Image source, Getty Images

The lead is going out again. One minute and 43 seconds.

I asked which long cycling routes you look forward to and which do you wish you had not started....

Image source, @dixonguy

Looking at the Tour's official data there is not a single flat section in the final 70km of this stage.

Will someone like Julian Alaphillipe fancy it today? You'd have thought it would be perfect for a man with his skills on rolling terrain, that is, if (and when) the break is reined in.

They've got about one minute and 35 seconds at the minute.

I asked which long cycling routes you look forward to and which do you wish you had not started....

Nice facials Mike.

Image source, @VeloMike92

The breakaway is holding a two-minute lead at the minute.

Only a matter of time one would have thought until the peloton decide to swallow them up.

Mathieu Burgaudeau snaffled the one KOM point available atop the Cote d'Eybouleuf. That's two out of two for the Frenchman.

As promised...

Image source, @ITV4

I was asking which long cycling routes you look forward to and which do you wish you had not started....

Colin: Weirdly same route for both! Fred Whitton in Cumbria, 112 miles over all the major passes. Hard work but keen to do it again! Would make a fantastic start to the tour one day. I live in hope.

Big fan of Grasmere Colin, but then I know what you mean. I'd have to consider the team car for that one.

Wow. What a sight.

Huge picture of Raymond Poulidor which is the size of a football pitch is just outside St-Leonard-de-Noblat.

If I can track down a picture of that I'll whack it in shortly.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

The riders are now sweeping through St-Leonard-de-Noblat, where Tour de France legend Raymond Poulidor died on 13 November 2019.

He was known as 'The Eternal Second', because he never won the Tour, finishing second three times, and in third on five occasions.

Well remembered in these parts and lots of fans lining the side of the road.

A giant of cycling who won the Vuelta a Espana, seven stages at the Tour, the Criterium du Dauphine, the Milan-San Remo and La Fleche Wallone.

While we are on about the comp for the polka-dot jersey here's a quick refresher....

Benoit Cosnefroy is currently leader the mountains classification on 36 points with his AG2R-La Mondiale colleague Nans Peters in second five points back with Marc Hirschi in third on 26 points.

Mathieu Burgaudeau takes the only King of the Mountains point up for grabs on the first climb of the day.

Nils Politt did not enjoy that one. The German just started to slip off the breakaway but should be okay once they get over the actual top of this climb, in a hundred or so metres.

The breakaway is nearing the top of the Cote de Saint-Martin-Terressus as the peloton plods up behind them.

Still over 110km to go today.

Ilnur Zakarin (CCC) has been pictured getting into his team car.

The Russian has clearly had enough and looks to be feeling a little worse for wear after smashing into a road sign in the neutral section on stage 11.

Just to save you from getting out the dictionary in relation to Tony's message, a septuagenarian is someone who is between 70-79 years old.

Tony: Worst long route - Barrow to Sunderland over five days with a bunch of septuagenarian cyclists and their miserable put upon spouses. One woman asked the barman if he had any divorce petitions and we abandoned in Durham due to floods.

Now then a few lines from Reuters news agency that will be of interest to those that have been following the Tour and its coronavirus protocols...

Apparently teams who had one staff member test positive for COVID-19 will not be ejected from the Tour de France if they have another one in the next round of tests.

The rules currently say that should two members of a team test positive for coronavirus within a seven-day period, the whole outfit will be excluded from the race.

However, organisers, in consultation with the French government, have decided to reset the counters for the next round of tests which are due on 13-14 September.

Ineos-Grenadiers, Mitchelton-Scott, AG2R-La Mondiale and Cofidis all had a member of staff sent home on Monday after they had tested positive for Covid-19.

The six-man breakaway of Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), Mathieu Burgaudeau (Total Direct Energie), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Nils Politt (Israel Start-up Nation), Luis Leon Sánchez (Astana) and Max Walscheid (NTT Pro Cycling) are still going along nicely.

With 130km to go they've put two minutes and 18 seconds into the peloton.

Anyway while we are waiting for this stage to explode into life feel free to let me know which long cycling routes you look forward to climbing onto the saddle for.

Or if there are any you've started and wish you hadn't.

As ever pictures are always welcome.

Image source, Getty Images

I said it was lumpy...

This reminds me of the trek around my local golf course.

Not one to do without a trolley or buggy.

Though apparently this is the shortest longest stage of the Tour de France ever. If that makes sense.