GFA League First Division

The riders are straight onto the Cat.2 Col Bayard, which is 4.7km at 7.2%. The fast initial pace from Politt has seen many riders shelled out the back already.

Now we have the first attacks with two EF riders – Quinn and Healy – going clear with Tobias Johannessen of Uno-X and Derek Gee-West of Lidl-Trek.

Christian Prudhomme waves the flag and the shortest – but most eagerly anticipated – stage of this year’s Tour has begun.

The road goes uphill out of Gap from the outset with UAE coming to the front with Nils Politt to keep a lid on any early attacks.

The remaining 162 riders are edging out of Gap ahead of this key day in the 113th edition of the Tour. It’s 26 degrees and the sun is, once again, shining down from a cloudless blue sky. It’s almost showtime…

The current record ascent of Alpe d’Huez is 36:40 and was set by Marco Pantani in 1995. Given the advances in technology and nutrition, many think that this record could be broken by the top finishers today.

A lot will depend on how Tadej Pogacar feels. If he’s not ill, he will want to win today’s stage in style – and the record will be toppled accordingly. But if Pogi is suffering from sickness, we could witness a pretty tepid two days of the man in yellow simply following Evenepoel and Seixas, rather than going for the kind of victories that would see his advantage stretch to over 10 minutes on his nearest challengers on GC.