Marc Soler is the next rider to go it alone and try to catch the front four... he bursts clear as they all head down Cote de la Fage.

Up the road, Felix Grossschartner, Luis Leon Sanchez, Andreas Kron and Michael Matthews are still ploughing on.

They have a 28-second gap on the riders chasing behind them, who are doing their best to catch them but are only succeeding in scattering themselves on the slopes of Cote de la Fage.

Rigoberto Uran is trying to reach the front four. He hasn't succeeded, but there aren't many riders who can stay with him.

A few riders feeling the heat - and this climb - in this first chase group now... Alberto Bettiol is setting the pace and the gap to the front men is coming down... but Neilson Powless gets dropped, so does Stefan Kung and Michael Woods.

Stefan Kung is leading the chase of the front four, but the gap is going up rather than down - it's now 46 seconds.

The next climb of the day is fast approaching, the category three Cote de la Fage. It's 5km to the top, at a gradient of 6%. The main breakaway bunch seem to have got themselves organised but the four escapees are 32 seconds clear.

Those four riders are together now, and have a lead of around 25 seconds on the main breakaway.

Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe), Luis Leon Sanchez (Bahrain Victorious) and Andreas Kron (Lotto-Soudal) are the three men trying to get across to Michael Matthews.

That trio are about 30 seconds clear of the remaining escapees.

Lots of attacks and counter-attacks happening in this breakaway bunch now. Matthews is still out on his own, followed by a three-man chase group.

A handful of riders have gone after Matthews, including Quinn Simmons. Stefan Kung is leading the rest of the break group, on behalf of his FDJ team-mate Thibaut Pinot, trying to bring them back together.

Another move at the front of the race. Michael Matthews goes on a solo attack - and has has opened up a 20-second gap on the rest of the breakaway riders,

A quick word on Caleb Ewan and his three Lotto-Soudal team-mates, who are 21 minutes behind the riders at the front of the race. The cut-off time for today's stage is probably going to be around 30 minutes so still more work to do - and sadly for them, a lot of it is uphill.

That's the end of that... for now anyway.

Simmons cannot shake Geschke or Neilson Powless... and the rest of the breakaway is soon back together.

They are 11 minutes and 15 seconds clear of the yellow jersey bunch.

At last, some excitement! Simon Geschke does take the mountain points ahead of Quinn Simmons... who attacks immediately.

There are two King of the Mountains points available for the first man over the top of Cote de Grandrieu. Will the man wearing the polka dot jersey, Simon Geschke, get them?

Image source, Reuters

All the big hitters at the top of the General Classification are safely in the peloton by the way, including Britain's Geraint Thomas, and are probably planning their own fireworks for the finish up Cote de la Croix Neuve.

At the moment, the Jumbo-Visma team of race leader Jonas Vingegaard is massed at the front of that group. They are probably wondering what Tadej Pogacar has got up his sleeve next.

The race is heading downhill at the moment but it won't be long until the riders at the front hit the slopes of Cote de Grandrieu.

We are just waiting for the fun and games to begin, really.

The gap to the 23 escapees is still around 10 minutes and 30 seconds. Nothing at all is happening behind them to change that.