No dramas, no mishaps.

That is what Tadej Pogacar is hoping for as he closes on victory in the Tour de France.

Image source, EPA

Riders are picking their lines, scampering through hairpins.

Every group is descending and getting a well-earned rest.

We're over halfway there.

Image source, ASO

Richard Carapaz is first over the Col de Turini and the King of the Mountains leader extends his growing gap at the top. He goes 23 points ahead of Tadej Pogacar in the KOM standings with a maximum of 25 left for a single rider in the tour.

He can wrap up the jersey on the next climb.

Great work from the Ecuadorian who of course lost out on this jersey on stage 20 four years ago.

Hang on! Three riders broke off at the start of this climb and have succesfully bridged the gap to the front seven. They are Jasper Stuyven, Kevin Geniets and Tobias Halland Johannessen (great name).

Great effort from the trio. Less than one km to the summit now.

Yes. Well, pretty much, he would still have to reach the finish line in Nice.

There are a maximum of 60 points left in the Green Jersey competition. Twenty at today's intermediate sprint, 20 at the finish on Col de la Couillole and 20 for the winner of tomorrow's time trial.

At the top of the Green Jersey standings Biniam Girmay has a lead of 33 points over Jasper Philipsen, and both are going well in the groupetto.

That'll mean that neither will be collecting points today - unless Philipsen was to pull the greatest surprise attack in the history of the tour to make up about 11 minutes from the back of the race to the front.

Girmay already has this one in the bag.

Image source, Getty Images

To his fans, he’s the “African king” - an international star and the first black African to win a Tour de France stage.

Biniam Girmay did that not only once but three times this year at road cycling's premier event. Barring an accident, the 24-year-old looks set to win the green jersey on Sunday - a prize awarded to the best sprinter over the gruelling three-week competition.

But Girmay's journey to the top has been riddled with obstacles - he has battled culture shocks, Europe's visa procedures and the loneliness of being thousands of miles away from his wife and young daughter.

Now, he is embracing his role as a hero in his home country - Eritrea - and an inspiration for cyclists across Africa as a whole.

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I'm upgrading the GC group to peloton.

The leaders have slowed thing right down and now trail the break by four minutes 30 seconds. And that has given those behind a chance to bunch up and get back on. There's about 40 riders swelling around Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel.

Five km remain on climb number two.

1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) 78hrs 49mins 20secs
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Visma-Lease a Bike) +5mins 03secs
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal- Quick Step) +7mins 01sec
4. Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates) +15mins 07secs
5. Mikel Landa (Spa/Soudal-Quick Step) +15mins 34secs
6. Carlos Rodriguez (Spa/Ineos Grenadiers) +17mins 36secs
7. Adam Yates (GB/UAE Team Emirates) +19mins 18secs
8. Derek Gee (Can/Israel- Premier Tech) +21mins 52secs
9. Matteo Jorgenson (USA/Visma-Lease a Bike) 22mins 43secs
10. Giulio Ciccone (Ita/Lidl-Trek) +22mins 46secs

Katie Falkingham
BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

As far as Dan Bigham was concerned, the door was shut.

Three years ago he was at the Tokyo Olympics. He could have been there alongside his former Great Britain team-mates, skin suit on, ready to race. Instead, he was there not as a rider, but as a performance engineer for Denmark.

He thought the page had been turned on his chapter as a GB track cyclist. Told to choose between cycling and engineering, Bigham had opted for the latter - his biggest passion.

Yet now he is fine-tuning for another Olympic Games. And this time, in Paris, he will be taking to the boards wearing the red, white and blue of Team GB.

"If you'd said to me at the last Olympics you could win a medal at the next one, I'd be like 'I'm not even going to be there'," Bigham, 32, told BBC Sport., external

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And there we go. Bardet, Carapaz et al. make it to the front group.

We have a beefy breakaway now of seven riders.

Richard Carapaz continues to motor, he wants to cross this climb first to secure up the Polka Dot jersey.

After so many years of the GC guys dominating the King of the Mountains crown, this move from Carapaz is really nice to see.

He's dragging Marc Soler, Romain Bardet and Jan Tratnik with him and the foursome are now 18 seconds off the leaders.

Still over 11kms until the summit.

We go again, on to climb number two as we scale up the Col de Turini, our first category one.

Mas, Kelderman and Armirail still lead, 40 seconds ahead of Carapaz and Bardet's group, and two minutes ahead of the yellow jersey selection.

Tom Brown
BBC Sport Wales

Image source, Getty Images

Josh Tarling is a name to remember.

By next weekend, you might not be able to forget it.

For those who don't know much about this 20-year-old Welshman, he rides for Ineos Grenadiers and has won the last two national time trial titles.

He is also the reigning European time trial champion and won time trial bronze at last year's World Championships.

Tarling is about to compete at his first Olympics in Paris. The men's time trial is on day one of the Games next Saturday, and he is aiming high.

"I want to win," he told BBC Sport Wales. "I'm honoured to go, but I want to do well. You can't waste that many opportunities because it's every four years.

"So I want to try to win and I'll throw everything at it to win."

• Read more here, external

Wait, Bardet?! He wasn't even in the yellow jersey group going up the climb.

He must have made up minutes on the first half of this long, long descent. Chapeau.

Oh hang on, it's even worse than I thought. Jorgenson actually took the last mountain point so here's the current KOM leaderboard.

1. Carapaz - 101pts
2. Pogacar - 87pts
3. Vingegaard - 59pts
4. Jorgenson - 54pts
5. Evenpoel - 44pts

Richard Carapaz must have done something to upset Matteo Jorgenson, the Ecuadorian and the American were in the break together yesterday.

Anyway, Carapaz is reacting really well, going off the front on the descent and taking Marc Soler, Romain Bardet, Jan Tratnik and Clement Champoussin with him.

Well that was a dramatic start to the day.

There's only 16 riders in the yellow jersey group already. We've still got three climbs to go.

Time for some descending to get some energy back in the legs.

Top of the climb. Richard Carapaz is waved through by UAE Team Emirates to take two mountain points, but - oh drama! - Matteo Jorgenson attacks and denies Richie.

The Ecuadorian picks up just one point instead and is now on 102 at the top of the Polka Dot standings, 15 ahead of Tadej Pogacar.

Enric Mas has dropped fellow breakees Bruno Armirail and Wilco Kelderman.

He goes over the top on his own, picking up five in the KOM competition, 50 seconds ahead of the yellow jersey group.

In the yellow jersey group are:

Tadej Pogacar - UAE Team Emirates

Joao Almeida - UAE Team Emirates

Marc Soler - UAE Team Emirates

Adam Yates - UAE Team Emirates

Jonas Vingegaard - Visma-Lease a Bike

Matteo Jorgenson - Visma-Lease a Bike

Bart Lemmen - Visma-Lease a Bike

Giulo Ciccone - Lidl - Trek

Remco Evenepoel - Soudal-Quick Step

Jan Hirt- Soudal-Quick Step

Mikel Landa - Soudal-Quick Step

Ilan van Wilder - Soudal-Quick Step

Richard Carapaz - EF Education - Easy Post

Stephen Williams - Israel - Premier Tech

Jakob Fuglsang - Israel - Premier Tech

Clement Champoussin - Arkea - B&B Hotels