Tour de France Stage 8 as it happened - Van Aert soars to second win ahead of Matthews and Pogacar

It doesn't look like the yellow jersey is too bashed up after that fall. He basically had to slam on the brakes - and when everyone else did the same, a few riders went into the back of him and momentum dictated that he fell on his side. Anyway, he's chatting casually with Rafal Majka as his UAE team lead a splinter group back to the peloton. As a result of that incident, the trio ahead see their gap stretch out a little. Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) tried to bridge over but it came to nothing. Peter Sagan, meanwhile, was also caught up in that crash and needs a bike change. The Slovakian champion started this Tour promisingly but has been a bit out of sorts since his crash before the cobbles on Wednesday.

And this is just why this race is far from over... When a rider from Team DSM and another from Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert rub shoulders and slow, another DSM rider behind, Kevin Vermaeke, slams into the latter's back wheel and then goes badly over his handlebars with a painful-looking landing. Nairo Quintana then ploughed into him and hit the deck himself - and in the melee that followed, the yellow jersey came to grief. It's not too serious for Tadej Pogacar, but it was a wake-up call and he'll now need to chase back on. It looks like Geraint Thomas was also held up, as well as French duo Gaudu and Bardet.

Magnus Cort, the polka dot jersey from EF Education-EasyPost was one of the early movers today - and we saw both Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and his old chum Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) sniffing around with intent. But nothing stuck until three went clear: Fred Wright (Bahrain Victoriious), Frederick Frison (Lotto Soudal) and Matteo Cattaneo (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl). They have around 15 seconds to play with.

UAE Team Emirates are down to seven riders following the withdrawal this morning of the Norwegian Vegard Stake Laengen owing to a positive Covid-19 test. Laengen was in the breakaway yesterday before dropping back to help his teammates with the chase as their man in yellow went on to deliver another win. But he is one of two riders to pack their bags because of a positive Covid test - the other being Geoffrey Bouchard of Ag2R-Citroen. So, that's six riders out so far leaving the peloton with 170 men. That will be a blow for the yellow jersey because Laengen was a key figure on the flatter stages. There's also the concern that, with one positive in the team, others may follow...

Christian Prudhomme waves the flag from the sunroof of his trusty Skoda and today's scrap is under way. There's an early dig from Kristian Sbaragli of Alpecin-Deceuninck but it comes to nothing as the Italian is pegged back and the pace eases in the pack.

Not long to go until today's official start... are we about to see the first successful breakaway on the Tour?

After back-to-back stage wins in the Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar appears to have it all sewn up. Or does he? In yesterday's reaction piece, I took a closer look at the one man who could stand between the Slovenian and a third successive Tour title, Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard.

It's early days, though, and the British team cannot be discounted. After Pogacar and Vingegaard, British duo Geraint Thomas and Adam Yates are lurking with intent in the GC at 1'10" and 1'18" respectively. With Tom Pidcock and Dani Martinez also in the top 10, Ineos have multiples cards to play and they could really ask some questions of their rivals at UAE Team Emirates and Jumbo Visma.

What a finish yesterday as Jonas Vingegaard broke escapee Lennard Kamna's heart in the dying moments of Stage 7 at La Super Planche des Belles Filles - only for the Dane to get pipped to the line in the closing metres by that man in yellow, Tadej Pogacar, who pounced to back-to-back wins off the back of his victory at Longwy. Separated by 35 seconds, are these the only two riders who can win this Tour now?

Bonjour le Tour! Hello and welcome to live coverage of the eighth stage of this pulsating Tour with the race biding farewell to the Vosges and entering the Jura mountains on a lumpy 186km ride from Dole to Lausanne in Switzerland. Four categorised climbs on the menu including the final rise to the finish, where a breakaway could well go the distance - although don't discount a third win on the bounce for the indefatigable Tadej Pogacar...