Postpublished at 38km to go
Tobias Johannessen, Thymen Arensman and Carlos Rodriguez have chased down the lead trio early in the climb up the Col de Peyresourde.
Summary
182.6km mountain stage from Pau to summit finish at Luchon-Superbagneres - stage guide
Tadej Pogacar leads by more than four minutes after winning past two stages
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Postpublished at 38km to go
What climbs are to come on today's stage?published at 40km to go
Mountains, 182.6km, Pau to Luchon-Superbagneres
The leaders are now approaching the penultimate climb of the day. Here's when each of today's last two climbs start, how long they are and the average gradient:
- 39km to go - Col de Peyresourde - 7.1km at 7.8%
- 12.4km to go - Luchon-Superbagneres - 12.4km at 7.3%
Pogacar climbs to sixth on all-time list of stage winspublished at 45km to go
We've not mentioned Tadej Pogacar much yet, what with all that drama with Remco Evenepoel withdrawing from the race, but this could be shaping up to be another Pogacar win.
The Slovenian superstar won the past two stages to not only regain the race lead and build a commanding advantage, but to overtake Nicolas Frantz on the all-time list of Tour de France stage wins.
Postpublished at 50km to go
The lead trio are now 1min 45secs ahead of the first chasers, and 3mins 40secs clear of the peloton.
Will that be enough to hold off the leading GC riders?
Martinez is caughtpublished at 55km to go
The peloton reached the Col d'Aspin summit 3mins 35secs after Lenny Martinez.
Further up the road, Sepp Kuss and Valentin Paret-Peintre have joined leader Martinez.
The Frenchman actually slowed down to let them catch up. He's fulfilled his main aim for the day, to hit the top of the King of the Mountain standings.
Weather update - it'll be chilly on toppublished at 60km to go
This morning the forecast said that from here there would be intervals of rain and moderate temperatures, dropping to 12C at the top of the climbs.
On its X account, the Tour de France called today's stage "the hell of the Pyrenees". Not only will the peloton face some gruelling climbs but it'll be fairly chilly up there too.
Image source, ReutersPolka-dot jersey - Martinez leads chase duo by 40secspublished at 63km to go
Lenny Martinez summited the Col d'Aspin 40 seconds before Sepp Kuss and Valentin Paret-Peintre, with Michael Woods 2mins 20secs off the French youngster:
- Lenny Martinez (Fra/Bahrain Victorious) - 5 points
- Sepp Kuss (US/Visma-Lease a Bike) 3 pts
- Valentin Paret-Peintre (Fra/Soudal Quick-Step) - 2 pts
- Michael Woods (Can/Israel-Premier Tech)- 1 pt
Image source, Getty ImagesWeather makes today's stage 'more equal'published at 60km to go
Oscar Onley on today's weather: "I prefer the heat. We see that some guys struggle more in the heat, so it's nice to have a bit of an advantage there. I think today is more equal."
Polka-dot jersey - Martinez takes maximum KoM pointspublished at 63km to go
Lenny Martinez bags another five mountain points on the category two climb of the Col d'Aspin.
The young Frenchman is the first rider to reach 50 points, which earns him a special prize of 5,000 euros for the 50th anniversary of the polka-dot jersey.
Johannessen set to climb GC standingspublished at 65km to go
Image source, Getty ImagesWith a two-minute lead over the yellow jersey group, Tobias Johannessen has leapfrogged Primoz Roglic in the virtual general classification standings.
The Norwegian rider, who races for second-tier ProTeam Uno-X Mobility, is currently sixth and is just one minute off the podium.
General classification without Evenepoelpublished at 14:16 British Summer Time
- Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Emirates-XRG) 45hrs 45mins 51secs
- Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Visma-Lease a Bike) +4mins 7secs
- Florian Lipowitz (Ger/Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +7mins 30secs
- Oscar Onley (GB/Picnic PostNL) +8mins 11secs
- Kevin Vauquelin (Fra/Arkea-B&B Hotels) +8mins 15secs
- Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +8mins 50secs
- Tobias Johannessen (Nor/Uno-X Mobility) +10mins 36secs
- Felix Gall (Aut/Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +11mins 43secs
- Matteo Jorgenson (US/Visma-Lease a Bike) +14mins 15secs
- Ben Healy (Ire/EF Education-EasyPost) +16mins 57secs
White jersey - British rider Onley closing on podium placepublished at 14:13 British Summer Time
With Remco Evenepoel now out of the equation, British youngster Oscar Onley needs to gain 41 seconds on Florian Lipowitz to move into a GC podium place and wear the white jersey tomorrow for best young rider.
Ben Healy is currently 11th in the GC standings but the Irish breakaway specialist could well lose time during this battle in the mountains.
get involved Get Involved - Evenepoel forced to withdrawpublished at 14:09 British Summer Time
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Tough start to the season following that crash, a superb Pogacar and clearly some underlying illness. Shame he has to retire but age is on his side. He'll be back next year and likely a lot stronger.
Pieter
ICYMI, Remco Evenepoel sustained rib, shoulder blade and hand fractures in a bike crash during a training ride in December.
He also needed surgery on a dislocated collarbone after crashing into an open door of a postal vehicle while on a ride in his native Belgium.
Martinez's lead stablepublished at 70km to go
Sepp Kuss and Valentin Paret-Peintre were closing on Lenny Martinez, but his lead is now stable at about 50 seconds.
The Tobias Johannessen group is about to start the climb, about a minute further back, with the yellow jersey group two minutes behind them.
What climbs are to come on today's stage?published at 14:03 British Summer Time
Mountains, 182.6km, Pau to Luchon-Superbagneres
Now then, the leaders are now onto the next climb:
- 68km to go - Col d'Aspin - 5km at 7.6%
- 39km to go - Col de Peyresourde - 7.1km at 7.8%
- 12.4km to go - Luchon-Superbagneres - 12.4km at 7.3%
get involved Get Involved - Evenepoel forced to withdrawpublished at 13:57 British Summer Time
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Come off it BBC. this year's Tour de France route is no harder than most years. Remco is out of gas, legs are gone this year. That's all.
Rob
Postpublished at 75km to go
Lenny Martinez is almost at the bottom, with Sepp Kuss and Valentin Paret-Peintre having closed to within a minute.
The other chasers are a further 20secs back, with the peloton 3mins 40secs adrift of Martinez.
Polka-dot jersey - KoM standings after Col du Tourmaletpublished at 80km to go
1. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) - 47 points2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates-XRG) - 37 pts3. Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) - 37 pts4. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) - 27 pts5. Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) - 18 pts
Polka-dot jersey - Martinez claims maximum KoM pointspublished at 85km to go
Michael Woods is second over the Col du Tourmalet summit, leading a group that is 1min 45secs behind Lenny Martinez:
- Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) - 20 points
- Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) - 15 pts
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) - 12 pts
- Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) - 10 pts
- Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) - 8 pts
- Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) - 6 pts
- Michael Storer (Tudor) - 4 pts
- Einer Rubio (Movistar) - 2 pts
Martinez begins treacherous descentpublished at 91km to go
Lenny Martinez isn't the only rider chucking on the wet-weather gear.
And visibility is pretty poor coming down from the summit.
The riders are going to have to keep their wits about them, this is one treacherous descent.
Image source, get