Marc Hirschi is now up to 31 points in the King of the Mountains competition after picking up five points in that final climb which is the same number as Nans Peters.

Benoit Cosnefroy leads the race for the polka-dot jersey on 36 points.

Marc Hirschi has about 19 seconds on Marc Soler and Max Schachmann as he crests the Suc au May.

How much time, if any can he gain on this descent?

Julian Alaphilippe attacks further down the road.

The Frenchman has team-mate Dries Devenyns for company as one or two others splinter off the main group to try and reach the Deceuninck-Quick-Step duo.

Plenty. The Swiss rider is full of gas as he passes Marc Soler.

In fact it's more like an explosion in a few pedal strokes he has distanced the Spaniard.

Is this a stage-winning move? He's only got 28km to go today and not the best part of 90km like on Sunday.

Marc Soler is on the attack. The Movistar man nips off the front of the leading group as Tiesj Benoot pops.

As does Quentin Pacher.

What has Marc Hirschi got in the tank...?

Here comes the Suc au May. The leaders are on the final climb of the day.

Nothing doing in the GC race but this is a decent chasing pack...

Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), Alessandro de Marchi (CCC), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-McLaren), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), Michael Gogl (NTT Pro Cycling), Kenny Elissonde, Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Sebastian Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) and Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept).

The best way of describing the action at the front is to say it is fluid....

Marc Soler has indeed been caught with Marc Hirschi, Tiesj Benoot and Soren Kragh Anderson all there.

As are Max Schachmann and Quentin Pacher.

Marc Soler takes two KOM points atop the Cote de la Croix du Pey.

Only a matter of time before he is caught I'd have thought. A pretty handy working group of four or five including Marc Hirschi and Quentin Pacher are in close proximity.

Alexey Lutsenko is off in pursuit of the leaders as is the Cofidis climber Jesus Herrada.

There are riders all over the place now. This is bubbling up nicely.

Matt Warwick
BBC Sport

Talking of French riders earlier, there is another whose antics have caught the imagination of the public. Even if Deceuninck Quick Step’s Julian Alaphilippe is not the type of rider who could win a whole Tour, he is loved for his fighting spirit on the bike.

And, according to the team, he carries that spirit off it too, always having a “smile on his face and is the first with music” on the team bus, dancing around with infectious energy.

Given the way he rides, often with saliva pouring from his mouth, it’s not surprising he has real presence.

Today and tomorrow could be big days for Alaphilippe, I’m told, as he looks to add a Tour stage victory to the couple of days he spent in yellow in the first week.

The music? French hip-hop. Bien sur…

Image source, Getty Images

Now then what's this Movistar's Marc Soler is putting his foot down.

He fancies it as well. Peter Sagan's popped though. It looks as though the Slovak will drop off the main group anytime.

Kasper Asgreen and Imanol Erviti are caught as Sunweb's Soren Kragh Anderson and Tiesj Benoot zip over to them.

Marc Hirschi will surely follow.

The peloton is motoring as the quartet of riders behind Asgreen and Erviti scatter and then drop back into the main bunch.

The leading duo only have 25 seconds now as they head up the Cote de la Croix du Pey. Meanwhile the likes of Sam Bennett, Caleb Ewan and the polka-dot jersey of Beniot Cosnefroy have been dropped.

Time to go.

Kasper Asgreen clips off the front of the breakaway.

It had all got a bit too pedestrian for the Dane who now decides to go solo before Spain's Imanol Erviti bridges across.

Image source, Getty Images

TV pictures just showing Greg van Avermaet up near the front of the main bunch.

So perhaps worth a look at what the Olympic champion told reporters at the start of the stage this morning.

"I think when I saw the book for the first time, I think this stage was always in my mind", the Belgian said.

"It's a super hard stage. A long stage, but one that's difficult to predict. I think a lot of guys will try to go in the break, so it won't be easy to get in, but I'll give it a try. So hopefully I'll be in, and I'll have the chance for a stage victory."

Lovely views of the Lac des Bariousses from the TV helicopter covering this race.

One thing about the Tour...is the diversity of views over the 21-stage race never fail to disappoint.

Image source, get

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

It has been a relatively serene stage so far which is basically a polite way of saying not a great deal has happened yet.

But we still have the two hardest climbs of the day to come so that could all change.

The Cote de la Croix du Pey is 4.8km long with an average gradient of 6% while the category two ascent up the Suc au May arrives averages 7.7% over 3.8km.

There are also bonus seconds on offer for the first three riders to crest the final climb.

The Bora-Hansgrohe boys have been joined at the front of the main bunch by three or four CCC riders.

Overall leader Primoz Roglic is tucked up nicely among friends in a posse of Jumbo Visma riders just behind.

Scratch that...

The yellow Tour motorbike has just zipped past the break with a board showing them they have a one minute and 10 seconds advantage.