Topklasse Vrouwen

From 24 riders halfway up the climb to 37 now, with Lidl-Trek doing a mighty job to put Pedersen back in play. 6km to the top the gap is concertinaing a bit, with Visma stretching it to 44 seconds.

And what a strong selection this is:

Bruno Armirail, Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss, Davide Piganzoli (Visma-Lease a Bike), Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), Richard Carapaz, Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon CMA CGM), Thymen Arensman, Tobias Foss (Netcompany Ineos), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), Clement Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ United.)

Who look like they're going to control this one, not Red Bull, as we'd be led to expect. What a comeback from Yates just a couple of days after being afflicted by a very serious illness.

It's the Carapaz group, because the maillot a poids is there, but it's being driven by Visma-Lease a Bike. Mads Pedersen isn't giving up on that intermediate sprint. It's not in his nature. He's doing well, still only about ten seconds from the yellow jersey.

They hung out to about a third of the way up the climb, but these gradients have cooked them.