The breakaway riders are back together on the first slopes of the Cote des Demoiselles Coiffees.

It's the last of five category three climbs today, over 3.6km with an average gradient of 5.4%.

It's been a beautiful day on the Tour today... now who is set for a triumphant finish to stage 18?

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Geraint Thomas and Alex Aranburu are joined to make it an eight-man lead group, 15 seconds clear.

Now then, over the Cote de Saint-Apollinaire the lead group now has a buffer of more than 10 minutes.

And Britain's Geraint Thomas is not just back in the mix, on the descent both he and Spain's Alex Aranburu fly 10 seconds clear of the other breakaway riders.

Then Michal Kwiatkowski and Tobias Halland Johannessen lead the breakaway, but Kwiatkowski's Ineos team-mate Geraint Thomas is among those who are distanced.

Johannessen takes the two points over the Cote de Saint-Apollinaire, with Kwiatkowski claiming the other on offer.

Ireland's Ben Healy attacks on the 7km climb of the Cote de Saint-Apollinaire, which has an average gradient of 5.5%.

He's followed by EF Education-EasyPost team-mate Sean Quinn, but the US national champion can't break clear.

1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) 70hrs 21mins 27secs
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Visma-Lease a Bike) +3mins 11secs
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal- Quick Step) +5:09
4. Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates) +12:57
5. Mikel Landa (Spa/Soudal-Quick Step) +13:24
6. Carlos Rodriguez (Spa/Ineos Grenadiers) +13:30
7. Adam Yates (GB/UAE Team Emirates) +15:41
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita/Lidl-Trek) +17:51
9. Derek Gee (Can/Israel-Premier Tech) +18:15
10. Santiago Buitrago (Col/Bahrain Victorious) +18:35

Ineos Grenadiers leader Carlos Rodriguez (below) is currently sixth in general classification and, speaking before today's stage, their sports director Zak Dempster said: "We came here to win stages and do the best GC possible. For the time being we're fully focused on making sure we do the best GC possible with the right decisions and the best execution.

"Like everyone, we're looking forward. We're hoping for more than sixth, that's for sure, and there's no doubt we've got the ambition to win a stage.

"If we go away from this Tour without a stage win, I'm not going to sugar-coat it, we'll be disappointed, so it's all hands on deck today to try to make it happen, but at the same time all we can do is focus on our processes."

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The breakaway group now has a seven-minute advantage as it closes in on the day's penultimate climb up the Cote de Saint-Apollinaire

British team Ineos Grenadiers, which is yet to have a stage winner on this year's Tour, has two riders among the lead group: Michal Kwiatkowski and Geraint Thomas.

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Oier Lazkano's form on the climbs today has seen him close in the top three in the race for the polka dot jersey, currently occupied by Jonas Vingegaard as Tadej Pogacar, of course, has the yellow jersey:

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) - 77 points
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) - 58
3. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) - 42
4. Oier Lazkano (Movistar Team) - 41
5. Jonas Abrahamsen (One-X), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) - 36

It's three out of three for Movistar's Spanish rider Oier Lazkano from today's climbs.

Again he beats Richard Carapaz in a sprint for the maximum two points.

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The breakaway group has reached the foot of the Col de Manse, with the peloton six minutes 15 seconds back.

It's the third category three climb of the day, over 5.1km with a 3.6% average gradient.

1. Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) - 20
2. Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek) - 17
3. Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche-Wanty) - 15
4. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) - 13
5. Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) - 11

And Michael Matthews takes the sprint. Jayco-AlUla's Australian rider crosses ahead of Toms Skujins and Georg Zimmermann to claim the maximum 20 points.

The green jersey holder Biniam Girmay seems to be suffering today from the crash he suffered on stage 16.

Jai Hindley is one of eight riders in the 36-man breakaway group to have previously claimed a stage win, such as Wout van Aert, Michael Matthews, Michal Kwiatkowski and Britain's 2018 Tour winner Geraint Thomas.

They're now approaching the solitary intermediate sprint of the day.

Jai Hindley, who briefly held the yellow jersey after claiming his first stage win last year, added: "You can always plan but I think sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time, and sometimes you have to put yourself in the right place.

"I think it will be a super big fight and anyone who has the legs and wants to be there will be trying full gas today so it should be a good one."

Young Scot Oscar Onley has now been caught by the peloton, which is four minutes 25 seconds adrift of the breakaway.

Again it's Movistar's Spanish rider Oier Lazkano who takes the two points, while yesterday's stage winner Richard Carapaz takes the other point on offer over the Cote de Corps.

They are nearly four minutes clear of the peloton, with Oscar Onley 49 seconds off the breakaway group.

DSM-firmenich PostNL's British rider Oscar Onley has suffered two mechanicals, forcing him to drop off the breakaway, before Richard Carapaz and Oier Lazkano prepare to battle it out for the King of the Mountain points on offer over the Cote de Corps.

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The lead group covered 45km in the first hour of today's stage through Isere and have an advantage of three minutes over the peloton following the descent from Col du Festre.