Marcel Kittel is looking in a bad way. He has a ripped jersey, ripped shorts, bloodied knee and the German is inspecting his hand. He looks a little dazed.

He waits, rather impatiently, for a new bike. It takes ages to come and he rides it for a few yards before almost falling off again. He lobs his bike into a ditch before picking it up and realising he needs to continue pedalling.

Finally his official team car catches up and it turns out he needs a new right shoe. A brief moment of respite as he gets to hold on to the car and get a bit of a tow while he switches footwear.

But with 160km remaining and the peloton out of sight he has one long, lonely road ahead of him.

Barguil and Kittel crashpublished at 11:43 British Summer Time 19 July 2017

11:43 BST 19 July 2017

A crash in the peloton. British national champion Steve Cummings takes evasive action and goes over his handlebars and into a field.

He's OK but the bigger news is that the polka dot jersey of Warren Barguil and the green jersey of Marcel Kittel have gone down.

Image source, Getty Images

Before the general classification riders take centre stage on the final climbs, Michael Matthews' assault on Marcel Kittel's lead in the green jersey competition is expected to intensify.

Yesterday the German sprinter saw 50 points cut from his lead as the Aussie and his Sunweb team's masterful day-long effort put Kittel off the back early, dropped other sprinters in the crosswinds before launching Matthews for his second stage win over the Tour.

Kittel has ammassed 373 points, just 29 more than Matthews, and with the intermediate sprint point over the top of the day's first ascent, expect 'Bling' and his boys to be among the early attackers and looking to secure the points on offer.

That's one of the big questions of the day, Anthony. he'll have to climb better than he did yesterday, with the sprint coming after the first categorised ascent of the day and hope that Michael Matthew's legs are dulled from yesterday's efforts

AG2R - the team of Romain Bardet - are starting to assemble towards the front of the peloton. Cyril Gautier is chief tormentor at the moment.

Today's stage looks tailor-made for Bardet, who is a demon descender.

Gautier has been joined by a BMC Racing rider as the road starts to descend into the valley that leads on to the first climb of the day.

The break is not firmly established though

If you google 'Tour de France' right now this blokes legs pop up all over the place....

Ever had legs like this?

App users may need to use the link to view this content.

Bauke Mollema has already won one stage in this year's race and is tipping today as one for a potential breakaway.

There's a lot of tough terrain to negotiate though - talk about winning the hard way (not that there is an easy way today).

App users may need to use the link to view this content.

No breaks off the front so far.

Michael Matthews up towards the front. Primoz Roglic on the front at the moment.

Green jersey Marcel Kittel - struggling badly yesterday - is towards the back.

We'll have more on him in a bit.

Check this out - does it look like fun?

BBC Radio 5 live's OJ Borg climbs to the highest point of this year's Tour and today's final climb, the Col du Galibier. Not just the stage, but the race overall could be decided on these slopes.

App users may need to use the link to view this content.

The flag has dropped - it has gone earlier than scheduled, by four whole minutes.

We are racing - just 180 grueling kilometres to go.

So, apparently there is a chance of thunderstorms today, more towards the finish of the stage.

Of course, the finish of the stage is downhill, all the way from the top of the Galibier into Serre-Chevalier.

Chaos?

The peloton slowly rolls out of La Mure.

In 10 minutes or so the flag will drop and the racing will start for real.

App users may need to use the link to view this content.

Image source, Getty Images

Yep, stage 17 is just about to pull out of La Mure at the start of 183kms to Serre-Chevalier.

The longest climb is the 24km up to the top of the Col de la Croix de Fer and the highest point of the race the 2,642m the riders will reach at the top of the Galibier.

The first up there will be awarded the Henri Desgrange Memorial.

And if you're name is Romain Bardet and you're still in the mix, you might well fancy the long drag down to Serre-Chevalier at the end.

Two hors categorie climbs, including the highest point in the Tour, one category one, one category two and an intermediate sprint fairly early on as the battle for the green jersey hots right up.

Oh, and there is also a long downhill from the Galibier to the finish in Serre-Chevalier.

That enough for you?