MTN-Quebeka's Louis Meintjes gets it wrong at a right hander and takes a Mr Tumble. Thankfully he is OK to carry on.

TV pictures of the finishing line - it is hammering down.    

Michal Kwiatkowski and Sep Vanmarcke are absolutely powering down from Porte de Lers.Hairy stuff.

The yellow jersey group is a shade less than 10 minutes behind and has just reached the summit.

Hailstones at the finish line. Fairly brutally hard. Sunny for the riders at the moment.

Frenchman Jean-Christophe Peraud finished second last year - he has just slid off the back of the yellow jersey group. And we haven't even got to the hors categorie summit finish yet.

Image source, Getty Images

Team Sky still working hard on the front of the main group. Indeed, they are ramping up the pace and the size of their yellow jersey group is diminishing.

Up at the front, there is a mighty scrap going on, with Kwiatkowski and Vanmarcke trying to resist seven riders who are 20 or so seconds behind them. The chasing seven includes such decent climbers and they are desperate to catch up. 

The yellow jersey group are 10 seconds behind.

No, not French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who was at the start of the stage today.

Image source, Reuters

No, I mean him, the Texan. You know who I mean. He is in France for a two-day charity ride, the 'One Day Ahead' event that is, not surprisingly, one stage ahead of the actual Tour route.

The ride is to raise money for the fight against leukemia - but the journalists surrounding Lance Armstrong this morning probably weren't asking him about that.

Image source, AP

Sep Vanmarcke and Michal Kwiatkowski are the two lone leaders now, 5km from the summit of the Porte de Lers.

They have a 25-second advantage over three riders trying to join them - Jakob Fuglsang, Louis Meintjes and Romain Bardet.

Team Sky working hard at the front of the peloton, trying to control the pace. I'm not sure that will prevent Nairo Quintana from launching an attack. Mind you, we said that on Tuesday and look at what happened on that summit finish.

60km left and a good couple of hours before the end of the stage. 

We had a breakaway winner yesterday in Rafal Majka, who claimed his third career stage victory. The three leading riders have a 13-minute advantage over the yellow jersey group but a lot of climbing between now and the finish.

The are currently on the slopes of the category one Port de Lers - and we've got another summit finish on the hors categorie Plateau de Beille after that.

Text 81111 or use #bbccycling

You can listen to coverage of this stage using the play icon on this page from 15:00 BST.

Simon Brotherton will be joined once again in the commentary box by Rob Hayles.

In the meantime you can tuck into the podcast, with Simon and Rob joined by Matt Slater.

There has been a lot of talk recently about Team Sky's computers being hacked and data records relating to Chris Froome stolen.

Froome has repeatedly insisted he is a clean rider, is prepared to be independently tested after the race and is happy to be a figurehead for clean cycling.

But right now his immediate attention is very much on what will happen during this stage.

"A really decisive stage today," said Froome before the start. "We've got a lot of tough climbs out there. The weather's only getting hotter so at this stage in the race I do expect other GC contenders, they're definitely going to push me.

"They're going to try on the final climb maybe even before that but the guys are up for it and hopefully they can get me through". 

Froome, so far, is being very well looked after by his team.

Image source, Reuters

The lead riders are approaching the lower slopes of the Port de Lers. I say lead riders - there are three of them now. Georg Preidler, Sep Vanmarcke and Michal Kwiatkowski.They are 12 minutes 36 seconds clear of the yellow jersey group.

Just another ingredient that should ensure a dramatic few hours of sporting excitement......

Not strictly relevant to the Tour, but lols for Hoy.

Maybe the touring Australian cricketers took a stroll past?  

We asked for you to tell us about your encounters with the pros.

Text 81111 or use #bbccycling

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Tour de France

Team Sky rider Geraint Thomas - fifth in the GC - gave us hisstage-by-stage guideto the Tour before the race started.

The Welshman was in no doubt about how tough today will be.

"This is probably the hardest of the three Pyrenean stages, and coming third, everyone will be feeling the last couple of days," said Thomas.

"This will be a big showdown between the yellow jersey contenders. If anybody has lost a bit of time in the first week, possibly at the team time trial, they will really get stuck in on this stage to try and win back as much as they can."