have the support of the whole team to keep the peloton together. Hopefully I can write the same script as two years ago. But the competition is high with [Michael] Matthews, [John] Degenkolb, [Philippe] Gilbert, [Edvald] Boasson Hagen and maybe a few GC guys in the mix as well. But I'm ready for it.

"I feel a lot pressure. I'd prefer to be here helping Richie instead. It's been a hard Tour for me so far because I couldn't show my real good legs. The only big chance I had before today was [stage three in] Longwy. It hasn't been a Tour for attackers so far so I prefer to play my cards from a sprint finish today as well.”

Team Sunweb and BMC Racing are sharing pace-setting duties on the front of the peloton and are now holding the breakaway's lead at between 2min 40sec and 2min 45sec. Sunweb are trying to set up Michael Matthews for the win and BMC are working for Greg Van Avermaet, so it's now looking very unlikely that the breakaway will be allowed to stay away.