UAE Premier League

Some people would prefer to be on TV than to watch a bike race, it seems - even if it results in them causing a crash. This could have been Opi-Omi all over again...

What a ride today from Mads Pedersen who, if he wins this green jersey, will have done it the hard way. The odds looked stacked against him, but he got into the day’s break and went over three categorised climbs and covered 120km before this point.

The Dane is unopposed in Corps as he adds 25pts to his tally, which now puts him 32pts clear of Jasper Philipsen in the green jersey battle. The final stage to Paris will still be key, but this has taken a lot of pressure off the Lidl-Trek rider’s broad shoulders.

Now, will he sit up, or will he go on and try to pick up more points at the finish? It wouldn't put it past him...

Simmons, Baudin, Healy, Valgren, Tejada, Kwiatkowski, Vervaeke, Bennett, Braz Afonso, Martin and Hirschi went clear of the other chasers but it appears to be coming back together as we move to within 3km of the intermediate sprint.

They have lost a few bodies: Tratnik has just been caught by the peloton, while Armirail, Barguil and a couple of others have been dropped from the second group on the road as it comes to within 40 seconds of the leaders. The sprint is coming up after 12km. Oh, and Armirail is just back – so perhaps he was simply answering a call of nature or picking something up from the car.

For the third time today, the Frenchman crests a summit ahead of Richard Carapaz to pocket maximum polka dot jersey points. Just two this time, but every little helps.