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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?
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.
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."
A reminder of the overall standings after 15 stages
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.
And they're off!
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
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
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.
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
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...