The Tour de France is nine stages old, but almost all the action so far has unfolded on the flat - albeit treacherous - roads of northern France. But we've just had our first rest day and we've woken up in the Alps, ready for a very different Tour to begin.
Today, 158.5km linking Annecy and Le Grand Bornand, with four major climbs along the way. It's the first of three days in the Alps, and it's where the battle for the yellow jersey will start to take shape. Buckle up!
The profile
The riders have all signed on and are making their way to the start line. They'll be rolling in just a few moments, but the race proper won't be underway for another 20 minutes or so, thanks to a lengthy neutralised zone.
First things first, here's how things stand at the start of the day
1 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 36:07:17 2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:43 3 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:44 4 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:50 5 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:31 6 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:32 7 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:01:33 8 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:42 9 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 10 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team 11 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:01:43 12 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:48 13 Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:57 14 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:58 15 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:02:03 16 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:02:06 17 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:32 18 Warren Barguil (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic 0:02:37 19 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:42 20 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:48 21 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:02:50 22 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:02:53 23 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:08 24 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:03:22
You might notice Geraint Thomas there in second overall. He could well be in yellow at the end of the day. One talking point that steadily brewed throughout the first week, was that of leadership at Team Sky.
The team held a press conference on the rest day and, surprise surprise, Froome was asked about it. Here's what he had to say.
The riders are currently ambling behind Christian Prudhomme's car along the shores of Lake Annecy. A pleasant start to the day.
It's surely going to be a mad start to the day. Not the mention the fight to get into the breakaway, there's also an early intermediate sprint before the first major climb, which could interest a certain Peter Sagan.
Have to include a shot of the lake. Thanks to press room colleague Peter Cossins for this one.
Crash! In the neutral zone!
Mikel Landa has to pick himself up off the ground before the stage has even begun. He was caught up in a tangle with Fernando Gaviria, a couple of other riders, and a few of those plastic traffic bollards. Landa of course is still nursing the bruises from his crash on Sunday's cobbled stage.
A slight delay to the start of the stage after that crash.
Crashes in the neutral zone can be nasty - it's often a heavier impact when you fall at slow speed - but Landa et al seem ok. Dumoulin was also held up but they're all back now and ready to race.
And with that, Prudhomme pops out of the sun roof and waves this one underway. Here we go!
As predicted, a fast start. Direct Energie attack it from the gun and it's very quickly stringing out.
Cofidis, Direct Energie, Fortuneo... it's the French Pro Conti teams trying things here, but nothing sticking just yet.
And there goes Thomas De Gendt, Mr Breakaway himself...
De Gendt's effort goes nowhere, but here's Julian Alaphilippe...
Alaphilippe has Florian Vachon on his wheel and several bike lengths over the rest of the riders. There's a Katusha rider trying to get across, and it's far from settled yet.
The counter attackers slip back into the peloton and Alaphilippe and Vachon extend their lead. Direct Energie, however, need to be in there, and they try again, with polka-dot jersey Toms Skujins also showing an interest.
It's all change as the Alaphilippe and Vachon move comes to nothing. Alaphilippe is on the move again though!
Mechanical for Ilnur Zakarin. The Russian gets a new bike and sees Pavel Kochetkov drop back to help him get back in.
Alaphilippe waves his arm at everyone riding cagily in his wake. He wants more commitment here.
We're almost at the first of the five categorised climbs of the day. Compared with that's to come, the Col de Bluffy pales into insignificance, just 1.5km long at 5.6%.
Peter Sagan is up there two places from the front.
There's a group of around 10 or 11, including Sagan, that has a small lead over the rest. 1km to the top of the climb.
Alaphilippe once again comes through to the head of affairs. Sagan's on his wheel,
Sagan and Alaphilippe have Tom Jelte Slagter and Elie Gesbert for company.
Alaphilippe takes maximum points at the top of the Col de Bluffy.
The lead group has swelled over the top of the climb. Ion Izaguirre is in there for Bahrain-Merida, and they're slipping clear of the peloton.
There's the break. We can see around 16 in there, along with four chasers. Behind them the peloton has eased up considerably.
One of the four chasers is... Greg Van Avermaet, the yellow jersey.
With the maillot jaune up the road, Team Sky assume virtual race leadership responsibilities and put their whole team on the front of the bunch.
Van Avermaet has made it across.
130km remaining from 158km
The intermeidate sprint is coming up in 1km.
Lukas Postlberger leads it out for Sagan, and the world champion duly extends his lead in the points classification. He is, incidentally, wearing the green jersey today, instead of the rainbow jersey he opted for earlier in the race when he had green 'on loan' from Gaviria.
Here's the full list of riders in the break
Tony Gallopin (AG2R), Elie Gesbert and Amaël Moinard (Cofidis), Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida), Jack Bauer and Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Julian Alaphilippe and Philippe Gilbert (Quick Step), Peter Sagan and Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Serge Pauwels and Tom-Jelte Slagter (Dimension Data), David Gaudu, Rudy Molard and Arthur Vichot (Groupama-FDJ), Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo), Lilian Calmejane and Rein Taaramäe (Direct Energie), Guillaume Martin and Thomas Degand (Wanty-Groupe Gobert).
Here's the full list of riders in the break
Tony Gallopin (AG2R), Elie Gesbert and Amaël Moinard (Fortuneo-Samsic), Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida), Jack Bauer and Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Julian Alaphilippe and Philippe Gilbert (Quick Step), Peter Sagan and Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Serge Pauwels and Tom-Jelte Slagter (Dimension Data), David Gaudu, Rudy Molard and Arthur Vichot (Groupama-FDJ), Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo), Lilian Calmejane and Rein Taaramäe (Direct Energie), Guillaume Martin and Thomas Degand (Wanty-Groupe Gobert).
We're climbing again, and this time it's serious...
Col de la Croix Fry
Category 1
11.3km
7%
Susan here, jumping in to give Patrick a lunch break.
The break group is taking 2:43 with them as they start up this climb. We imagine that will fall before they hit the top.
Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) has good chances to stay up front on this stage. Meanwhile, Tom Dumoulin falls back to the team car to let the mechanic take a look at his brakes.
Dumoulin still doesn't seem entirely satisfied with his bike.
AS this climb goes on, the first group has now split in two. We don't yet know who is where.
And so far the gap is staying roughly the same.
Looks like Marcel Kittel has already been dropped from the field. Not surprising, and he will not be the only sprinter to suffer this fate.
Molard has take off from the lead group and the gap has actually increased to more than 3 minutes.
Taaramae has jumped from the group in pursuit of Molard.
With 1.7 km to the summit, the two are together.
The duo has 44 seconds on the chase group of 19.
Sky, of course, is leading the peloton. Up front, there looks to be another gap in the large chase group.
Sagan is falling of the back of the chase group now.
Sagan has accomplished his goal, winning the intermediate sprint.
Speaking of sprint the leading two sprint for the mountain ranking before Taaramae gets away to take the points.
Molard and Taaramae engage in a full-on uphill sprint for the KOM points at the top of the Col de Croix Fry, and it's Molard who comes out on top.
Van Avermaet crests the climb in a group of five, 11 seconds down on Molard and Taaramae. Sagan and the rest of the break are further back now at 45 seconds.
112km remaining from 158km
Team Sky lead the peloton over the top of the climb now, four minutes down on the front of the race.
Van Avermaet and the rest of his group link up with Molard and Taaramae on the descent. Here's the new composition of the front group.
Greg Van Avermaet (BMC)
Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data)
Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ)
David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ)
Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors),
Amael Moinard (Fortuneo-Samsic)
Rein Taarame (Direct Energie)
Lukas Postlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe)
102km remaining from 158km
The situation, then, is as follows
8 leaders
|
13 chasers (at 35 seconds)
|
Peloton (at 4 minutes)
Before the race really kicks off, why not have a listen to our latest podcast from yesterday's rest day. It features Sky's leadership issues, Ochowicz's saving of the BMC team, plus Dumoulin and Degenkolb. You can listen here.
97km remaining from 158km
We're about to start climbing again, and this time it's the Col des Glières. It's shorter, at 6km, but vicious, with an average gradient of more than 11%.
At the top of the climb comes the highly-anticipated Plateau des Glières and the 1.8km of dirt roads. We saw cobbles just last Sunday, but the Tour hasn't been over the gravel since 1987.
The eight leaders stick together on the lower slopes of this HC climb.
Luke Rowe was on the front of the peloton most of the way up the Col de la Croix Fry, and it's the Welshman who's setting the pace again on the Col des Glières.
Up front Molard and Gaudu look good for FDJ. They're setting the tempo and it's such that Gilbert, Postlberger, and Moinard have fallen away.
Just Van Avermaet, Pauwels, and Taaramaet left with the FDJ duo.
Peter Sagan is falling away here and may well be caught by the peloton on this climb.
92km remaining from 158km
Several of the chasing group are now dragging their way back to the five leaders.
The riders coming back to the front of the race are:
The junction is made, so we have 13 riders out in front, with a lead of 5:38 now over the main peloton.
Lawson Craddock is still hanging onto the back of the peloton. He broke his scapula on the opening day and has been struggling through the race ever since, finishing dead last most days. I put together this feature at the weekend, speaking to the doctors, riders, and directors at EF-Drapac, along with Craddock himself, to see what goes into pulling an injured man through one of the world's toughest bike races.
The leaders are nearing the top of the Col des Glières, and it's Gaudu who strikes out for the KOM points...
But Alaphilippe surges up now and takes it. He was first over the early cat-4 climb and could be on his way into the polka-dot jersey by the end of the day.
Next up: Gravel
Alaphilippe tears onto the rough stuff, the motorbikes ahead of him kicking up clouds of dust.
Alaphilippe is out of the saddle as he pushes on on the gravel. It's a plateau, but it's far from flat.
88km remaining from 158km
Fans line both sides of the road. The gravel might be too far out to have a big impact on the race but visually it's something different.
Alaphilippe leads alone for the entirety of the gravel but back on the tarmac he waits up for his breakaway companions.
Sky - still with Rowe on the front - lead the peloton over the Col des Glières and onto the gravel. They're 6 minutes in arrears.
Puncture for Chris Froome on the gravel!
The four-time champion gets a wheel change from a teammate and gets going again, but he'll have to chase back on.
A bank of three Sky riders lead the peloton over the gravel and past the tributes to the French resistance from the German Occupation during World War 2.
Froome is now back in.
The riders are descending now. Here's a reminder of the profile.
Jonathan Castroviejo, who gave his wheel up for Froome, is now also back in the peloton.
Meanwhile Van Avermaet leads the way down the descent. They're more than 7 minutes clear of the peloton now.
You heard that BMC have been saved by CCC... but how did Jim Ochowicz pull it off? Daniel Benson explores all in this feature.
Froome is off the back again. That's because he's been back to change his bike, back to his original set-up. He also grabs some food from the car and Castroviejo will help him back to the front of the peloton.
On the descent some of the chasers have made it back to the front of the race, including Gilbert and Impey.
It has very much settled down in the break and it has swelled to 18 once more. The full list of names should be on the right-hand side of your screen. Basically everyone from the original break barring Sagan, Postlberger, and Bauer.
63km remaining from 158km
The gap between this large break and the peloton is still growing - 7:40 now.
57km remaining from 158km
The riders comes to the foot of the descent now. An extended stint in the valley will take them along to Cluses, and from there the Col de Romme kicks up.
It's been a quiet start to the Tour de France mountains so far - Luke Rowe leading over two major passes attests to that - but we should see some action on the Col de Romme and Colombière combination.
However, it's downhill - followed by 2km false flat - to the finish in Le Grand Bornand, and I suspect we could see a cagey one and the real fireworks to be reserved for Wednesday and Thursday.
@LeTour
We've had something of a preview of this finale thanks to La Course, which took place earlier today. It was one of the most dramatic finales we've seen all year, with Anna van der Breggen leading over the Colombière and looking almost certain to hold off Annemiek Van Vleuten, only for her compatriot to come roaring back in the final 2km and then pull off the heist in literally the final few metres. Here's our report page:
It's quiet out there for the moment but here's what's coming up
39km remaining from 158km
There are some quality climbers in the break - I'm looking at Gaudu, Martin, Izaguirre, Pauwels, Gesink, and even Alaphilippe - and they'll be starting to think about stage win. 6:20 is the gap.
@Cyclingnewsfeed Guillame Martin (And I said that before the stage started)
Calmejane kicks on. Impey is done for too.
Attack from Barguil!
Warren Barguil is really bad at deliberately losing time.
Calmejane was caught back but now it's Taaramae off the front of the break, which is thinning fast.
35km remaining from 158km
Astana have moved up and are making their presence felt at the head of the peloton through Michael Valgren, but still it's Team Sky on the nose.
Barguil has had a torrid season so far, but is he back to his best? He's out on his own now, with a decent gap but a lot of ground to make up. He does, remember, have two teammates up the road.
Molard loses contact with the break
Van Avermaet is still there behind Taaramae, with Alaphilippe, Gaudu, Pauwels, Calmejane, and Gesink.
Barguil is only 20 seconds clear of the peloton. It doesn't look like this is going anywhere.
It's Castroviejo on the front for Sky. No more Rowe, but the rest of their team is there.
The Col de Romme is 8.8km long with an average gradient of 8.9%.
Barguil is back in the peloton. As you were...
Taaramae is finding ground here. His lead suddenly grows to half a minute over the seven chasers.
32km remaining from 158km
Castroviejo, Kwiatkowski, Poels, Froome, Thomas, Bernal... that's the order of the Sky train grinding up the Col de Romme.
Alaphilippe and Gaudu clip away from Pauwels and Izaguirre, who in turn clip away from Van Avermaet,Gesinkand Calmejane.
Narrow descent and a false flat in the final 2km. We’ve seen #Nibali win these sorts of days before in a reduced field “sprint”. I’ll take Vincenzo to win today as he did on stage 3 of the 2017 #Vuelta. @cyclingnewsfeed
@cyclingnewsfeed Rein Taaramae
Alaphilippe drops Gaudu and sets about reeling in Taaramae. We're in the final 2km of this climb.
Alaphilippe catches Taaramae and continues to spring out of the saddle. The Frenchman was disappointed with the first half of his Tour, missing out on two good opportunities in Quimper and then on the Mur de Bretagne. All that would be forgotten here if he were to take a first Tour de France stage win.
29km remaining from 158km
Alaphilippe accelerates away from Taaramae and collects maximum points once again at the top of the Col de Romme.
Taaramae comes over next and will join Alaphilippe on the descent. A hell of a climb there from Van Avermaet, who's still in that chase group 40 seconds down.
Rigoberto Uran is in trouble at the back of the bunch.
Uran is still in there, but without teammates, and the peloton is thinning fast.
A short descent here, and a very fast one, before we hit the Colombière.
Alaphilippe is clearly the superior descender here and is flying away from Taaramae.
25km remaining from 158km
Castroviejo leads Sky and the rest of the peloton over the top of the Colombière, 5:40 down on Alaphilippe.
Alaphilippe is sprinting out of every corner. He's great to watch going downhill. The Colombière is another big challenge but he is surely the favourite for the stage win now.
Taaramae is 15 seconds back but the rest of the chasers - Van Avermaet et al - are more than a minute back.
Alaphilippe hits the Col de la Colombière.
It's 7.5km long, with an average of 8.5% and pitches of over 10%.
In the chase, Izaguirre accelerates and Van Avermaet is straight on the wheel. Gesink, Calmejane, and Pauwels can't follow. Gaudu is further back.
Alaphlippe, however, is now 1:40 ahead of those riders. He's flying.
Barguil is dropped from the peloton. Back to 'deliberately' losing time, then.
Izaguirre succeeds in dropping Van Avermaet, and the Spaniard is closing the gap to Taaramae.
Wilfried Peeters gives Alaphilippe some advice from the Quick-Step car. 'Calm down' seems to be the extent of it. Alaphilippe is all excited energy out there, and who can blame him. He missed the Tour last year through injury, and after winning La Flèche Wallonne in the spring, a stage win here would pretty much tick off his main goals for the season.
18km remaining from 158km
Alaphilippe is currently 1:18 ahead of Taaramae, 1:35 ahead of Izaguirre, and 1:53 ahead of Van Avermaet.
17km remaining from 158km
Just three kilometres to go to the top of the Colombière for Alaphilippe. That's pretty much his virtual finish line, since no one is likely to be able to go quicker than him down the descent to Le Grand Bornand.
Back in the peloton, Sky continue to lead with five riders. It doesn't look like today's going to be a pivotal one in the fight for the overall.
Izaguirre catches Taaramae and burns past him. He's 1:30 behind Alaphilippe and that's surely too much ground to make up this late.
At the back of the peloton we see Uran, Jungels and Zakarin. Sky have strength in depth but a lot of the GC riders are isolated.
Alaphlippe is breathing and contorting his mouth in almost musical rhythm. He's holding off Izaguirre here and has just over a kilometre to go to the top of the climb.
No more than 25 riders in the peloton now. For Sky, it's Kwiatkowski, Poels, Froome, Thomas, Bernal. Movistar have their three up near the front too.
Alaphilippe is out of the saddle again, throwing his weight from side to side as he makes his way through the fans and into the barriers in the final couple of hundred metres of the Colombière. The grimaces are becoming more and more frequent, but the hardest part is almost over.
Uran is losing contact!
Uran was the big loser of the Roubaix stage, losing 1:30. He crashed that day and is perhaps still feeling the effects. He's dropping away and has no teammates to help him.
14km remaining from 158km
Alaphilippe crests the spectacular Col de la Colombière. He'll definitely be wearing the polka-dot jersey tomorrow, but that matters little compared to what else is at stake. If he can produce a solid descent, the win is his.
Izaguirre comes over the top now, 1:30 in arrears.
Taaramae is next over, at 2 minutes, and then it's Van Avermaet and Pauwels together.
Bob Jungels is losing contact now...
Kwiatkowski, by the way, has done his turn and has pulled off. It's Poels who's doing the damage here.
Dan Martin attacks!
You can always rely on Dan Martin to attack. Always. It doesn't always come off, but he always attacks. Here he goes towards the top of the climb.
Martin has several bike lengths as he catches some of the breakaway remnants.
Over the top they go, Martin with a slim lead over the rest. Valverde was distanced ever so slightly there but he's back on. Zakarin and Mollema too.
Alaphilippe is extending his lead on this descent, as he sits on his top tube and tucks his chin over his handlebars.
Izaguirre is at 1:40, Van Avermaet and Pauwels at 2:20. Taaramae just in front of them.
Bernal leads the peloton down the descent, accelerating with Chris Froome in the wheel as small gaps appear in the line of GC riders.
Dan Martin has been brought back.
Zakarin, Majka, and Mollema are not yet back on and are chasing in a group of seven.
Taaramae, who was much slower than Alaphilippe on the last descent, has caught Izaguirre, who normally goes downhill well - he won in Morzine after the Joux Plane, after all. They're 1:53 behind Alaphilippe.
5km remaining from 158km
Zakarin, Mollema, and Majka desperately trade turns on a gentle section of this descent. Mikel Nieve and Wout Poels are also in that group but won't be pulling obviously.
4km remaining from 158km
Into the last 4km for Alaphilippe, and he's smiling already...
He's going to enjoy every single metre here, and this could be a pretty wild celebration.
Mollema, Majka, and Zakarin are 30 seconds down...
Alaphilippe is shaking his head here. He can't believe it. 1.5km to go.
The road has flattened out now, and Alaphilippe just has to stay upright and ride home.
1km remaining from 158km
Flamme rouge for Alaphilippe.
And now he punches the air!
Here he comes, final few hundred metres. The crowds are roaring him home.
Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) wins stage 10 of the Tour de France
There it is, the Frenchman completes the final few pedal strokes out of the saddle, then sits up, thumps his chest and punches the air. Chapeau.
Alaphilippe is overcome with emotion beyond the line.
Back down the road for the battle for second place...
Taaramae leads it out but Izaguirre comes through to take second place.
Van Avermaet takes fourth, Pauwels fifth.
Calmejane has made up some ground and will take sixth.
Now we look back to the GC group.
Bardet sprints away in the final few hundred metres.
Most of the favourites come across the line together there.
And here comes Zakarin, Majka, and Mollema - and Jungels as well, who caught them on the descent. Pozzovivo, Nieve, Caruso also there.
They lose 50 seconds to the main GC group. Ouch.
Top 10
1 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 04:25:27 2 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 00:01:34 3 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Direct Energie 00:01:40 4 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 00:01:44 5 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data 6 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Direct Energie 00:02:24 7 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 00:03:23 8 Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo 9 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 10 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
General classification after stage 10
1 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 40:34:28 2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 00:02:22 3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 00:03:10 4 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 00:03:12 5 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors 00:03:20 6 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky 00:03:21 7 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 8 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team 9 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 00:03:27 10 Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo 00:03:36
Alaphilippe speaks
"There's a lot of emotion, because winning at the Tour is not easy. I came close in my first Tour two years ago, and to win in this way, it's unexpected because... I don't even have the words... I'm just thinking about my family. I'm happy to make them happy. I'm happy for myself as well. Now I hope things go well for Bob on GC, and there are lots of great things still do, but today I really want to enjoy this.
"I was disappointed on the Mur de Bretagne, it suited me well. I lost to stronger riders, simple as that, the legs weren't as good as I'd hoped. So to bounce back like that is the perfect response."
Here's Tom Dumoulin
"It was a very strong tempo that Sky set, and it was a full-on headwind, so some guys, including me, had the idea of attacking if it was possible, but it really wasn't. "You saw when Dan Martin attacked, they immediately closed it. So I think today was an effort for nothing, but I'm still in contention, so I'm happy."
Here's Izaguirre
"We were hoping to pick up a stage win today but I have to say a big congratulations for Julian Alaphilippe because he was very strong today. We were told to go into the breakaway to help protect Vincenzo (Nibali) but we could go for victory if we found ourselves in a good position at the end, and that's where I found myself.
"[Tomorrow] is going to be similar to what we did today, we will look to protect Vincenzo tomorrow and help guide him through. We want to be toward the front of the race, we spent a lot of energy today, it's been a really hard day."
Some cracking photos coming in from today's stage. You'll find lots more in our report page.
Here's Van Avermaet
"It was a little bit like two years ago, I went in the break with my yellow jersey - it was super nice. I had to find the right moment, so when the big group went on the climb I decided to go and see how Sky reacted, and they didn't react.
"We took seven minutes, and then I knew it would be a good day for me again. I wasn't thinking about [keeping the maillot jaune] but you have to read the race situation a little, and that's what I did. I waited until the right moment and then you come in a big group with guys who are going to go for the stage, and I could keep my yellow jersey for an extra day.
"I think this was the maximum. I went really deep today. Tomorrow is really a climber's stage, it's really short and it will be super hard to keep it. I have really no intention [of trying] - this was the day maybe I could keep it, but tomorrow it will be over."
Results are in and Uran has lost another 2:30...
Here's our report page with write-up, photos, results etc
Without question, the Queen stage will take the peloton on a 152km day of racing with over 4,000m of elevation gain, where the overall winner will be crowned in Villars-sur-Ollon
