Marc Soler gets back on at the front.

In the breakaway he's joined with Carapaz, Bardet, Mas, Kelderman, Stuyven and Johannessen.

Down the road, Soudal- Quick Step are still on the front of the yellow jersey group and are trying to strain GC rival Jonas Vingergaard.

The gap is two minutes 40 seconds.

Jan Tratnik's work is done, trying to extend the breakaway's lead for teammate Wilco Kelderman who remains in the break.

Kevin Geniets is the latest rider to pop off the back of the front group. About seven riders remain.

Marc Soler is being dropped. That's a surprise.

And we're on to the climb. Jan Tratnik is on the front.

We're on to the flat and the GC race is firing up behind the breakaway with the gap cut to three minutes. I expect Wilco Kelderman, Enric Mas, Romain Bardet and Richard Carapaz to all go hard as soon as we start ascending.

A lead of three minutes won't be enough on the final climb.

Richard Carapaz has history in the mountains classification.

He came second in it at the tour four years ago, and he also took the polka dot jersey at the Vuelta a Espana in 2022.

Actually, is it even called the polka dot jersey in Spain? It's more splodges than dots.

Image source, Getty Images

Down, down down, we keep descending. Around 10km from the final climb of the day.

And now the yellow jersey group goes over the Col de la Colmaine. It's downhill from here, until we hit our final climb of the day, the Col de la Couillole - which Tadej Pogacar won on at Paris-Nice.

Richard Carapaz goes over the top of the Col de la Colmiane in first place and that will be enough for the Olympic champion to wrap up the King of the Mountains jersey.

What a tour from Carapaz. The first Ecuadorian to win a stage, the first to wear the yellow jersey, and now the first to win polka dot jersey.

It's like a chess match.

Bruno Armirail is dropped from the leading group which is currently infighting. Marc Soler was the latest to go but was quickly brought back.

The breakaway's lead stands at just three minutes 20 seconds now, with about 1.3km until the top of the penultimate climb.

Drama at the front. Jan Tratnik attacks and Richard Carapaz follows him.

Enric Mas and Romain Bardet also bridge across.

Uh-oh, it's all happening in the peloton too, Soudal- Quick Step are still setting the pace, and it's becoming too much for more and more riders.

To be honest, the groupetto look like they're controlling the gap really well.

As things stand, Cav, Girmay, Philipsen, they're all safe.

Earlier ITV 4 spoke to Mark Cavendish's trainer Vasilis Anastopoulos about time cuts: "This plan has worked really well so far, since day one," he said.

"Based on Mark's performance we know how far away we are or if we're on the schedule or not

"It's going to be really tight. According to my calculations we will do it roughly within a minute of the time limit. It will be really close if everything goes by my calculations."

Jasper Stuyven is first through the intermediate sprint and picks up 20 points which won't mean that much to him.

The current green jersey wearer, Biniam Girmay, is 14 minutes down in the groupetto, along with Mark Cavendish.

The Eritrean is pretty much guaranteed to win the points classification - if he finishes the tour.

Image source, Reuters

Saint-Martin-Vésubie is on the horizon, that's the village that will host today's intermediate sprint in a few Ks time.

It was hit by some horrible flooding during Storm Alex in 2020 and you can still see where the overflowing river carved through on the helicopter shots.

Find out more on the village's story here.

50km to the finish, Allez Allez Allez.

Quickstep have moved to the front of the yellow jersey group, on behalf of third-placed Remco Evenepoel who is hoping to put pressure on Jonas Vingegaard in second.

They've cut the breakaway's lead to four minutes and suddenly, there's a glimmer of hope that today's stage winner could come from the leader's group.

And that's the descending done, it's time to climb once more.

The breakaway is still four minutes and 30 seconds ahead of the yellow jersey group. In it are:

Wilco Kelderman

Jan Tratnik

Marc Soler

Jasper Stuyven

Bruno Armirail

Kevin Geniets

Richard Carapaz

Enric Mas

Romain Bardet

Tobias Halland Johannessen