Image source, AFP

Rui Costa keeps his lead and makes it to the top of Port d'Envalira first to pick up maximum king of the mountains points. 

We said today was made for a breakaway, and look who sneaked in in fifth up the hill; Yep Britain's Steve Cummings, who won stage seven with a superb break. 

1. Rui Costa, 10 pts 

2. Tom Dumoulin, 8 pts 

3. Vincenzo Nibali, 6 pts 

4. Tsgabu Grmay, 4 pts 

5. Stephen Cummings, 2 pts 

6. Jon Izagirre, 1 pt  

Rob Hayles
Former GB cyclist on BBC 5 live sports extra

Image source, Getty Images

For many people, they think a rest day is an opportunity to get up late, watch a bit of telly and lounge around, but the riders have media commitments and press conferences and then they have to go out on bike for an hour or two, even up to three hours. 

Why? If they just stop dead, your legs are like wood over the following days and you cannot move. You have to keep the engine running.

Chris Froome seems to come out of rest days well, other don't. Some suffer like hell. 

Image source, AFP

Some of the riders are struggling with this category one climb first up; just what you need after a rest day! 

Up ahead Rui Costa, of Italian team Lampre-Merida, has made a break for the summit and is 45 seconds ahead of a smaller group, and over a minute ahead of the peloton. 

Like his football namesake, Costa is from Portugal. Wonder if he was celebrating on Sunday night? 

Image source, Getty Images

This is what Team Sky's Geraint Thomas has to say about stage 10, in his BBC Sport guide: "After a rest day, the next day can be pretty bad and we are again starting with a big uphill slog. There will certainly be a strong breakaway group and then it's a case of whether the sprinters teams want to chase them down because the climb near the end may put them off."

And his tip for the stage win?"Michael Matthews. His Orica team may decide to ride for him but they have several options, with the likes of Daryl Impey and Simon Gerrans in the squad."

Incidentally, the Welshman is 16th in the general classification, three minutes 20 seconds down on leader Chris Froome. 

Image source, Reuters

Stage 10 began officially at 11:40 BST with 193 riders clicking into their pedals for another day of punishment. We have only lost five riders so far this Tour, including previous winner Alberto Contador. 

There have been a couple of early attacks from Peter Sagan, who is chasing the green jersey of Mark Cavendish, and Thibaut Pinot, who holds the polka dot king of the mountains jersey as the riders head up the Port d'Envalira. That hills scales a mighty 2,408m. 

2014 champion Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) also joined them at one stage but they have all been summoned back to the peloton. 

Image source, Tour de France

We start the day as we left it on Sunday, in Andorra. The riders climb up a category one peak at Port d'Envalira and then descend into what is a relatively flat stage which could suit a breakaway.

But there is a category three hill near the end, which may throw a few sprinters off course, including Mark Cavendish. Tinkoff's Peter Sagan, who is seven points behind Team Dimension Data's Cavendish in the sprinters' standings, doesn't mind a breakaway and is quite handy up a hill too, so we may yet see a change to the green jersey come the end of the day. 

Image source, af

The Brit I have not mentioned so far is Mark Cavendish, who is still the leading sprinter in the green jersey after busting his guts over the weekend to stay in the race. The Pyrenees are not built for a man who prides himself in sprint finishes, and has three wins this Tour.

Fortunately for the Manxman, there is only one big climb today, and it comes early in the stage. So Cavendish might fancy his chances of another stage win, although there is a little sting in the tail towards the end of stage 10. 

For the record, France's Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) is in the polka dot king of the mountains jersey. 

So for those of you wondering where we stand, here are the general classifications. 

Chris Froome is in yellow, Adam Yates is second and in the young rider's white jersey, while Ireland's Dan Martin is third. Movistar's Nairo Quintana, considered Froome's biggest rival to the yellow jersey, is fourth and 23 seconds behind the leader. 

General classification

1. Chris Froome (GB / Team Sky) 44 hrs 36mins 3secs

2. Adam Yates (GB / Orica) +16secs

3. Daniel Martin (Ire / Etixx - Quick-Step) +19secs

4. Nairo Quintana (Col / Movistar) +23secs

5. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa / Katusha) +37secs

6. Romain Bardet (Fra / AG2R) +44secs

7. Bauke Mollema (Ned / Trek) same time

8. Sergio Henao (Col / Team Sky)

9. Louis Meintjes (RSA / Lampre) +55secs

10. Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Movistar) +1min 1secs

Image source, AFP

A quick recap about what happened on Saturday and Sunday in the Pyrenees. Let's face it, there was plenty of other British sporting brilliance going on elsewhere.

On Saturday defending champion Chris Froome of Team Sky made a stunning attack down the final descent to win stage eight and eke out a lead on his main rivals.

Then on Sunday's stage nine, Dutch rider Tom Dumoulin led a break up the first mountain top finish in this year's Tour to win the stage, while Froome withstood some vicious attacks from his key rivals, all as the hailstones rained down.

It was cycle racing at its most epic. Let's hope there is more to come this week! 

Image source, get

Afternoon all. Feeling rested after a day off from what has been a thrilling Tour de France so far? I hope so. 

It has been a dominant opening week for the Brits, who still hold three of the four jerseys, have won five out of nine stages and head the top two positions in the general classifications.

Team Sky's Chris Froome leads the race in yellow, with fellow Briton Adam Yates of Orica-BikeExchange only 16 seconds behind. 

We still have another 12 stages until the finish in Paris, so can Froome and Team Sky hang on? Or have they busted to the front too early after some brilliant riding over the weekend?