Pro League

The first riders are shelled out of the break, their work for the day done. Ben Healy has been riding for EF team-mate Carapaz while Josh Tarling has done a job for Arensman.

We have the sprint coming up in under 5km.

The team was always split between the green jersey and GC factions but that couldn’t be more apparent than today, where we have three riders in the break with Mads Pedersen and another two in the peloton with Ayuso and Skjelmose. There positions in the top 10 are under threat from Lenny Martinez, whose in the break, but they can’t help with the chase because that would dent the hopes of Pedersen up the road.

That said, there’s no way Pedersen won’t win the sprint now – it comes in less than 10km – so Lidl-Trek might as well start to help reducing the gap now. Unless they have ambitions for the stage through Gee-West or Simmons…

Such is the division of labour with Lidl-Trek than Jackie Durand, on French TV, has said that they almost have two different teams – the Lidl team around Pedersen and the Trek team around Ayuso and Skjelmose. He’s joking, but he also has a point.

It’s still early and a lot can happen between now and the final climb, but the breakaway’s gap is up to 4’15” and it’s looking good for their chances. The Wellens group, which almost rejoined the yellow jersey pack, is now 6’30” back so it’s unlikely they will come back together. But unless more teams help out Red Bull and UAE behind, then one of these escapees will win today’s showpiece summit finish.

We’re hearing that Italy’s Edoardo Affini has withdrawn, so Visma-Lease a Bike are down to just six riders, four of which are in the breakaway today.

Meanwhile, here’s that crash earlier involving Edward Planckaert, Marco Haller and a concrete bollard that was lucky well padded.

It’s early days – and the gap could come tumbling down once UAE and Red Bull up the tempo behind – but should this breakaway go the distance, there are some stellar climbers here who would be strong candidates for the win at Alpe d’Huez.

Sepp Kuss stands out above the rest, although Richard Carapaz cannot be overlooked after his win yesterday. Ben O’Connor has a habit of winning big stages on the Tour, Thymen Arensman of Netcompany INEOS is also a very strong climber, while Michael Storer is superb on his day. To be fair to Visma, they also have Matteo Jorgenson and Davide Piganzoli along with Kuss, so they could possibly win with three different riders.

The gap is back to 3’50” for the 42 leaders so it’s looking good right now.