The leaders are grinding up the only hors category climb of the day - the Montee de Bisanne. Michael Matthews and Tony Martin are among a few riders starting to lose touch with those at the front of the race. 

The peloton is closing, with the gap down to two minutes 20 seconds. 

BMC's Tejay van Garderen is slipping off the back of the peloton now. The American looks cooked, as I'm sure many of the riders are as we reach the latter stages of the Tour. 

Adam Yates is towards the back of the peloton too after his earlier bike problem and is getting some help from fellow Briton Luke Rowe, despite riding for a different team. 

More problems in the peloton as Tom Dumoulin (Ginat-Alpecin) hits the deck after a crash. He looks briefly dazed but is back up and among the pack quickly. There is some tension among the riders now as the leaders among them increase the pace in an attempt to avoid further problems. 

Britain's Adam Yates is off the back of the peloton and looks like he has a mechanical problem. A quick bike change and he's chasing them again. 

He looks to be OK physically. 

Image source, Tour de France

I've mentioned them enough today, but not all of them. So here are the 20 riders out in front. Will we see a winner from them? A hors category climb is next on the list. 

Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Rafal Majka and Robert Kiserlovski  (Tinkoff), George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo), Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac), Markus Burghardt and Amaël Moinard (BMC), Natnael Berhane (Dimension Data), Laurens ten Dam (Giant-Alpecin), Emmanuel Buchman (Bora-Argon 18), Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida), Thomas de Gendt and Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal), Tony Martin (Etixx-Quick Step), Daniel Navarro (Cofidis), Michael Matthews (Orica-BikeExchange), Alexis Vuillermoz (Ag2r La Mondiale) (Eduardo Sepulveda and Vegard Breen (Fortuneo-Vital Concept)  

We all know that Chris Froome likes a speedy descent. See his stage eight win. While he's not sitting on his crossbar this time, he's still pushing down the hill at a right pace as the peloton thins out. 

They are still over four minutes behind the leaders, who I will now list in full. 

The breakaway riders are up and over the Col de la Forclaz de Queige with Thomas de Gendy picking up maximum king of the mountains points. Polka dot jersey holder Rafal Majka was second.  

The gap to the peloton, still heading up that climb, is now at four minutes. 

Image source, AFP

Race leader Chris Froome spoke to the Tour de France website this morning about today's stage: “It's a great position to be in. It's a really good feeling to have this sort of advantage coming into the next two days. But we have to stay concentrated and to get the job done all the way to Paris. 

"It's just this last couple of days to get the job done. Today is a very tricky stage with a lot of tricky descents. There's talk about thunderstorms during the race. It's definitely going to have to be a stage where we stay right on our game. I think the main thing for me right now is to stay safe and away from any big incidents before Paris.”  

Little bit of discontent between the Astana riders as they lead the chasing peloton. Diego Rosa is telling Andriy Grivko to take his foot off the pedal, the Ukrainian looks like he told his team-mate to stick to his own business. 

Don't forget that they have a team-mate up front in the breakaway, Alexey Lutsenko, and many have tipped Fabio Aru to win today's stage. 

Interesting chess game going on here. 

BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

Don't forget that our dream team of commentators Rob Hatch and Rob Hayles are on air on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra from 15:00 BST. You can also listen at the top of the page. 

The peloton picking up the pace as they traverse the valley before the day's next categorised climb, the Col de la Forclaz de Quiege. The gap has moved out to just over three minutes but it's dropping again. Team Astana are still turning the screw. 

The peloton is taking on its lunch as the riders reach for their bags chock full of goodies. Meanwhile, we want your favourite cycling food! 

Three riders - Rafal Majka, Thomas de Gendt and Alexis Vuillermoz - managed to form a 30 second gap on the other 17 riders out in front but they have now been caught. 

That pack is three minutes ahead of the peloton, which includes Chris Froome. 

Rob Hayles
Former GB cyclist on BBC 5 live podcast

Even if the guys behind aren't keen on the bad weather they will still take it on, because it might be the only light that they can see for an opportunity to attack. 

What we don't want to see is the possibility of a rider losing the road on a descent. If the weather turns, the nerves and stress levels in Team Sky will start to increase.   

Can't argue with that logic Phil!

The breakaway riders are up and over the top of the Col de la Forclaz de Montmin, and are then followed by the peloton three minutes 30 seconds later. 

The leaders are descending at some pace now! 

Rob Hatch
BBC Radio 5 live commentator

The way the profiles are over the next two days, Team Sky will not have that many riders around Chris Froome. 

If teams want to light this up, then it could happen, and we might see team alliances formed as well. 

Image source, Tour de France