Bodnar is now onto a descent, able to take a brief break from pedalling, as he swings through the 10km to go flag.

The Pole leads by 39 seconds still. The peloton now onto the descent, looking to eat into the advantage soon.

This is tremendous from Maciej Bodnar, drawing on all of his time-trialling abilities to hold off a charging peloton.

He's approaching the final 10km and still has a gap of 39 seconds.

Can he pull this off?

There are two Quick-Step riders out front, setting the tempo, with Lotto Soudal in behind.

Their minds will be on the sprint, but Team Sky are in third, again ensuring that Chris Froome is kept out of any potential danger.

Bodnar is being helped by the infrastructure of the run-in to Pau, with plenty of turns and roundabouts that allow the Bora rider to move out of view of the peloton.

He's still got a lead of 42 seconds with under 13km to go.

Image source, Getty Images

Bodnar still riding strongly off the front, holding an advantage of 49 seconds with 15km to go.

Lotto Soudal and Quick-Step are ratcheting up the pace behind for their sprinters Andre Greipel and Marcel Kittel respectively.

Contador has bridged the gap, thanks in no little part to Pantano, who turned his bike around and rode back to do pacing duties for the Spaniard.

The former champion has fallen to 12th overall and I can't help wondering whether he'd be better losing more time so he'd be allowed to go up the road later on and challenge for a stage.

Contador is a proud rider, though, and clearly hasn't given up on the overall yet as he surges back on to the end of the peloton.

Problems for GC riders Jakob Fuglsang, Romain Bardet and Alberto Contador today.

No such issues for Chris Froome, who has been nestled nicely in the main peloton, protected by his Sky team-mate all day.

Barely seen the yellow jersey on the TV feed, which is exactly what he wants on a stage like this.

Gogl is very slow to get going again so Jarlinson Pantano has dropped back to pace Alberto Contador back to the bunch.

Bodnar has 48 seconds with 18km to go.

The two-time champion has crashed with 22km to go.

He went down with team-mate Michael Gogl. Touch and go whether they'll see the peloton again today.

A mad chase back through the cars to come.

Bodnar has 25km to hang on solo. The Bora rider is flying - taking his advantage over the main peloton over a minute.

The bunch will be happy to just be chasing one man, however.

Former breakaway rider Marcato has just been caught and Backaert is then also reeled in.

Maciej Bodnar has left his breakaway pals Frederik Backaert and Marco Marcato by shooting up the road.

They only had a gap of 24 seconds or so, hence the Polish rider striking out alone.

He's an accomplished time trial rider but this would be a miraculous effort to stave off the peloton.

Here's what awaits the peloton in Pau...

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The race is ramping up slightly. The three-man breakaway now have a gap of just 30 seconds with 30km to go.

An Astana sporting director has told French television that Jakob Fuglsang is riding with a wrist injury and the team will assess the damage after the end of the stage.

The Dane - who is currently fifth overall - broke his left scaphoid five years ago.

Having lost Dario Cataldo today, Astana will be desperately hoping their senior rider is OK.

The riders are approaching four hours in the saddle.

Apart from a couple of spills, probably the four most straightforward hours of the Tour so far.

Things will ratchet up as they close on Pau, though.

The break is holding at 53 seconds out front.

Image source, Getty Images

We're approaching 40km to go and the gap to the breakaway is down under a minute.

The peloton could catch Backaert, Bodnar and Marcato soon or leave them dangling out there for a while.

Viel Richardson: Why do a few racers always shoot off up the road on every stage, knowing they are going to be caught?

Two main reasons. Firstly, a lot of those riders tend to be on smaller teams who benefit from the increased TV coverage afforded to the team and its sponsors, with the cameras focusing on their rider all day, instead of being lost in the bunch.

Secondly, especially in sprint stages those riders would have almost zero chance of winning the stage in a bunch sprint because they're not fast enough. If they go out in the breakaway that might only increase their chance of winning by a few % but at least it's a few % more than nothing. Basically it's worth gambling that the peloton might make a mistake and leave it too late.

Then there are also riders like Steve Cummings and Tommy Voeckler who are strong and crafty and go up the road to try and out-fox the peloton, gaining enough of a gap so they aren't caught in time and claim the stage from a smaller, select group.

Poor Arthur Vichot is back at the medical car again, having plenty of spray applied to his knee.

Romain Bardet had to change his bike following his spill.

Marco Marcato (Team UAE Emirates), Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Maciej Bodnar (Bora) have a gap of 1'34'' with 50km left.

Right, it does appear that Romain Bardet has spent some time on the deck.

The AG2R leader is just about to rejoin the back of the peloton, flanked by a few team-mates.

Doesn't appear to be any tears in the Frenchman's jersey so not a major smash.

Arthur Vichot is also on his compatriot's tail after spending some time back at the medical car following his crash.