Bonjour tout le monde! Into the final week, and into the Pyrenees we go. Can Geraint Thomas hang on to win the Tour de France? Is Chris Froome content to let that happen, or could we see a repeat of the legendary internal rivalries of old? Could Tom Dumoulin, Romain Bardet, Primoz Roglic, or even one of Movistar's triumvirate turn the race on its head like Froome did at the Giro two months ago?
Today we'll start to see those questions answered. There's a lot of talk about Wednesday's mini mountain epic but today's stage from Carcassonne to Bagnères-de-Luchon, 218km long with three serious climbs in the finale, could be just as decisive. We're coming in on the back of a rest day, after all. There'll be nerves aplenty in Carcassonne this morning, and excitement aplenty for all those watching, or indeed following this live blog. Here we go.
Here's the scene in Carcassonne this morning. The riders will be rolling across this line to start the stage at 11:30 local time, so in around 25 minutes.
The day after a rest day always catches someone out. Don't let it be you.
Here's my colleague Laura Weislo's latest 'Rest Day Recap', featuring a blow-by-blow account of the past week, all our news, race coverage, and podcasts, and fancy graphs where you can see who's gained time on who - and where - and how all the classifications have evolved. Consider it a warm-up, a 10-minute spin on the rollers before we get going.
Tom Dumoulin signs on. The Dutchman has looked in fine form once again, despite his exertions at the Giro. He's third overall, 11 seconds down on Froome but 1:50 down on Thomas. What can he do today?
"The Tour enters the Pyrenees on Tuesday with a 218km trek from Carcassonne to Luchon that follows loosely in the wheel tracks of one of the most discussed stages in Tour history, the 1971 leg from Revel to Luchon that saw yellow jersey Luis Ocaña – untouchable in the Alps – crash out of the race on the rain-lashed descent of the Col de Menté."
So writes Barry Ryan in his big Pyrenean preview for CN. I'd say it's a must-read, but Barry hates the term (he says it should only apply to the instructions on emergency medication, etc). Anyway, here it is.
A reminder of the overall standings after 15 stages
1 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 62:49:47 2 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:39 3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:50 4 Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:02:38 5 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:21 6 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:42 7 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:03:57 8 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:04:23 9 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:06:14 10 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:06:54
In case you missed it - and I'm not sure how that's possible - Team Sky manager Dave Brailsford used yesterday's rest day press conference to blame the hostility his riders have faced on the roadside on 'a French cultural thing', and to propose the Tour de France becomes French-only if foreign teams aren't shown more respect.
The riders are rolling out of Carcassonne. After a short neutralised section the race proper will begin.
The breakaway has been a happy hunting ground so far at this Tour de France, and we should once again see a big battle to make it up the road.
Thomas De Gendt is right behind race director Christian Prudhomme's red Skoda. You've been warned...
Here we go then, kilometre-zero comes into sight and Prudhomme pops up through the sunroof.
We're away!
De Gendt goes immediately. A long line of riders on his wheel.
A lot of looking around here as the breakaway hopefuls wait to sense the right moment. Gaudin from Direct Energie goes again and drags six with him.
That move comes back but four new riders are off the front here. But now the counter-attacks come.
Philippe Gilbert is up there now as the group swells to 15. But more and more riders are going across.
211km remaining from 218km
Before we get to the big Pyrenean cols later on, the riders will encounter two category-4 climbs in the first third of the parcours. The first - the Côte de Fanjeaux - comes after 22 kilometres and may well help in the definitive formation of this breakaway.
De Gendt is back on the front but there's no gap to the peloton.
Jerome Cousin accelerates now and again De Gendt tries to follow. They're joined by a Wanty rider and they have a gap.
It's Guillaume Van Keirsbluck for Wanty. More riders are trying to jump across to this trio, though.
Philippe Gilbert has dragged an eight-man group across to the leading trio. A group of four is about to get on as well. The peloton is lined out, not letting them go.
205km remaining from 218km
And it's brought back... Back to square one.
Warren Barguil attacks now. And no one goes with him. No one...
And now some reactions. Direct Energie and Cofidis send a representative, while Stefan Kung is there for BMC and Gorka Izaguirre going across for Bahrain.
Barguil is second in the king of the mountains standings, and we see Julian Alaphilippe, who leads the classification, up there near the front. These coming stages could see a battle for the polka-dots between the two Frenchman.
That move comes to nothing and Simon Clarke is the next to try.
Cousin goes once again.
Plenty of riders follow the attack and the various little groups essentially drag the peloton back across.
Flat out. Still bunched @LeTour #TDF2018 pic.twitter.com/HKUm922qWi
It's all together as the riders hit that early cat-4 climb. It's 2.4km long with an average gradient of 4.9%.
Jelle Vanendert for Lotto Soudal leads the way with EF's Sep Vanmarcke on his wheel. Pierre Latour, wearing the white jersey of best young rider, is also up there - an indicaction, perhaps, that Romain Bardet wants a rider up the road for a potential long-range attack later on.
Tom Jelte Slagter opens a gap on his own now.
Barguil attacks now towards the top of the climb
Barguil grabs the solitary point at the top of the climb and then looks around to see who will follow.
Alaphilippe is up there sprinting to close gaps. But no one is getting away here.
11 riders, including Alaphilippe, has a small gap now. Majka is there for Bora, but counter attackers are dragging things back together.
It's getting stretched now
And now we have an incident. Police have to intervene and slow the riders down to get past what looks like a roadside protest. Hay bails have been pushed into the road and two gendarmes are seen arresting one man at the side of the road.
Everyone is through, but the race has been neturalised.
The riders are back behind Prushomme's red Skoda and almost slowing to a halt. In front of them are a bank of police motorbikes.
And now the race is literally stopped. Incredible.
A lot of riders seem to have problems with their eyes. One from Fortuneo is washing his out with water from his bidon. Pepper spray, perhaps, or something similar from those protesters?
Many riders having to wash their eyes out here.
It is being suggested that it was fertiliser sprayed by the farmers who tried to disrupt the race with hay bails. But others are suggesting it's tear gas used by the police to try and quell the protests.
Prudhomme is chatting with UCI President David Lappartient as they discuss what to do.
Riders, officials, directors all over the road here. Chaos at the Tour.
Replays show a police officer spraying a large dose of tear gas at one of the protesters. It could be that the wind blew it back into the road.
Riders are still receiving medical treatment here.
Sagan, Demare, Phinney, Haussler, Colbrelli, Phinney, Fraile, Sutherland, Martinez are among the riders being treated. Sagan's eyes are visibly puffy.
More replays show the police officers themselves suffering with the effects of the mace that they themselves sprayed.
The race directors are preparing to get the race back underway now.
And we're rolling again.
The race will be neutralised for a number of kilometres, much like starting the race all over again.
Well, safety on the road has been a big topic of this Tour de France, and though we've had Sky riders booed and reportedly spat at, and Vincenzo Nibali of course taken out by a careless fan on Alpe d'Huez, this is the first big protest and attempt to disrupt the race as a whole. Understandably it's a major security concern for the police and the race organisers and they will now be treading very carefully for the rest of this stage.
The flag drops for a second time and the race proper is back underway.
ITV have grabbed a word with Mitchelton-Scott DS Matt White about that incident.
"We were informed of the protest maybe 30 seconds before we got there," he says. "It looked like the protesters had made a late ambush to stop the race, we got the information that the boys had to ride through, and then we saw some very aggressive farmers. I'm not sure what they were protesting. We're hearing it was pepper spray used by the police that blew back into the riders' faces. I don't know the exact numbers but a lot of guys were affected, though nothing super serious, which is lucky."
A four-man group has now got what is the biggest gap we've seen all day.
It's Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe), Franco Pellizotti (Bahrain-Merida), Stefan Kung (BMC), and Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty).
177km remaining from 218km
Sylvain Chavanel sets off in lone pursuit. We've seen this before. Toms Skujins now jumps from the peloton, Daryl Impey too, and now Vanmarcke again. It's not settled just yet...
Nothing comes of that counter attack but there's still no let-up in the peloton.
Yellow jersey Geraint Thomas was one of the riders having to wash out his eyes.
Majka, Kung, Pellizotti, and Pasqualon have been dragged back by the peloton. All back together.
Some remarkable photos coming in now from that protest. Here's one from Getty Images of a protester being detained by police officers.
It's raining now, and I think I'm right in saying this is the first rainfall we've had at this Tour de France...
Storms were predicted this afternoon, making the descents of Menté and the Portillon extra complicated, but it's started early, and started hard, with the roads already wet and wheels kicking up spray.
Alaphilippe is off once again, and this time he's with Barguil. They also have Impey and Julien Bernard for company.
These four aren't clear just yet, as several riders ping off the front of the bunch.
Alaphilippe, Barguil, Impey, and Bernard have 15 seconds as the peloton lines out under several new attacks.
Michael Valgren and Pawel Poljanski have formed a chasing duo, while Nils Politt and an FDJ rider are chasing behind them.
156km remaining from 218km
We're 62km into the race now and still no definitive breakaway. In less than 10km we'll hit the second of those Cat-4 climbs, the Côte de Pamiers. From there the terrain becomes more undulating towards the half-way mark.
Those two chasing duos form a group of four. They're a good 10 seconds behind the Barguil/Alaphilippe/Impey/Bernard group. The peloton is five seconds further back.
More details on the incredible scenes that saw the race halted earlier, along with more pictures that show how the incident unfolded.
Another one from Getty showing the maillot jaune washing tear gas out of his eyes.
The leading quartet is joined by the chasing quartet.
Mitchelton-Scott appear at the head of the peloton, but it appears to be calming down...
Mitchelton of course have Impey up the road and will be more than happy to try and curb an more attacks from the peloton. The gap is going up towards 30 seconds.
The leaders hit the Côte de Pamiers now. It's 2.3km at 5.8%.
The gap, however, comes down again. Mitchelton are still on the front but they're riding hard here. Impey stands little chance in this company on a stage such as this, so perhaps they want to put one of their climbers up the road instead.
Pozzovivo attacks now on the climb
Pozzovivo is joined by Van Garderen ins a counter-attack.
Adam Yates attacks now for Mitchelton. It's all coming back.
And with that, the peloton is back as one group, albeit one strung-out group.
Impey drives the pace now but the top the climb comes into focus and Alaphlippe and Barguil get their claws out. Only one point on offer but they both go all-out for it. Alaphilippe grabs it to even things out once again. The real points will be won and lost later on but that's an early psychological exchange.
Those accelerations have dragged a large group clear of the peloton.
The riders are flying downhill now through the French countryside. Sky are leading the peloton at 20 seconds.
It looks like there are nearly 30 riders in the front group.
Valverde and Latour are in the front group.
Sky, however, also have Kwiatkowski and Bernal marking it.
Some more names in that lead group: Van Avermaet, Van Garderen, Valverde, Yates, Impey, Latour, Alaphilippe, Barguil, Molard, G.Izzaguire, Pozzovivo, Lampaert, Terpstra, Valgren.
Kwiatkowski drops back and assists the Sky chase as the road lifts back uphill. And now De Gendt makes a counter attack.
It's all coming back together again...
139km remaining from 218km
All together!
Will we ever get a breakaway today?
Quick-Step's Belgian powerhouse Tim Declercq abandons the race. He's been yo-yoing off the back of the bunch all day.
The attacks come thick and fast off the front of the peloton.
A difficult day, this, for Team Sky, who must keep a careful watch on all these attacks. A reminder that they're one rider down, Gianni Moscon having been kicked out of the race for throwing a punch at Elie Gesbert.
Going back to 'must-reads', Philippa York's articles for us usually are just that. Here's her latest, from yesterday's rest-day.
The peloton is snaking through these undulating, winding roads. Nothing getting away for the moment as the road dips downhill once again.
130km remaining from 218km
88km into the stage and still no breakaway. A Sunweb rider goes and sparks a new flurry of attacks.
It's Edward Theuns for Sunweb, and now Caruso comes through and accelerates.
The overall favourites are bunched up in a small group but ahead of them the attacks are continuing and behind them the peloton is strung out in one long long line. All this is going to make an already-demanding day extra brutal.
Caruso is away as the false flat uphill turns to false flat downhill.
We've got some new photos in our story on the protest.
Caruso looks around and sees that no one's going with him. He eases up and waits to be caught.
124km remaining from 218km
Jelle Vanendert goes again but all that's happening is the peloton is stringing out on his wheel.
124km remaining from 218km
Jelle Vanendert goes again but all that's happening is the peloton is stringing out on his wheel.
About 11 riders off the front now but the gap is minimal.
This race just will not settle down.
Slagter and Vermote form a Dimension Data duo with two other riders, but more riders are coming back.
Mollema is several wheels behind and waves his arms in remonstration with the TV motorbike. Does he not want this move to go?
A large group is forming now. Could this be our break?
No let-up in the peloton, it seems.
Fortuneo have riders in the front with Barguil, and they're using them to try and drive this move clear.
AG2R have Slyvain Dilier up there. Koen de Kort is up near the front for Trek, as is Van Avermaet for BMC, who's up there with Caruso. It's them, along with Vermote and Slagter, who are doing the work to get this move away.
116km remaining from 218km
They're still not clear, though, and still more riders set off in counter attack.
Egan Bernal is dead last at the back of the peloton....
Riders in the lead group call for collaboration from those sitting in towards the back. That's the problem with large unwieldy groups such as this.
It looks like the peloton might just be taking its foot off the gas...
And there it is!
The peloton slows, riders stop for nature breaks, and the large breakaway group disappears up the road.
It only took 105 kilometres, but we have a break!
There are more than 40 riders up in this break.
Adam Yates is up in the break, as is Alaphilippe. We'll bring you a full list shortly.
The average speed so far is an eye-watering 47.7km/h.
Pierre Latour, Guillaume Martin, and Nils Politt are chasing the breakaway. They're a minute back. Behind them the peloton is rolling along relaxed fashion, along the gap to grow and grow.
Movistar have three riders in the break. Sunweb have two. AG2R have one, with Latour chasing. Sky's rivals are laying the foundations.
107km remaining from 218km
The riders head through the feed zone. That break formed just in time...
Luke Rowe assumes his familiar position on the front of the Sky train at the head of the peloton. We spoke to the Welshman this morning about how he and his teammates will cover the absence of Moscon. Here's the full story.
Fortuneo are having another good day. They've placed five riders in this break so there'll be plenty of support for Barguil. Bouet, Hardy, Moinard, and Pichon are the others -
Latour, Martin, and Politt make the bridge to give us 47 riders out front. That's no so much a breakaway as a separate peloton.
I've finally pulled together a full list of riders in the break. Here they are, all 47 of them, in order of teams with most representatives.
Warren Barguil, Maxime Bouet, Romain Hardy, Amäel Moinard and Laurent Pichon (Fortuneo-Samsic)
Bauke Mollema, Julien Bernand, Koek de Kort and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo)
Silvan Dillier, Matthias Fränk and Pierre Latour (AG2R-La Mondiale)
Andrey Amador, Daniele Bennati and Marc Soler (Movistar Team)
Simon Geschke, Soren Kragh and Edward Theuns (Team Sunweb)
Gorka Izagirre, Ion Izagirre and Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida)
Damiano Caruso, Greg van Avermaet and Tejay Van Garderen (BMC Racing Team)
Christophe Laporte, Nicolas Edet and Dani Navarro (Cofidis)
Julian Alaphilippe and Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors)
Adam Yates and Matthew Hayman (Mitchelton-Scott)
Marcus Burghardt and Gregor Mühlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe)
Magnus Cort and Michael Valgren (Astana)
Marco Minaard and Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert)
Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ)
Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo)
Jelle Vanendert (Lotto-Soudal)
Thomas Boudat (Direct Energie)
Simon Clarke (EF Drapac)
Kristijan Durasek (UAE Team Emirates)
Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin)
94km remaining from 218km
We're coming up to the intermediate sprint in Saint-Girons
Boasson Hagen grabs the points at the sprint ahead of Laporte and Van Avermaet.
By my maths, Peter Sagan now has an unassailable lead in the points classification. All he has to do is stay on his bike until Paris and a sixth green jersey is his.
Romain Bardet has a mechanical but Oliver Naesen is there to help him back to the peloton.
90km remaining from 218km
Meanwhile the breakaway are now 5:51 ahead of the peloton with 90km left to race.
There's been so much action early on today that we've barely had chance to think about what lies ahead. It won't be long before we're climbing the Col de Portet-d'Aspet in what signals the start of the pivotal phase of today's stage. A short descent precedes the first-category Col de Menté and its tricky descent, while nearly 20km in the valley precede the first-category Col du Portillon and the drop down into Luchon.
We are sure to see fireworks on that final climb and descent, but will we get any over Menté? The valley roads will count against long-range aggression, but not if the attackers have teammates up the road. Movistar, AG2R, and Sunweb, all have three riders in the break...
A reminder that Barry Ryan has a preview of the Pyrenean stages which covers today's parcours in detail. As he points out, these final 80km mirror one of the Tour's most memorable stages, back in 1971 when Luis Ocaña, the closest challenger to Eddy Merckx, crashed out of the yellow jersey and the race on the wet descent of the Col de Menté. Here's the piece.
With 80km to go, the gap between the 47-rider breakaway and the Sky-manned peloton is 7:20
Since the breakaway's formation, the average speed has settled to a more modest - but still fast - 43km/h.
In fact, even with that 15-minute stop after the protest, the riders are only just behind the fastest predicted schedule.
Daniel Benson paid a visit to Mitchelton-Scott in Carcassonne this morning, and got the details on the wrist injury that has forced Damien Howson out of the Tour. There's also news on Esteban Chaves, who has not raced since the Giro and now will not ride the Vuelta as he continues to struggle with health problems. Here's the full story.
71km remaining from 218km
We're on the approach to the Col de Portet-d'Aspet and Gilbert has attacked the break.
Gilbert leads the race onto the climb.
The Belgian has a lead of 35 seconds.
The Col de Portet-d'Aspet is 5.4km long with an average gradient of 7.1%.
Amador sparks a counter-attack on the climb.
This 47-rider group is almost a mini peloton, and it will thin out over these two climbers, with the weaker climbers falling away.
Gilbert is one kilometre shy of the summit and he now has a lead of 1:05 over his breakaway companions. The peloton is at 10 minutes.
Gilbert takes maximum points at the top of the climb, and behind him Alaphilippe and Barguil prepare to renew their battle for the polka-dots.
Barguil hits out but Alaphlippe responds in kind, and comes round his compatriot on the line. He just possesses that superior turn of speed, and extends his lead in the mountains classification as a result.
Alaphlippe continues his effort and it looks for a moment like he could try and link up with his teammate Gilbert up the road, but he looks content to let the rest of the break rejoin, though he does have the luxury at the moment of taking this descent on his own.
Crash!
Gilbert goes head over heels over a roadside wall...
Gilbert overcooked a left-hand corner and seized up as he hit the brakes. He managed to get his speed down before he hit the wall but he still flipped over the other side. It didn't look a long way down the other side, but we wait to see if the Belgian is ok.
The rest of the breakaway safely negotiate the rest of the descent and the road begins to rise again ahead of the Col de Menté.
Gilbert is back up and sitting on that wall. He looks ok.
And he's back on his bike! He has cuts on his left elbow and knee but he's going to carry on and try and finish this stage. He gives the thumbs up to the cameras as he sets off.
Gilbert drops back to the medical car, where he'll have his cuts patched up. There's blood currently running down his left arm and leg.
55km remaining from 218km
In the meantime, we have around 10 riders of this 47 rider break pulling clear at the head of the race, on this false flat section ahead of the climb proper.
Rowe leads the peloton over the top of the Portet-d'Aspet. They're 7:25 down on the head of the race.
Images like those of Gilbert are always shocking. In this case, not least because it was on that very descent that Fabio Casartelli died when he crashed on the 1995 Tour.
Barguil attacks and is away with Caruso and Gesink.
And that trio lead onto the Col de Menté.
It's 6.9km long with an average gradient of 8.1%.
Barguil is struggling out there and can't hold the wheels of Caruso and Gesink.
Caruso and Gesink have 15 seconds over the chasers.
Here are the chasers - or those remaining from the initial 47-rider break.
Pierre Latour, Mathias Frank (AG2R La Mondiale), Simon Geschke, Soren Kragh Andersen (Sunweb), Warren Barguil (Fortuneo-Samsic). Ion Izaguirre, Gorka Izaguirre, Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida), Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), Andrey Amador, Marc Soler, (Movistar), Greg Van Avermaet, Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step), Kristijan Durasek (UAE), Gregor Muhlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Michael Valgren (Astana), Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ), Tom Jelte Slagter (Dimension Data), Bauke Mollema, Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo), Guillaume Martin (Wanty Groupe Gobert).
50km remaining from 218km
25 seconds is the gap between Gesink/Caruso and that 22-rider chase group.
The break is splitting up more as they chase down Gesink and Caruso.
Muhlberger is off the front, and he's tracked by I.Izaguirre, Latour, and Alaphilippe.
The leaders are just 1.5km from the summit of the Col de Menté.
Back in the peloton, Rowe's work is done and it's now Castroviejo on the front for Sky. They're 11 minutes down on the front of the race and the winner will almost certainly come from this breakaway move.
Gilbert is back in the peloton now as the Sky riders ask if he's ok. Thumbs up. He'll keep it steady to the finish now and live to fight another day.
Alaphilippe accelerates with less than a kilometre to the top of the climb. That chase group is closing in on the two leaders.
Alaphlippe pushes on and catches Caruso and Gesink. He sits there for a few moments and prepares to sprint for the points once again.
47km remaining from 218km
And here he goes, bouncing out of the saddle. It's not a full-on sprint but Barguil's not here so there's no need. Alaphilippe takes the maximum and extends his lead in the mountains classification.
Yates and Mollema both dragged themselves back into contention towards the top of the climb. Others should manage to get in on this descent.
This is a treacherous descent. Let's hope everyone gets down safe.
Here's a reminder of the stage profile. Still to come: Descent, valley, climb, descent.
Back down the mountain, will we see any attacks in the peloton?
Movistar, AG2R, and Sunweb all have riders up the road, and with the valley roads coming up, this climb is the opportunity for the likes of Dumoulin, Bardet, Landa, and Quintana to bring that tactic into play.
Alaphilippe is still leading the way, taking this descent at wince-inducing speed.
Alaphilippe is hitting 85km/h here as he tucks onto his top tube in between swinging himself through the bends. This is a real sporting descent and gaps are appearing between the riders at the head of the race.
Muhlberger makes it across to Alaphilippe.
Castroviejo leads the peloton, Kwiatkowski on his wheel, followed by the yellow jersey of Thomas and then Froome. They still have Bernal and Poels up there, too.
We grabbed a word with Thomas this morning. Here's what he had to say.
"We’re expecting an attacking race. It’s going to be a big, big week ahead. I think it’s definitely going to be chaotic finale. There’ll be attacks. If there is bad weather then obviously with the descents that could have an impact. We’ll try to stay calm and keep doing what we’ve been doing.
"We’ll expect the worse really and expect them [Sunweb] to try at any point, the rest of the top 10, as well, Bardet and those guys. Obviously tomorrow is a massive day. If anybody spends a lot of energy today it will have a knock-on effect tomorrow, especially up that last finishing climb. But like I say, we’ve been good so far."
36km remaining from 218km
Alaphlippe and Muhlbert come off the descent and onto the flat. They take a look around and wait for the chasers to get back into the picture. They'll collaborate in the valley before the plays are made for the stage win on the Col du Portillon.
Castroviejo leads the peloton over the top of the Col de Menté, 11:45 down on the break. No aggression from their rivals.
Barguil, Amador, and Vanendert manage to get back into the break now
Here are the riders left at the head of the race
Gesink
Alaphilippe
Pozzovivo
G.Izaguirre
Yates
Muhlberger
Martin
Latour
Mollema
Molard
Soler
Amador
Valgren
Van Garderen
Barguil
Vanendert
Gesink and Molard have a go off the front together but it's short-lived.
Here are the riders left at the head of the race
Gesink
Alaphilippe
Pozzovivo
G.Izaguirre
Yates
Muhlberger
Martin
Latour
Frank
Mollema
Molard
Soler
Amador
Valgren
Caruso
Barguil
Vanendert
30km remaining from 218km
Mathias Frank is now pushing the pace. He has teammate Latour in the white jersey further back in the group.
28km remaining from 218km
The Col du Portillon begins just before the 200km mark, so in around 10km time.
The race is about to ignite as we head towards the final climb, but spare a thought for Arnaud Demare, who's currently half an hour down on the front of the race. We've lost so many sprinters already, and we could be about to lose another.
Frank is the one burying himself on these false flat valley roads here. Latour - 14th overall - could feasibly start to move up towards the top 10, but of course AG2R's priority is Bardet.
A changing of the guard in the peloton as Movistar take over at the front, breaking up that familiar Sky train.
20km remaining from 218km
We're just 2km from the foot of the final climb. The 17 leaders have 1:30 over the six other survivors from the day's break - Van Avermaet, I.Izaguirre, Geschke, Kragh Andersen, Bernard, Durasek - and 10:38 over the peloton.
So, no fireworks on the Col de Menté. How much action will we see on the Portillon?
18km remaining from 218km
Here we go then! The Col du Portillon...
Frank continues his effort onto the climb.
Barguil is dropped. He has cuts on his legs and scuffs on his shorts. We didn't see it but he has obviously crashed on one of those descents. The Frenchman has lost out on the mountains points today and won't be contesting the stage win either.
Frank pulls over and falls away. That's him done for the day.
Valgren accelerates. Another amazing climbing performance from the Dane.
Molard quickly latches onto Valgren's wheel. Gesink takes it up behind.
Gesink comes across with Pozzovivo on his wheel. The rest of the riders are dragged up as well.
Gesink and Pozzovivo have a gap now.
Yates kicks now as Gesink and Pozzovivo disappear up the road.
Yates making a real effort here. Izaguirre is on his wheel but now the group is stretching.
Yates, Izaguirre, Soler, Mollema are chasing as a quartet.
Alaphilippe makes it up too.
Movistar are still leading the peloton in the valley.
15km remaining from 218km
Mollema, bobbing furiously, makes it over to Gesink and Pozzovivo. There's a regrouping behind.
Yates goes again as Soler and Vanendert distance the rest.
The peloton are now starting the climb.
Yates is away with Soler and Izaguirre and they're going to catch the leading trio.
Alaphilippe panics and sets off behind.
Pint-sized Pozzovivo dances out of the saddle. It's always nice to see a pure climber at work. And there are plenty of them in this break. Gesink, more of a diesel, takes over now and looks laboured.
Alaphilippe, himself springing out of the saddle, has made his way across to the six leaders, catching and dropping Vanendert in the process.
Back in the peloton Sky have lost Castroviejo. Poels takes it up for them as they take back control from Movistar.
Yates attacks!
12km remaining from 218km
Yates is searching for a consolation after seeing his GC ambitions go up in smoke, and he looks good here with a healthy gap. Gesink leads the chase but looks far less at ease than the young Briton.
Yates extends his lead and this is looking like a very decent margin indeed. Is the Mitchelton-Scott rider on his way to a stage win?
Back in the peloton it's Poels, Kwiatkowski, Thomas, Froome, Bernal for Sky.
11km remaining from 218km
Yates has 20 seconds on Alaphilippe, Izaguirre, Mollema, Gesink, Pozzovivo, and Soler.
There are just 1.5km of the Col du Portillon remaining. Yates has the upper hand but still needs a good descent to be able to finish this off.
Yates increases his lead to 30 seconds with 1km to go to the top. He's flying.
Alaphilippe accelerates again now.
Alaphilippe is alone now in pursuit. He has 800 metres to the top of the climb. The Frenchman is a quality descender and is still well in the mix for this stage win.
Attack from Fuglsang in the peloton!
Fuglsang is joined by teammate Tanel Kangert as they attack the Sky-led peloton. The Dane is 9th overall.
10km remaining from 218km
Yates comes to the top of the climb now. Alaphilippe has grabbed 10 seconds back.
Here we go then. One white-knuckle descent to the finish line.
Katusha's Ian Boswell takes it up in the peloton as Fuglsang is quickly brought to heel.
Yates begins his descent and takes it aggressively. He has 18 seconds on Alaphilippe and can't afford a single error.
The peloton is thinning out but Poels is back on the front for Sky. They're controlling proceedings in familiar fashion.
Yates crashes!
He slips out on a left-hand bend and hits the ground hard.
Yates is back up but Alaphilippe zips past him.
Yates looks ok and is sprinting back up to speed. He might be able to get back to Alaphilippe but wouldn't be fancied in a sprint against the Frenchman.
Alaphilippe is looking round here, and hesitates for a moment. He keeps looking round.
4km remaining from 218km
Less than 5km to go now and Alaphilippe is riding away from Yates now.
4km remaining from 218km
Just 4km separate Alaphilippe from a second Tour de France stage win. The Frenchman, of course, won on the first day in the Alps.
Izaguirre catches Yates. They're 25 seconds down on Alaphilippe.
The peloton are 1km from the top of the Col du Portillon. Still no attacks in the peloton.
If you'd said Alaphilippe would win two stages at this Tour, you wouldn't have been at all surprised, but maybe you'd have expected them to come at Mende, or the Mur de Bretagne. But they've come in the high mountains, and this one in the polka-dot jersey. What a talent.
1km remaining from 218km
Alaphilippe comes to the bottom of the descent and cracks a smile as the road flattens out under the flamme rouge.
Alaphilippe had time to enjoy his win on stage 10 in Le Grand Bornand, and he can once again savour this.
Here he comes, waving his arm in the air in the final 500 metres
And into the home straight. And the arms are raised above his head.
One punch of the air and he's over the line
Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step) wins stage 16 of the Tour de France.
Izaguirre wins the sprint for second place, 15 seconds down. Yates takes third. Mollema is fourth, while Pozzovivo follows for fifth.
Gesink is next in, while Latour comes across with Caruso and G.Martin, 1:18 down on Alaphilippe.
In the peloton, Mikel Landa is attacking on the descent.
Too little, too late, you suspect, for Landa and anyone else who might attack on this descent. Everyone's worried about tomorrow's 65km stage and as a result, perhaps, today has passed everyone by. It's sort of understandable - it has been such a long and tiring day - but Sky's rivals have such a deficit that they need to get creative and can't really afford to let opportunities drift idly by.
Bernal takes over on the descent for Sky. Kiwatkowski, Thomas and Froome are still up there.
Top 10
1 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 5:13:22 2 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:15 3 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 4 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 5 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:18 6 Robert Gesink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:37 7 Michael Valgren (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:00:56 8 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 9 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:10 10 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:18
Some gaps have formed on this descent. The top 10 on GC are all present and correct. 2km to go for the yellow jersey group.
Kwiatkowski leads them into the final kilometre, and it will be as you were on GC.
And they're in. Thomas stays in yellow. Tomorrow will be a different test entirely, but he's one step closer to Paris.
General classification after stage 16
1 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 68:12:01 2 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:39 3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:50 4 Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:02:38 5 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:21 6 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:42 7 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:03:57 8 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:04:23 9 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:06:14 10 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:06:54
Dan Martin speaks to the media at the line and is asked about the tear gas incident.
"What was it, mace? That's a new experience. I'm aways open to new experiences but pepper spray during the race... you could feel it in the lungs there for a bit - it wasn't exactly pleasant. But they dealt with it pretty well and the medical team gave the guys who needed it some attention. Bizarre though."
And here's a word from the stage winner
"Today it was a very crazy day. A lot of pain in my legs, and I think for everybody. I cannot believe I win for the second time today. I knew the finale, especially the last climb and the downhill. I'm so happy."
Here's your finish line shot
Philippe Gilbert is heading to hospital after that dramatic crash, but just to patch up the wound on his knee, it seems.
Here's Mitchelton-Scott DS Matt White speaking after Yates came so close to victory
"When you've got Alaphilippe, one of the world's best descenders, coming up fast, there was a lot of pressure on Adam to rail that descent and to take some risks. We were directly behind Alaphilippe in the car and some of the positions we saw him get into, I've never seen before in my life.
"Adam is pretty disappointed. It's a stage win at the Tour de France, and he's just missed it. He has some scrapes but obviously he's gutted. The race isn't over but that was a big chance."
Here's our report page, where you'll find a write-up, results, and plenty of photos
Race director Christian Prudhomme has spoken about that protest
"There is really nothing we can do, but we are just really disappointed. Maybe we should've sensed there was going to be danger and maybe we should've acted quicker. People should respect the riders and respect the race. Maybe we should focus on the race, there was a smile on my face for 99% of the race. There were a few crashes though with Gilbert and Yates but a great victory from Julian Alaphilippe. Ultimately I am happy."
Here's race leader Geraint Thomas
"We were expecting fireworks and a lot of attacks but luckily they didn't materialise. On the last climb there were a few but obviously my teammates were strong and managed to control it. Then the final descent. It was a pretty uneventful day, which is always nice."
As for tomorrow's rather different day in the Pyrenees...
"We can expect attacks maybe form the gun. It'd be a bit daring to go that soon because it's a really demanding day, that last climb is really tough, maybe the toughest of the whole Tour. It'll take a gutsy ride to go from the start, but we're expecting the worst. I think it will be a crazy day. There's a lot of climbing in a short space of time, probably only two and a half hours, but most of it will be at threshold, so we will see how it goes."
Another amazing image from today. Philippe Gilbert being dragged back up to the road after crashing on the descent of the Portet-d'Aspet.
Adam Yates speaks now
"It's one of them things. I've taken more risks on more technical descents before and never had any problems. We recon all the stages but you never know what's coming up. It was a bit damp or something and I just came down. That's all there is to it.
"My morale is pretty damaged right now. When you come so close to winning a stage of the Tour de France it's pretty devastating, not just for me but for my team."
Demare somehow made the time cut
Another crazy image from today. Flicking through our full gallery really is worth it.
In other news from the Tour, L’Equipe has revealed that a technical mix-up left Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) on the wrong tyres for the key stage over the cobbles to Roubaix. L’Equipe suggests that the AG2R La Mondiale team did not have enough special tyres for the cobbles and so Bardet was given other tyres.
Good news for LottoNL-Jumbo today, as bike brand Bianchi has extended its sponsorship, securing the Dutch team's presence in the WorldTour.
LottoNL-Jumbo riders Primoz Roglic and Steven Kruijswijk are currently fourth and seventh overall, and sprinter Dylan Groenewegen won stages 7 and 8.
Cyclingnews' Sadhbh O'Shea reports that Philippe Gilbert has abandon the Tour.
Philippe Gilbert has told a group of reporters waiting for him outside the medical trailer at the finish of stage 16 that his Tour de France is over. Read our full report HERE.
Gilbert has been a huge helper for Alaphilippe during this year's Tour and the Frenchman's fight for the mountains jersey. He'll miss the Belgian in the Pyrenees.
As expected, Adam Yates is devastated by his crash on the descent to the finish. Read more about his stage HERE
Philippe Gilbert leaving the medical truck earlier. #TDF2018 pic.twitter.com/WwFQaP7mG6
