Welcome to stage 14 of this year's Tour, a 194.5 kilometre run from N
Today's stage is more likely to see a large break go clear, due to that profile.
There are two intermediate sprints en route to the finish, at Saint R
These are:
The skies are blue and clear today, with air temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius. It's a beautiful day for a bike race. 158 riders lined out with no non-starters.
Twenty kilometres into the stage, the gap was 1'05".
41km remaining from 194km
The leaders recently fought it out for the first intermediate sprint. Devolder got it ahead of Frischkorn and Eisel.
With the peloton gradually closing in, Gutierrez, Bonnet, Tankink and Casar scooted away from the break. The others were caught.
Apologies, to clarify: some of those who were in the break have gone back to the bunch. Right now, Oroz, Quinziato, Riblon, Haussler, Lelay, Sprick and Voeckler persist, as well as the four leaders.
50km remaining from 194km
The four leaders have a lead of 40 seconds.
Gregor Brown spoke to two from the Barloworld team at the start, namely manager Claudio Corti and Robert Hunter.
Barloworld has announced that it will withdraw its sponsorship from the team as a result of what happened at the race. Moises Due
Oroz is an unusual classics man for an Euskaltel rider. Cyclingnews checked out Oroz to see what drives the man to do all the monuments in cycling.
At the 50 kilometre point, the leaders - Casar, Gutierrez, Bonnet and Tankink - had a 15 seconds lead over the seven chasers, and a further 15 seconds over the peloton.
Correction: the seven chasers were joined by another group, not the peloton. However the main bunch soon got up to them. At Cavaillon, 56 kilometres after the start, the front quartet were approximately 25 seconds clear.
70km remaining from 194km
Once those chasers were recaptured, the peloton sat up. Gutierrez, Bonnet, Tankink and Casar have pulled clear again, and are now 3'35 ahead.
75km remaining from 194km
The peloton is 3'40 back.
Robert Hunter has been doing an online diary on his website, www.robbiehunter.net. He wasn't too happy earlier this week, and is likely to use even stronger words when he learns that the team sponsors are pulling out.
81km remaining from 194km
Current gap for the break: four minutes and ten seconds. They are in the feed zone.
The fans are getting more creative here in southern France. They have built a tractor out of straw bales.
As a reward for not checking out the country side, which is what the peloton currently doing, the gap has gone up to almost six minutes.
The Specialized Sale has dropped one of the best winter cycling jackets to just $106 and is an incredible 60% off, but it's a limited-time deal, so grab it while you can
