You might not be surprised to hear that there are a few French riders in the seven-man breakaway, including Thomas Voeckler.

The others are Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo), Serge Pauwels (MTN-Qhubeka), Steve Morabito and Arnaud Démare (FDJ) Julien Simon (Cofidis) and Emmanuel Buchmann (Bora-Argon 18). They are four minutes clear of the main group, with Dan Martin and Andriy Grivko trying to join them. 

We are not far away from the category one Col d'Aspin but Daniele Bennati won't be worrying about that. The Tinkoff-Saxo rider has abandoned.

Image source, Tour de France

Team Sky's Geraint Thomas is having a cracking Tour - he was looking strong yesterday and lies fifth overall.

Before the Tour he gave us his stage-by-stage guide. Here are his thoughts on today... 

"This stage in the Pyrenees certainly lends itself to a breakaway. None of the teams chasing the overall win will ride full gas for the entire stage because the last climb isn't that hard. But it can still cause problems.

"There might be a few guys cracking and they could lose minutes off the back, because the Col d'Aspin and the Tourmalet are two solid climbs, and with the long descent towards the finish it won't be a straightforward day, that's for sure."

There is less than 100km left of the stage or, to put it another way, the best part of 90km done.

There have been loads of attacks off the front and currently there are seven riders clear with Dan Martin trying to join them. The breakaway group leads the peloton by four minutes.

The Col d'Aspin comes after 117km and the Col du Tourmalet with 147km gone.

Now this is an excellent question...

Today's stage is another trek through the Pyrenees and it will not get any easier for a peloton that baked for hours in the mountain sun on Tuesday.

The 188km from Pau to Cauterets comprises four category three climbs (with the remaining Cote de Cauterets close to the finish line), the category one Col d'Aspin and the infamous hors categorie Col du Tourmalet.

No wonder Team Katusha rider Joaquim Rodríguez fell off his bike in the neutral zone before the start today.

Image source, Reuters

Plenty to tell you about so far today.

There was a four-man breakaway involving Lieuwe Westra (Astana), Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx), Bob Jungels (Trek) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN) but that was reeled in by the first climb of the day.

Frenchman Thomas Voeckler was first over that climb - the category three Cote de Loucrup.

Peter Sagan then finished second at the day's intermediate sprint - which with Andre Greipel ninth should see the Slovak back in green at the end of the day.

FDJ's Steve Morabito was then first over the category three Cote de Bagnères-de-Bigorre and Daniel Teklehaimanot picked up the points over the category three Cote de Mauvezin. 

Oh, and we've had one abandon, Bora-Argon 18's Dominic Nerz calling it a day.

Image source, Getty Images

There was plenty of movement all over the place yesterday so now might not be a bad time to take stock of how the race is shaping up.

Chris Froome is obviously in yellow - with Tejay van Garderen almost three minutes behind. Of his supposed key rivals, Quintana is more than three minutes back, Alberto Contador more than four and Vincenzo Nibali almost seven.

Froome's exploits on Tuesday took him to the top of the King of the Mountains standings but because he is also in yellow the polka dot jersey is being worn by Team Sky team-mate Richie Porte.

It wasn't all bad for Quintana on Tuesday, who took the white jersey as the Tour's best young rider.

And in-form sprinter Andre Greipel took the green jersey from Peter Sagan after finishing ahead of him at the intermediate sprint. 

I've got an idea. BBC Sport's Gemma Sterba sent this photo in from France. Perhaps we should make Chris Froome ride this bike? See how you go then Chris.

Image source, Gemma Sterba

One of the most fascinating aspects about today is the impact Tuesday's carnage will have on the riders.

Even Chris Froome sounds unsure - "We did put in a lot of effort on Tuesday and we're going to have to gauge that over the next few days to see how much we've paid for that."

I must admit, I'm not sure Team Sky are the sort of outfit that ever enter a stage wondering what will happen.

I heard a little speculation yesterday that barring mishaps this race was not far from being over as a contest. The picture could be a lot clearer still in a few hours from now. 

Image source, Reuters

Yep, Tuesday was the first mountain stage of the Tour and a truly spectacular one.

Chris Froome made his move with 6.4km remaining of the final climb up to La Pierre-Saint-Martin. By that stage he only had Nairo Quintana left of his main rivals and the Colombian could not keep pace.

Vicenzo Nibali was long gone, Alberto Contador too. Tejay van Garderen had been dropped as well.

It was compelling viewing.

Image source, Getty Images

You train all year. You focus and work and prepare. You carry the hopes of your countrymen, your team and your fans.

You negotiate the cobbles and the crosswinds and the crashes during the first week of the Tour.

And then on the first stage in the mountains you watch as one of your main rivals disappears up the road.

And then you watch him no more because you can no longer see him.