15:58 - We received tons of emails for our our "Looky Likey" contest, and could not find one better than Stefan Schumacher and "The Brain" from the old cartoon "Pinky and the Brain." Ben Graetzer, you are our Weiner! Email me at jstahl@eurosport.com to receive your prize of a copy of Matt Rendell's "The Death of Marco Pantani: A biography"

0km - Thor Hushovd goes off the front, but he is quickly boxed out, McEwen goes off and Cavendish easily passes him... AND MARK CAVENDISH HAS WON A FOURTH STAGE!! Astonishing.

2km - Milram and Liquigas battling for position now....

5km - Gap up to ten seconds for Chavanel, who is really giving it a go, Milram should be able to pull this in though.

9km - OUCH!! Gerolsteiner rider Sven Krauss hit a road sign in the middle of the street and flipped over! His bike has split in half!! That has to hurt.

10km - Ronan in Dublin says "Everybody's favourite drug cheat looks like Tintin". A reference to Riccardo Ricco is accompanied by a great picture of the Belgian comic star with a big question mark coming out of a speech bubble as he's bitten by his dog Milou. And then there's a good one of Ricco grinning stupidly in a snazzy suit with rock star shades and a gold belt.

11km - Alex in London has sent us a good one of Christian Knees as Ziggy Stardust era David Bowie.

15km - Gap at 1'06 for Brard and Auge and 1'10 for the peloton as the two Frenchman are about to be swallowed up.

18km - Terpstra has 1'40 over the peloton and one minute over the two chasing Frenchman.

22km - The gap to the yellow jersey group is now 1'31, with Bard and Auge now riding together and chasing at about 50 seconds back.

28km - Jim DeCamp from Lincoln, Nebraska writes: "Is Robbie McEwen posing as an actor or is John Leguizamo posing as a cyclist?" Great pictures of both men Jim.

32km - Normally to win in Nîmes, you have to attack alone or be part of an early escape group. For half a century winners have come from breakaways or late solo attacks. The last time the finish was in Nimes in 2004, Aitor Gonzalez lefts his nine break-away companions seven kilometres from the finish line.

36km - The gap, which had dipped under a minute 30, is now back up over two minutes.

41km - Flecha has gone off at the Saint-Bauzille-de-Montmel sprint to take the final point in order to protect Oscar Freire's green jersey. Freire possibly not feeling at his strongest today. Flecha has really been working more for Menchov than Freire this year. And it looks like he's going to counter attack now!! Stéphane Auge joins him.

47km - Gap hits two minutes and dropping. Columbia and FDJ still very much at the front of this peloton. FDJ obviously riding for Frenchman Sebastien Chavenel, who looked good in finishing second, despite being well behind Mark Cavendish in yesterday's sprint.

53km - Les Hearn has asked: "Does anyone there know how TdF climbs are categorised? It would be interesting to be able to compare some of these climbs to ones in the UK, like Ditchling Beacon near Brighton (where the TdF went a few years back) and Highgate West Hill in N London, a very steep but short climb, where the Tour of Britain went a couple of years ago."

55km - Looky Likey contest update: Jonty in Oslo asking "Is Linus' younger brother not Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter???" They definitely have the slicked blonde hair. Yon from Prague says "I think that George Hincapie and Lurch from the Adams Family kind of look alike. No offense meant to Big George." And another Addams Family reference, as Bruce Fryer from Alabama compares Mikel Astraloza to "Gomez Addams (the father in the old Addams Family TV show)". So John Astin, now 78, and not the late, great Raul Julia.

56km - The two go over the top of the Pic Saint-Loup ascent with a 2'33 advantage. Sebastian Lang takes the third point and easily retains his polka dot jersey.

67km - Peter in North Kent has written in with this question: "Always wondered what the life of pro cyclists is like in the longer term. Is there any information on life expectancy? Putting a body through the extremes of such as Tour cycling must change the body, presumably it could shorten or lengthen life. Also effect quality of life in others ways (heart, knees, arthritis, strokes, ... madness!). I'd appreciate any information on the long term health consequences of being a Tour cyclist."

72km - Karen has written in with this fantastic comparison, much better than anything we could write: "Yes I'm stretching this a bit far but I do think my 5 month old cocker spaniel Barney is definitely competition for Cippo, and I'd say he'd be much more popular with the ladies. And the lads. He has an unpleasant habit of letting loose stinky air biscuits though, perhaps unlike Cippo." HA!

74km - Gap down to four minutes.

78km - It's Friday Feed Zone time for us bloggers and commentators. I've opted for a big white chocolate chip cookie and a double chocolate brownie (I like to mix things up), while we see that Stephen Roche has similarly avoided the fruit, opting for a flapjack and marshmallow.

86km - Back to the important stuff, our "Looky Likey" contest. Recognising the error of his ways in picking the Schleck brothers, Colin MacDonald has come up with Ed Harris and from Apollo 13 and Wim Vansevenant. While the Ed Harris pic is hilarious, we're not sold on the comparison. Richard Briggs thinks Stefan Schumacher looks like Vin Diesel, while Ben Graetzer has sent in a catalogue of images, most notably Robbie McEwen with a squirrel and Schumacher with Pinky. We believe you mean The Brain, because that's the picture you sent us and the similarity is striking.

95km - One does not want to speculate as the sport suffers yet another black eye, as Piepoli is implicated in doping along with Ricco, but one really does have to wonder about the rest of the Saunier Duval team, especially those riders who did so well in the mountains.

100km - 100K to go and the gap is down to 6'22.

112km - "Looky Likey" update: Chuck from Warren, Ohio likens Pantani to Dumbo, although there are cyclists and former cyclists with bigger ears I'm sure. Rowan Bradley thinks Rabobank domestique Bram Tankink, with his square jaw and curly locks, looks a lot like Chelsea and Germany midfielder Michael Ballack. We see it a bit Rowan.

118km - A sarky Colin MacDonald asks "Would it be too easy to say that Frank Schleck looks a lot like Andy Schleck??" We think it would. Richard Briggs takes another hit at Cadel, comparing him to Phones from the Thunderbirds-esque children's marionette television show Stingray. Poor Cadel.

121km - The leading duo is already on the Cat. 4 Cote de la Resclauze (2.7 km at 4.4% average gradient).

125km - Gap back up to 7'30". The sprinters have been really lucky today with just two men having gone early. Unless another group tries something on the first couple of mountains, which we now doubt, then this is looking good for the fast men.

138km - Eric Wilson has sent us great shots of Moby and Leonardo Piepoli looking very bald, and very non-chalant. Cool customers Leo and Moby are.

142km - Bruce writes in this: "Terpstra and Brard are both more than an hour forty minutes behind on GC, so no threat to any of the leaders. It really depends on whether any of the teams are really inspired to work for a stage win (as opposed to sprint points), and whether a 2-man breakaway is enough to hold off the charge at the end. Question: we haven't seen much of J A Flecha this year - any theories on why not?" I honestly don't know. A couple of the earlier stages suited him very well, but he's really done nothing. Maybe J A is starting to get old?

148km - Gap down to 8'25"

151km - Jonty Bloomfield, who is still searching for oil in Oslo, has this comment: "I'd like to see Cav win his fourth, but perhaps he and his team Columbia are feeling the strain after the Pyranees and such a hard first week? Cav said himself that he was suffering yesterday. I'd like to see him do it again. If not I'll back Oscar Friere or perhaps it could be Gerald Ciolek's turn to shine."

153km - Two more emails in our "Looky Likey" game with Steve comparing Michael "Boogie" Boogerd to Will "Old School" Ferrell and Peter Coulson in Hawick comparing Cadel to his namesake Lee Evans in both pitch of voice and appearance. Lee is slightly more hyperactive, but again we like the thought. Let's add another dimension to this game. Whoever sends us the best peloton "Looky Likey" pick wins a free copy of Matt Rendell's "The Death of Marco Pantani: A biography". It's supposed to be one of the best sports bios around, and after yesterday's catastrophe I think we could all use a pick-me up.

159km - Jon Porter from Chippenham says: "My predicted winner will either be Thor "God of Thunder" Hushovd or Oscar Freire - the parcours doesn't suit Cav and is more like the early stages of this TdF."

162km - Gap up to 9'25....

166km - Mark Whittaker has sent us a photo of Cadel Evans, wearing his wide and spooky grin, and another of Jim Carrey's portrayal of "The Grinch" and asked what we reckon on the subject. I've never seen the two men in the same place, it's true, but I think if you listen to Cadel talk and if you take into account the Grinch's body hair, it's obvious that one of these characters hit puberty before the other. Also, Mr. Grinch is slightly greener. Thanks for the photo Mark, and if anyone wants to play the 'which celebrity does a member of the peloton look like' game, we'd be happy to oblige.

170km - Richard Hoskins of Didcot, Oxfordshire seems to think so. He writes in: "I have to predict another win for the Manx Man Cavendish again today, he is in blistering form this year and proving that he can mix it with what the rest of the world has to offer. He will be out to stamp his mark on this tour by adding to the three other wins and I want to wish him all the best of British." If you want to share your prediction, you can email jstahl@eurosport.com.

172km - A quick note about the weather for this coastal trip through the south of France: The sun is shining brightly with temperatures at 28° Celsius in the shade.

175km - CSC boss Bjarne Riis basically punted when asked for his prediction today by our reporters: "First of all you have to be in the front to be a part of the break-away. I think it's important that you have a strong team, that you have a team that can protect your leaders and just be ready. You have to be very, very careful and near the front in situations like this. It all depends on how the group looks like, who is in the group, who is not, who takes control in the peloton."

179km - Already we have a two-man attack! Niki Terpstra (Milram)) and Florent Brard (Cofidis) went off in the first kilometre of riding.

----- - That prediction contradicts that of former Tour winner Stephen Roche, who told us this morning that he was very confident of a break-away being successful today. We shall see.

----- - There was a vibrant discussion yesterday about the news of Riccardo Ricco's EPO test. I'm still trying to plough through all the emails and will continue to read off some of them today. Peter Gosselin wrote in three hours before today's stage with a lighter note, we think: "Just wanted to say, having watched the replays and highlights of yesterday, what a relief it is to only have one rider wearing yellow. I know that's not the issue, but SDV's yellow jerseys have been annoying me for ages. Can you ask them to sort that out, while they're sorting out next year's riders?"

----- - Our reporters caught up with green jersey Oscar Freire at the start line moments ago: "I'm sure that if the riders of the Columbia team don't work it will be an escape, but if the boys from the Columbia team work hard it will be a sprint once again. I hoe to get a stage victory, and I want to keep hold of this green jersey all the way to Paris."

----- - A bit of history for you, here is the list of past winner at Nimes: 2004: Aitor Gonzalez (Esp) 1986: Franck Hoste (Bel) 1958: André Darrigade (Fra) 1953: Bernard Quennehen (Fra) 1950: Marcel Molines (Fra) 1949: Emile Idée (Fra) 1937: Alphonse Antoine (Fra) 1936: René Le Grevès (Fra) 1935: Vasco Bergamashi (Ita) 1925: Théophile Beeckman (Bel) 1910: François Faber (Lux) 1909: Ernest Paul (Fra) 1908: Lucien Petit-Breton (Fra) 1907: Emile Georget (Fra) 1905: Louis Trousselier (Fra)