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By Chris Bevan
1302: "My take on today: CSC have a huge chance to make a complete mess of it. With the yellow jersey now in their camp they are the ones who are going to have to ride on the front to control the attacks."
BBC Radio 5 Live's Alex Murray on 606
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1301: The race is really being strung out at the moment as the riders struggle up the Col de la Lombarde in the heat. Another group has escaped the peloton, which includes Quick Step's Matteo Carrara, who is 24th overall.
1257: Stefan Schumacher is out on his own at the front now, and has dropped Christophe Le Mevel, Sebastien Rosseler and Thomas Voeckler in the last few minutes.
1255: "CSC will attack Cadel Evans and his team. They need to ensure they push them to give them a better chance of really breaking them tomorrow on Alpe d'Huez. Not sure who I fancy for the stage win. Will watch with interest."
rambon on 606
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1252: The peloton were being led up the Col de la Lombarde by the CSC team but Damiano Cunego and Sylvester Szmyd (both of Lampre) have both launched an attack to try to bridge the gap to the second group. A few riders have gone with them, I'll let you know who ASAP.
1249: Samuel Dumoulin has been dropped by that lead group, which is now about two-and-half minutes clear of the chasing pack, with the Maillot Jeune group another five minutes back.
It's a hot old day in the Alps and some of the riders at the back of the main group are already feeling the heat. Wim Vansevenant and Sebastien Chavanel are among them!
1245: "I think (although hope not) that today may be a bit of an anti-climax. My prediction is a group of 20-30 will reach finish together, with either Kim Kirchin or Alejandro Valverde taking the win."
Number6Valverde on 606
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1242: The riders are on the Col de la Lombarde now, and gaining height rapidly.
1239: "I went over the barrier and I saw... I had a vision from high above. I saw myself in the air and hit my head. I though I was going to die and hoped to feel nothing. To be unconscious when I hit the ground."
Spain's 2006 Tour de France winner Oscar Pereiro on his crash on his way down the Col Agnel on Sunday.
Perieiro, as you'll probably remember, tumbled over a crash barrier and broke his shoulder. Ouch. He will undergo surgery back in Spain today.
1235: The front five are about 40 seconds clear of the next bunch, with the peloton over three minutes further back. That first climb is not far away now, so things are about to get interesting.
1230: That second group are still clear of the peloton by the way. No contenders for yellow in there either, but Spain's Oscar Freire, wearing the green jersey, is involved.
1227: Those five riders are Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner), Christophe Le Mevel (Credit Agricole), Sebastien Rosseler (Quick Step), Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) and Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis).
Schu is the best-placed rider overall of that little lot - in 29th - followed by Le Mevel in 44th, Rosseler (100th), Voeckler (103rd) and Dumoulin (132nd). No-one here is going to trouble the overall classification then.
1225: Sorry, I seem to be mixing up my Chavanels...Sebastien is the Lanterne Rouge, already off the back of the peloton. Sylvain is doing rather better - in that second group which is being reeled in by the peloton.
1222: There are five riders off the front, including Stefan Schumacher - who was in yellow in the early stages of this year's Tour but is now 29th, 22 minutes and 30 seconds behind the Maillot Jeune.
Briefly, a bigger group of around 30 riders follows them in creating a gap to the main peloton but that does not look as thouugh will last long at all.
1219: David Moncoutie has been caught now and the riders are all back together again. We are still on the flat by the way and are still about 20km from the start of today's first big climb, the 2,351km Col de la Lombarde.
1215: A bit of news on Riccardo Ricco, who was thrown out of this year's Tour after testing positive for EPO after the fourth stage.
Ricco tried to avoid being tested, according to the president of the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD), Pierre Bordry.
Ahead of today's stage, Bordry said: "When he saw that he was to be tested, he escaped. But he was caught by the stewards and we told him that as he had tried to avoid the test, he would be tested every day."
1209: Hmmm, Lanterne Rouge Sylvain Chavanel is having an interesting day...he has just been dropped by the peloton. Surely those early attacks haven't taken too much out of him? Still, at least he cannot drop any further down the standings.
Juan Antonio Flecha is also struggling off the rear of the pack. At the front, David Moncoutie has opened up a bit of a gap.
1205: "I'm really looking forward to seeing this Col de la Bonnette, as it is new. I wonder if the thin air wall cause someone to do something crazy, like attacking too soon."
Im_partial - TDF tops on 606
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1202: Franck Schleck took the yellow jersey off Cadel Evans on Sunday...but how long will he keep it for? It will be interesting to see what the mountains do to those two, plus the likes of Bernhard Kohl and Denis Menchov, today.
1200: Sylvain Chavanel is currently the Lanterne Rouge - the last-placed rider in this year's Tour. At the moment he is just the two hours and 42 minutes behind overall leader Frank Schleck. Chavanel seems to be in aggressive mood today though - the Frenchman has been involved in about six of the nine attacks so far...and he is off on his own again.
1155: The riders rolled out of the neutral zone a few minutes ago and there have been plenty of attempted breakaways in the early stages. No joy for anyone yet though.
1150: This is only a short hop of 157km from Cuneo in Italy to Jausiers in France but it will be far from straightforward.
The riders will cross the Col de la Lombarde before tackling the Col de la Bonnette, which, at 2,802m, is the highest pass in Europe. Then they face a nerve-jangling 23.5km descent to the finish. Phew.
1145 BST: Morning all. Hope you're all rested and ready for more drama in the mountains. If you enjoyed Sunday's stage, you're going to love what Le Tour has in store for you today...
(BBC)
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