The breakaway reach the official start of the Col de Mente. It's safe to say it's now a break of 11, with Marcel Kittel slipping back.

Those 11 are: Cyril Gautier (AG2R), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Koen de Kort (Trek), Stefan Kung (BMC), Diego Ulissi (Team UAE Emirates), Steve Cummings (Dimension Data), Jack Bauer (Quick-Step), Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin), Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Michael Matthews (Sunweb) and Julien Simon (Cofidis).

British champion Cummings still looking strong as he looks for a stage win on the 50th anniversary of the death of Tom Simpson in the 1967 Tour.

Right, here we go. The break of 12 riders are onto the lower slopes of the Col de Mente.

The climb itself is 6.9km long, with an average gradient of 8.1% - that's too much for Marcel Kittel as the green jersey goes straight off the back.

Second place in the intermediate sprint is a decent enough day out for the big German.

The peloton are now descending the Col des Ares, while the break of 12 will start climbing the category one Col de Monte in about 5km.

Not much focus from the TV pictures on the peloton so far, but every time they flick back, it's a view of the regimented Team Sky train, with Chris Froome safely tucked in.

The second half of this stage should tear everything up soon enough, though. Join OJ Borg and Rob Hayles as they bring you The Daily Pain, previewing the first of the two remaining summit finishes in this year's Tour.

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...and here is the finish. Whew.

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The advantage of the break is holding steady around the six-minute mark.

It looks grim out there, the roads soaked.

But I hear the finish is looking lovely...

Next up for the break, after a few rolling rises, is the category one Col de Mente.

British champion Steve Cummings just rolls to the front to do his turn as the break continues to work well together.

The break approach the summit of the Col des Ares and, once again, it's Thomas de Gendt who shoots off the front and takes the maximum five points in the mountains classification.

The Belgian is a long way behind current polka dot jersey wearer Warren Barguil, but will close the gap significantly if he stays away for another climb or two, with 10 and 20 points on offer for being the first over category one and hors categories climbs respectively.

Even if he doesn't stay away much longer, De Gendt could be laying down a marker for a run at this competition later in the Tour.

Meanwhile, Team Sky still lined up at the front of the peloton, Christian Knees and Luke Rowe doing most of the duties at the very front, with Chris Froome nestled safely at the back of his team.

Confirmation of the top three in that intermediate sprint earlier:

1. Michael Matthews (Aus/Sunweb) - 20pts
2. Marcel Kittel (Ger/Quick-Step) - 17pts
3. Thomas de Gendt (Bel/Lotto Soudal) - 15pts

The upshot of all that is Matthews makes only a three-point dent in Kittel's enormous lead in the green jersey points competition.

Both sprinters have stayed with the break up the Col des Ares but will surely start going backwards as the bigger climbs arrive. Matthews is a good climber and Kittel is not too shabby but some brutal terrain is up ahead.

The 12-man breakaway have reached the halfway point of the stage as they make their way up the Col des Ares.

No one, even the sprinters, seems to be struggling on these slopes. There's plenty of pain to come, though.

A reminder of the riders in the break: Cyril Gautier (AG2R), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Koen de Kort (Trek), Stefan Kung (BMC), Diego Ulissi (Team UAE Emirates), Steve Cummings (Dimension Data), Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step), Jack Bauer (Quick-Step), Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin), Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Michael Matthews (Sunweb) and Julien Simon (Cofidis).

Looking at the tough terrain for today's stage? Spare an added thought for Astana rider Jakob Fuglsang, who is racing today despite sustaining two small fractures - one in his left wrist and one in his left elbow - during a crash yesterday.

The Dane is fifth overall, one minute 37 seconds behind Chris Froome and a key team-mate for second-placed Fabio Aru.

It would be remarkable for him to keep up with the rest of the GC riders with those injuries but, after team-mate Dario Cataldo was forced to abandon after being caught up in the same crash, Astana will need Fuglsang to do all he can if Aru is to unseat Froome.

Image source, Getty Images

They've raced around 100km so far today and have 110km left to go, including all the main features of the stage.

A breakaway of 12 riders has a lead of 6'30'' over the peloton.

The break includes British rider Steve Cummings and the green jersey Marcel Kittel.

Right, next up for the race is the category two climb of the Col des Ares.

How do the categories work? Basically, the lower the category number, the tougher the climb.

The Tour routes start noting climbs at category four, which almost every rider has no trouble getting over.

Things get really nasty at category one and really, really nasty at the toughest level - hors categorie, where the climb is deemed beyond categorisation.

Only the best climbers in the world can master these brutes and the sprinters and one-day type riders will fall back, trying to ride at enough of a tempo to make the finish within the time limit.

They've got a category two climb, two category one climbs and a hors categorie climb of the Port de Bales before a category two summit finish in Peyragudes to manage today.

Image source, Le Tour

Michael Matthews goes early!

Marcel Kittel latches onto the wheel of his team-mate Jack Bauer but is struggling to make up the gap.

And Matthews takes it. Not sure Kittel will care, given that result cuts his lead in the green jersey points competition to 'just' 130 points.

Into the last kilometre before the sprint point, Kittel moving up, in about seventh place in the breakaway bunch.

The break are about 2km away from the intermediate sprint.

Marcel Kittel, resplendent in green, should mop this one up - not least because he has a lead-out man with him in the shape of Jack Bauer.

Michael Matthews will try his best to scupper those plans but it's tough to see the Aussie causing an upset.

There's not many better locations in all of sport than those that the Tour de France visit every year.

Our commentary team out there aren't shy about reminding us of that either.

Here is the latest offering from the Pyrenees - what a belter of a setting for this evening's podcast recording.

Image source, BBC Sport

The break of 12 swing through some narrow streets as they reach 130km to go.

Remember, it's the last 100km where this stage really hits hard, with five categorised climbs.

They'll have the intermediate sprint to tackle first up, coming in around 10km. Marcel Kittel the green jersey leader very much the favourite for that one.

If you're just joining us - today marks the 50th anniversary of the death of British cyclist Tom Simpson on Mont Ventoux during the 1967 Tour de France.

His cycling partner, Vin Denson, was at his side during that Tour.

In this video from 2015, Denson describes the fatal day Simpson tackled the mountain stage up the wind-swept Mont Ventoux where temperatures often exceed 32C.

Image source, .

The gap to the breakaway hits five minutes as they race down a brief descent following the Cote de Capvern.

The intermediate sprint is the next major point of the race, in about 25km time.