I'm sure it looks better on her, Andrew!  ;-)

Rob Hayles
Former GB cyclist

The track work that Mark Cavendish has been doing in readiness for Rio has obviously given him the speed that he requires for the sprints, he's back to his old sprinting ability... 

But he hasn't done the hard miles. He hasn't got as many days racing on the roads in his legs as he normally has.

We questioned if Mark would suffer in the second part of the Tour, and stage eight was the first sign that - potentially - he will; but we know that he can recover so quickly and so well. 

A familiar sight: Team Sky are leading the peloton, which is six minutes behind the leaders. Mark Cavendish has slipped off the back of the main group with his fellow stragglers. 

Speaking of cycling outfits, our man OJ Borg fancied climbing up to today's mountain-top finish and he's only gone and done it. Not sure where he started but reaching 2,240m on a bike is some feat. 

And he did it in black too! Chapeau. 

Image source, OJ Borg

As mentioned at the start of the day, there is a mass participation bike ride going on in Manchester and there are all sorts of lycra-clad cyclists whizzing past my window. 

So let's talk about lycra. Yes or no? Are you a Team Sky junkie or a bit more old school and happy in your shorts and T-shirt? And do you have any outrageous cycling outfits you want to share with us?

Send us your opinions, and more importantly your pics, and we'll use the best of them. 

Just hit us up on #bbccycling, external

The leaders, which include Tinkoff's Rafal Majka and FDJ's Thibaut Pinot, are sweeping down the descent from the Port del Canto with a six minute 20 second lead ahead of the peloton.

The breeze must be a welcome relief on a day when it's 35 degrees. 

Crazy scenes as Ag2r La Mondiale's Romain Bardet gets a tweak to his bike from the mechanic as he peddles along. 

The mechanic is hanging out the window of a car trying to fix the problem at about 50km/h.

Sacre bleu! 

Here are the king of the mountains points for that climb. Thibaut Pinot is in the king of the mountains jersey as it stands. Still points to be won today, though

1. Thomas De Gendt, 10 pts 

2. Thibaut Pinot, 8 pts 

3. Rafal Majka, 6 pts 

4. Diego Rosa, 4 pts 

5. Stef Clement, 2 pts 

6. Alexis Vuillermoz, 1 pt   

Wow, that Alberto Contador news is huge. Tinkoff still have Roman Kreuziger in the mix for the general classification, he is 34 seconds behind Chris Froome. 

Meanwhile, Thomas De Gendt beats Thibaut Pinot to the top of the Port del Canto. 

Andrew Priestley: Alberto Contador's Tour de France race is run, his goose is cooked. Expect to see him pull out of the race is the coming days.  

Emma Swift: No fan of @albertocontador, external but heartbreaking watching him quit @LeTour, external Must feel like death if he's throwing in towel.

Rob Hatch
BBC Radio 5 live commentator

Adios Alberto Contador. He crashed twice in first couple of the stages. It's a big blow for the race, but good news for Chris Froome.

For the record, Tinkoff's Contador was three minutes 12 seconds behind Froome at the start of the stage. So still in the mix, but a virus has struck him down. 

He's been taking all stage with his team, and the news is confirmed. Two-time winner Alberto Contador has abandoned this year's Tour. 

Just a reminder if you are joining us that two men have dropped out today. Mark Cavendish's lead-out man Mark Renshaw is one of them, the Aussie was suffering from illness, while Matthieu Ladagnous of FDJ is the other. 

Another nail in the coffin for Cavendish? He has his eyes on the Olympics and had a really tough day yesterday where he finished 39 minutes behind Chris Froome.

Riders have to come in within a certain time limit for each stage, but the Manxman sneaked in with the other sprinters, who are just aiming to get around the course to save themselves for the next sprint stage which is on Wednesday. 

Cavendish dropped off the back of the peloton over the first climb but last we heard he was back with them up the current mountain. 

Ten kilometres to the top of Port del Canto, which reaches 1,721 metres. Thibaut Pinot and Rafal Majka crank up the pace and the peloton is now five minutes in arrears. 

These two are pushing for king of the mountains points today. Majka, you recall, holds the polka dot jersey. 

If you're wondering why the peloton is losing pace, then we're told it's over 35C today. Just what you want when you've got over 4km of vertical climbing to do! 

Image source, af

The leading pack of 20 riders, including king of the mountains jersey holder Rafal Majka and FDJ's Thibaut Pinot are pumping up the second climb of the day and have increased their lead to the peloton to four minutes 45 seconds. 

Rob Hatch
BBC Radio 5 live commentator

Image source, Tour de France

Today is the first proper mountain top finish, we go up to 2,240m. 

The stage is 184km long and most of it takes place in Spain, in the autonomous area of Catalonia. 

Arcalis in Andorra is the finish, it's a hors category climb, one of the hardest climbs in the 2016 Tour de France.