Tour de France stage guide - Adam Yates profiles the 21 stages of the 2019 race

Dates: 6-28 July. Coverage: Live radio commentary on each stage via the BBC Sport website plus daily BeSpoke podcast.

This year's Tour de France, which began on Saturday in Brussels, is Adam Yates' fourth.

The British rider's best finish is fourth in 2016, when he won the white jersey as best young rider in the race.

The 26-year-old is leading the Mitchelton-Scott team at the 106th edition of the three-week race and he's given BBC Sport his insight into each of the 21 stages.

This page will up updated throughout the Tour with the winner and brief report after each stage has been completed.

Saturday, 6 July - Stage 1: Brussels - Brussels, 194.5km

Michael Teunissen (bottom) pips Peter Sagan on the finish line — Teunissen (bottom) wins his first Tour de France stage and will wear the yellow jersey on stage two

Winner: Michael Teunissen (Ned/Jumbo-Visma)

Report: Thomas 'fine' after crash as Teunissen takes surprise win

Defending champion Geraint Thomas says he is "unhurt" after being involved in a crash around 1.6km from the finish line. Pre-stage favourite Dylan Groenewegen goes down hard in the crash and his team-mate and lead-out man Michael Teunissen takes advantage of having a free role to pip three-time world champion Peter Sagan on the finish line.

Bespoke podcast: Surprise winners on day one

Sunday, 7 July - Stage 2: Brussels, 27.6km team time trial

Jumbo Visma's Steven Kruijswijk celebrates at the end of stage two — Dutch team Jumbo-Visma finished the team time trial 20 seconds ahead of Ineos

Winner: Jumbo-Visma

Report: Thomas puts time into Tour rivals as Teunissen extends race lead

Geraint Thomas gains time on his rivals for the overall Tour de France victory as Team Ineos finish second on stage two's team time trial with Team Ineos. Jumbo-Visma win the stage by 20 seconds, so surprise stage one winner Mike Teunissen extends his race lead.

Bespoke podcast: Ineos pipped at the post

Monday, 8 July - Stage 3: Binche - Epernay, 215km

Winner: Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Deceuninck-Quick Step)

Report: Thomas loses a handful of seconds as Alaphilippe wins stage three to lead Tour

Defending champion Geraint Thomas loses time on two of his Tour de France rivals with his Ineos co-leader Egan Bernal and France's Thibaut Pinot both taking five seconds out of him at the finish in Epernay.

France's Julian Alaphilippe rides clear to win the stage and take the yellow jersey with a superb solo attack on the final climb.

Bespoke podcast: Stage three - Champagne Supernova

Tuesday, 9 July - Stage 4: Reims - Nancy, 213.5km

Time bonuses of 10, six and four seconds are given to the first three riders, while an intermediate sprint at 147km offers three-, two- and one-second bonuses

A second consecutive long day and probably another one for the sprinters. You might see someone trying to use the final climb to launch an attack, but there's 15km still to race and a lot of still highly motivated and fresh sprint teams that I suspect would chase it down.

Rider to watch: Elia Viviani - the Italian is racing in only his second Tour de France but has won five stages at the Giro d'Italia and three at the Vuelta a Espana.

Wednesday, 10 July - Stage 5: Saint-Die-des-Vosges - Colmar, 175.5km

Australian Heinrich Haussler broke clear to win a rain-swept ride into Colmar on Stage 13 of the 2009 race

The parcours lends itself to a breakaway or, if the bunch is motivated, a reduced kick to the line. It's hilly but I don't suspect a day to separate the general classification riders in terms of form, but you have to be wary of positioning the whole day to minimise the risk of any bad luck.

There'll still be a few teams with riders in contention to take the yellow jersey today before the GC players start to make a bigger impact.

Rider to watch: Peter Sagan - the three-time world champion has won the Tour's green points jersey a record-equalling six times and he excels on these up and down days.

Thursday, 11 July - Stage 6: Mulhouse - La Planche des Belles Filles, 160.5km

La Planche des Belle Filles made its debut at the Tour in 2012

The first mountain-top finish and the first real day for the GC riders to get involved. It's always good to have a climbing hit out early on and it also starts to set up a more settled and ordered bunch for the days following.

Chris Froome famously won atop La Planche des Belles Filles in 2012 to put Bradley Wiggins into the yellow jersey and Wiggins went on to become the first Briton to win the race. I know this area well from when I raced for CC Etupes and lived in France. It's a tricky day, but I won't give too much away - we'll see who has done their homework. But I will certainly be giving it a go.

Rider to watch: Adam Yates - I have to back myself because I love these sorts of days in the mountains.

Friday, 12 July - Stage 7: Belfort - Chalon-sur-Saone, 230km

French favourite Thibaut Pinot won his first stage at the Tour in 2012 when it departed from Belfort

The longest day of the Tour. Even if it's a GC team that holds the jersey on the start line, this early on in the race, there won't be a lot of motivation for them to control for 230km, especially if there's some big gaps from yesterday and those riders make it into the break.

If the sprint teams want another opportunity, they'll have to do the work for it.

Rider to watch: Dylan Groenewegen - he won back-to-back stages on last year's Tour and I reckon he could at least match that this year.

Saturday, 13 July - Stage 8: Macon - Saint-Etienne, 200km

Saint-Etienne, the capital of the Loire department, has hosted 22 stage finishes since 1950

Today is one of those leg-zapping days. It has a breakaway written all over it. There are no category one climbs, but we're approaching 3,800 metres of climbing. It's too hard for the sprint teams to control.

It's a day that is suited to those hard, hilly one-day Classics specialists. For the GC game, it's a day just to be attentive. But I would not be surprised to see the leader's jersey change hands today.

Rider to watch: Greg van Avermaet - the 2016 Olympic and Tour de Yorkshire champion has won numerous one-day Classics, such as Paris-Roubaix, and took his his second Tour stage in 2017 after a long breakaway.

Sunday, 14 July - Stage 9: Saint-Etienne - Brioude, 217.5km

Romain Bardet will hope to give France a Bastille Day stage winner in his hometown

Another day for the opportunist break. With the first uncategorised climb and the following steep category one climb, Mur d'Aurec-sur-Loire, it really does lend itself to a strong breakaway getting up the road.

My objective will be to save as much energy as possible and it's a great chance for my team-mates to look for a stage win.

Rider to watch: Matteo Trentin - my Mitchelton-Scott team-mate has won two Tour stages, the first of which came after he beat his fellow breakaway riders in the sprint for the line.

Monday, 15 July - Stage 10: Saint-Flour - Albi, 217.5km

Peter Sagan won the last stage to finish in Albi in 2013

It's Monday, isn't today a rest day!? No! I think the playbook for today will depend on what has happened so far. There will be some motivated for the breakaway, no question, but will there be sprint teams still looking for a win?

It's a lot nicer to get to the first rest day with some success, and if you don't have a GC rider, that comes in the form of a stage win. So, for me, the break has little chance.

Tuesday, 16 July - Rest day

I like to keep things simple on the rest day. Lie in, easy spin in the morning, relax and massage in the afternoon. I will pencil in a time to talk with my head directeur sportif Matt White sometime in the day and go through some plans for the second week of racing.

We have a plan in place but a lot can change with 10 days of racing done already, which is why I'll wait until this day to update you all with my thoughts on how I see the second half of the race developing.

It's also a good opportunity to switch off as much as possible from the Tour circus, so after lunch I will just try to have some time alone or may just go and grab a coffee.