Bonjour le Tour! Yes, hello, and welcome to live coverage of stage two of the Grande Boucle - another one for the sprinters, although what with all that drama yesterday, we all know that anything can happen on the Tour...

Not ideal placing for Dylan Groenewegen, who is in the white jersey. The Dutch sprinter is off the back of the peloton after an apparent mechanic - and despite having a couple of LottoNL-Jumbo riders with him, he may miss out on contesting this intermediate sprint.

The gap has dropped under four minutes again for lone leader Sylvain Chavanel, who rides his custom orange-alloy Wilier through the intermediate sprint to take the 20pts.

What's Peter Sagan's favourite breakfast? This and much (ok, some) more in the latest #AskSagan offering...

Confirmation from Trek Segafredo that Grmay withdrew because of 'severe abdominal pain'. The Ethiopian's absence will be keenly felt by his team leader Bauke Mollema.

Many riders in the pack have stopped for a call of nature, including Fernando Gaviria. The yellow jersey is now freewheeling off the back of the peloton - he'll be mindful of the intermediate sprint coming up, but not that concerned about getting back to the stress of the front of the pack. Chavanel's lead is now back above the four-minute mark.

Chavanel manages to swat away a bee before getting a sting. His lead is creeping up again.

Chavanel's lead is down to 2'45" now as the pace starts to increase in the pack ahead of the intermediate sprint, which is coming along in about 20km. Mirroring the Frenchman off the front of the pack is Lawson Craddock off the back: the American is currently yo-yoing from peloton to team cars following his crash yesterday.

Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (Dimension Data) comes to a standstill ahead of a tight left-hander. He's dropped a chain and it takes him an age to sort it because the offending chain is stuck between his crank and the frame. A spectator tries to help and the South African gives him short shrift.

This is Sylvain Chavanel's 350th day on the Tour de France. It's also his 18th Tour having failed to finished just two of his previous 17 Tours (2007 - stage 17; 2012 - stage 15).

BMC, Sky and Movistar have come near the front now alongside Quick-Step - perhaps mindful that there have been a few incidents over the last few kilometres. We still have no update on Grmay's withdrawal, nor any replay of the Molard crash. As for Chavanel, he's still four minutes ahead.

CRASH: Frenchman Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) is on the tarmac. He has a tear in his big shorts and is limping around as he waits for a new bike. It doesn't look good. Hard to know what happened there. He was near a kerb and perhaps he clipped that, or has a touch of wheels. He's on his way now but grimacing in pain.

We have our first withdrawal! And it's not Lawson Craddock, who has been suffering with that shoulder injury, but the Ethiopian Tsgabu Grmay (Trek Segafredo). He pulled up and it looked like he was merely waiting for mechanical assistance or a bike change. But when his team car came, they put his bike on the roof, patted him on the back, and the 26-year-old got in the car. How peculiar. Grmay shows no signs of injury so he must be suffering from illness or have a personal crisis. Let's hope he's ok.

The pack zips through the feed zone and it's still Quick-Step Floors setting the tempo as Chavanel rides with a 4'10" advantage.

Lotto Soudal have sent some riders to the front ahead of the feed zone. Their sprinter Andre Greipel was badly positioned and could only take 26th place in yesterday's chaotic finale.

Chavanel passes the 100-to-go mark with four minutes to play with.

World champion Peter Sagan stops on the side of the road to sort out a problem with his helmet. A soigneur from Bora-Hansgrohe gets out of the team car to help him out, while the Slovakian showman himself takes the opportunity to take a leak in a bush. He'll be one of the favourites again today having taken second place yesterday.

Chavanel, on his trademark orange bike, milks in the support from the fans on the side of the road - and manages to join in some birthday celebrations with his team manager. He has just over four minutes to play with now.

While Chavanel ploughs a lonely furrow why not watch all the highlights and analysis from our friends at GCN, who dissected those crashes and mechanicals that thwarted some of the yellow jersey favourites yesterday...