Key events
3.4km to go Kuss is 11secs behind Carapaz now and that gap is growing.
4km to go Carapaz has to time trial this now if he wants the stage victory. Pogacar is 1min 10secs behind.
5.7km to go Kuss crashes again! He was really pushing it and that was hairy on the edge of the mountain near the netting, Carapaz is past him now.
7km to go Kuss has hit the deck! They didn’t show it on the broadcast, just glimpsed him getting back on.
7.5km to go The gap is down 1min 30secs, there’s a little downhill before the final ramp to finish.
9km to go Great graphic work from TNT to show the gap between Kuss and Carapaz, just 114m. Pogacar and the other GC men are 1min 45secs behind them now.
10km to go Carapaz isn’t done yet. He’s cutting this gap to Kuss and the Visma Lease-a-Bike man is visible on the road ahead again.
11.5km to go Seixas is now 40secs behind Del Toro. The 19-year-old has had a great debut Tour but the podium has proven beyond him. Up the road, Carapaz is now 20secs behind Kuss.
13.8km to go Carapaz, who with 15 more points has extended his polkadot lead, is chasing Kuss on this mini-descent.
14.3km to go Not that it matters now, but Kuss has taken the 20 mountains points and has put a bit more time between him and Carapaz. It’s 17secs.
15.5km to go Carapaz is closing on Kuss. There’s 1.3km to the summit and it’s eerie on the mountain with no crowds permitted on the side of the road.
16.6km to go Carapaz is only a few seconds behind Kuss. Further back, Seixas is hanging around behind Del Toro’s group too, he is maybe 15secs adrift.
17km to go Seixas doesn’t have it, Del Toro has attacked and the Frenchman is being distanced. Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel are with the Mexican, as is Lenny Martinez.
17.3km to go Kuss has gone off on his own again. The gap is down to 1min 45secs.
17.6km to go Del Toro looks at ease with this pace being set by Decathlon and Riccitello has now dropped off. There’s only a few more kilometres to the top of this climb.
18km to go Seixas isn’t comfortable but Decathlon are still hammering away. He knows he has to empty the tank to try and leap on to the podium. Up the road, the three at the front are back together now and lead by just two minutes.
19.5km to go Prodhomme has gone to the front of the GC group for Decathlon and is pulling for Seixas. The young Frenchman doesn’t look completely comfortable, but they’ve now been joined by Riccitello from the breakaway. Can they break Del Toro?
20km to go Hindley and Carapaz are edging back towards Kuss. They’re now just a handful of seconds behind him.
22km to go The gap between Kuss and the yellow jersey group is growing. I think we have our answer for Pogacar’s motivations, he’s riding for Del Toro here… at least for now.
23.4km to go Kuss has now distanced Hindley! The Visma Lease-a-Bike man isn’t going to wait to find out if Pogacar will catch him.
24km to go Hindley and Kuss are now leaving Carapaz behind.
24.2km to go An attack from Hindley distances Ayuso again. They need to push on together to win this stage.
26km to go What is Pogacar’s game here? He’s on the front of the GC group and bringing down the lead but surely he could do that quicker alone. Another question, will the break learn the lessons of yesterday? Kuss and Carapaz know all too well that Pogacar can close this.
28km to go The breakway has 3mins 40secs and we’re at the foot of the Col de Sarenne, it’s 12.8km to go the top at an average of 7.3%. Will Pogacar eat this up again? I wouldn’t bet against it.
Another Boardman-related memory, this time from Hugh Gallagher: “When Boardman rode for the GAN team, his co-rider, Stéphane Heulot was in yellow for four days looked so ill at ease on the podium each day that I sent an email jokingly suggesting I come on a stage to give some advice. To their credit they agreed and I did just that. I joined the team on the rest day, partaking in a jovial team dinner and following the Gap-Valence stage the next day with Roger Legeay, directeur sportif in the team car at breathtaking speed! That morning there was a celebration at the tour village for 30 years on the tour for Jean Marie Leblanc, Roger Legeay and a soigneur Belge champagne and all – great memories.”
32km to go Whoop data klaxon! A few minutes of banal measurables chat. *Rolls eyes*
35km to go Riccitello is now 30secs behind the leaders. That’s the difference between good descenders and very good descenders.
37km to go Kuss, Ayuso and Hindley are all waving at eachother at the front of the race. Kuss knows they need to work together if they are to hold off Pogacar as they go up Col de Sarenne, he was one of the victims of the Slovenian’s incredible ride up Alpe d’Huez yesterday.
There was a time when British riders were like hen’s teeth in Tour, as Joe Roberts remembers: “1996 on the slopes of Alpe D’Huez, me and my mate Will with a small Union Jack waiting for Chris Boardman then riding for Gan. We were in a sea of Dutch fans when they took great pleasure in telling us over their loudhailer that he had pulled out, we were gutted but still saw Marco Pantani on a flyer. Also caught a fierce close up glare from Bjarne Riis as we stepped too close.”
43km to go Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon) and Maxim van Gils (Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe) have got back to the GC group on this descent. They’ve taken another five seconds off the gap to the breakaway.
48km to go Pogacar is leading the GC riders down this descent an chipping away at the lead. I don’t think he’s thinking about Del Toro and has his eyes on another stage win. The gap is 4mins 30secs.
51km to go Riccitello is a slight man and has been buffeted by the wind on the descent down the Galibier and has lost some ground. He’s 14secs behind the leaders.
A few more Tour memories for you. “I was in Dunkirk for the Grand Depart in 2001 and I saw David Millar overcook it on the last bend before the finish of the individual time trial,” writes Anthony Margetts. “He was leading at the time but his wheel clipped the barrier and he fell so he did not win the stage but it was close.”
Nicholas von Maltzahn is taking us further back: “In 1978 I was visiting my grandmother just as the Tour came through her part of Switzerland. She liked us all to convene for breakfast, lunch, tea, and dinner, day by day, but leave was given and so I saw the Tour for the first time! It wound its way up the Mont Pélérin and then flashed down and away to the west. I found myself soon after in Paris and surprised to meet with final stage on the Champs Élysées!”
Finally, Jon Sofier has a hazier recollection: “I arrived in France in 1990 and soon became friends with another Englishman, who was a passionate Tour de France fan. Every summer we’d head off to a different corner of France, following the race and discovering places we might never otherwise have visited.
“On the evening of 13th July 1993, we pitched our tent on the slopes of the Galibier, ready to watch the Bastille Day stage the following afternoon. Still relatively new to France, we had no idea what was about to happen. As midnight struck, everyone around us produced fireworks. The mountain erupted in a dazzling display of light and colour, creating one of the most unforgettable moments of my time in France.
“Of course, the memory may have been softened just a little by the generous quantities of champagne that our fellow campers insisted on sharing with us!”
59km to go Pogacar has trimmed the gap to the breakway back below five minutes with this effort. It looked like Del Toro was struggling a bit, but he’s hanging on. Ayuso has got back on to the break, by the way.
ShareCarapaz secures the mountains classification
He’s the king of the mountains with those 20 points. Chapeau, Richard!
No one is going to take that polka dot jersey from Richard Carapaz. Photograph: Stéphanie Lecocq/ReutersShare
Updated at 09.33 EDT
61km to go Pogacar has taken over at the front of the GC group and has distanced a few riders already. This is all for the benefit of Del Toro.
61.5km to go Ayuso is clawing his way back to this lead group. He’s sticking around at about 15secs back.
65km to go Carapaz loves an attack and he’s gone again. Does he want to shake off a few of the in the group he thinks are just there for the ride? It’s worked. Carapaz smiles as Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon), Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Jai Hindley (Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe) rejoin him. Ayuso has not been able to keep the pace. That’s good for the breakaway, without a true GC threat in the break they will be more free to ride away. Their gap to the yellow jersey is now five minutes.
65.5km to go Ayuso told TNT pre-stage that he’s been struggling all race but he’s in the break today. He looks like he’s been feuding with his support vehicle on the climb, chucking away the bidons and gels handed to him, not quite sure what the issue is. This time the hand goes up and he accepts everything given to him.
66km to go Healy has done his work and peels off. Chapeau. Carapaz can seal the mountains classification with these 20 points. There are 20 more on the day’s final climb and four on offer tomorrow, but Paret-Peintre and Pogacar will be too far behind when Carapaz goes over the top in 5.7km.
67km to go Healy is doing the lord’s work for Carapaz in this breakaway, just pulling and pulling away on the front. They have about 7km to go until the summit and 20 more polkadot points.
71km to go Davide Piganzoli (Visma Lease-a-Bike) and Tobias Foss (Netcompany Ineos) are being left behind by the break. Thymen Arensman is still in the break for Netcompany Ineos, who are yet to win a stage.
72.6km to go Ben Healy is not hanging around, the break had taken their foot off the accelerator a bit and the EF Education-EasyPost man wasn’t having it. This burst from Healy has made a few in the break uncomfortable but grown the gap back to 4mins 30secs.
74km to go The riders are off the false flat after the summit of Télégraphe and now on the slopes of the Galibier. The gap to the break is back down below four minutes. The GC riders, notably Bahrain Victorious, reacted to ensure that Ayuso did not get too far ahead.