The Tour de France continues with another hilly, punchy day of action, this time in Brittany, with a flatter first half of the day before the race will no doubt explode into life over the second half.

In the thick of the action in a blisteringly fast first hour run off at an average speed of over 53kph, the 2018 Tour de France winner's efforts paid off as he made it into a day-long break of five and stayed away until less than 20 kilometres to go to the finish.

This will be Geraint Thomas's final Tour de France. The 2018 champion turned 39 on 25 May, and plans to retire at the end of the season, closing out a remarkable two-decade career. He aims to bow out while still riding well,

With other nations now in the ascendancy, Thomas is the last man standing from a nation that once dominated the Tour de France podium.

Remco Evenepoel is clearly the man to beat in stage five. The Olympic and world time trial champion was superb at the Dauphine where he took 20 seconds out of Jonas Vingegaard and was 48 seconds ahead of Tadej Pogacar. And with no Filippo Ganna or Stefan Bissegger after their stage one crashes it is hard to look beyond the big three.

Geraint Thomas has all but confirmed he will ride the Tour de France one final time, posting on Instagram his ritual pre-race haircuit selfie. Ineos Grenadiers are still yet to announce their eight-man squad for the race, which begins on Saturday, which has led to speculation over the make-up of the team, and also what is delaying the announcement.

Geraint Thomas first rode the Tour de France back in 2007, aboard a Cannondale as part of the Barloworld squad. For most people though his racing days are so deeply intertwined with that of Team Sky, and lately Ineos Grenadiers, that it's strange to think of him not throwing a leg over a Pinarello Dogma F.

A three-week Grand Tour will always contain natural ebbs and flows, and, for much of Monday’s stage between Valenciennes and Dunkirk, it looked as if the peloton had declared an unofficial rest day, with the riders happy to cruise back towards the coast after a weekend of wind, rain and intensity.