Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 12 of the Tour de France as the race hits the Pyrenees with this gruelling 214.5km ride from Pau to Peyragudes, culminating with the second of three mountain-top finishes in this year's race.

Barguil, Bertie and Brice are reeled in by this select pack of favourites - we only have about 20 riders here now. Cummings is 2:15 ahead of them. Gautier has De Gendt in his sights.

ATTACK: Moments after Warren Barguil jumps clear of the peloton, Alberto Contador puts in an attack. They catch Feillu but really can't make much headway and are riding just 10 metres or so ahead of the pack.

The pack continue to catch numerous distanced escapees. And then Steve Cummings puts in an attack to drop De Gendt...

Feillu is 2:20 down on the two leaders, De Gendt and Cummings, while the peloton is only 25 seconds further back thanks to that pacing from Kiryienka and Sky. Gautier is doing his best to bridge over to the duo ahead, while Kung is a further 20 seconds back.

Here's daddy! Stev Cummings rides clear of Kung and Gautier and catches De Gendt. Still damp and misty here - even through the finish is apparently basked in sunshine.

De Gendt rides clear of Kung, Cummings and Gautier on the front of the race. Meanwhile, Ulissi has already been caught by the pack, which goes to show that Feillu isn't that far ahead despite the zip with which he passed the Italian.

Feillu has dropped his pilot, Bouet, and is really on the charge - he's just passed Ulissi, who is pedalling squares. But Sky behind have reduced the gap of the leaders to just 2:50 so it's all coming back together on this HC climb of the Port de Bales.

Behind the leaders, Politt and De Kort have dropped Erviti and Ulissi. The chasing Fortuneo riders are two minutes down from the six leaders, with the pack now 3:15 down.

Luke Rowe peels off the front, his work for the day done for Team Sky. Vasil Kiryienka takes up the baton for Froome. Numerous riders have been distanced by the pack - including all the sprinters, Greg van Avermaet and even Thibaut Pinot (who is probably keeping himself fresh for a tilt at the win tomorrow on Bastille Day). The same can be said for Lilian Calmejane, too.

The break is beginning to fragment now as Thomas De Gendt drives a high pace. Bauer, Gautier, Simon, Cummings and Kung manage to follow the Belgian's tempo.

Matthews has been dropped by the break. The Australian did extremely well to take the intermediate sprint - but it was somewhat tempered by Marcel Kittel's presence in the break. Matthews will soon be caught by Bouet and Feillu, who are going hell for leather.

We're approaching the Cat.HC Port de Bales (11.7km a 7.7%). Don't let that average gradient deceive you because this is one of the hardest climbs in the Pyrenees, with several double-digit ramps. It's the fourth of six HC climbs in this year's Tour.

Fortuneo-Oscaro duo Feillu and Maxime Bouet are 3:30 behind the leaders and about a minute ahead of the pack.

We're not yet onto the Port de Bales, even though the gradient is getting steeper. Keen to climb faster without being fitter? Well, watch this video from our pals at GCN...

ATTACK: And, yes, there it is - Feillu bounds clear with one of his team-mates. No reaction from Sky. The Frenchman is 11:43 down on GC and is clearly eyeing a stage win or a rise up the standings today. It's been eight years now since his stage win on the 2009 Tour.

A few Fortuneo-Oscaro riders are moving up to the front of the peloton - perhaps they're planning something for Brice Feillu, who is 20th on GC and riding this Tour very well.

We're about to hit the business end of this stage with three more climbs coming right up. So far, it's been a bit cagey, but hopefully there'll be some sparks and fireworks soon.

A taste of how steep the finish ramp today at the alti-port at Peyragudes is... courtesy of Astana and their manager Alexandre Vinokourov, who rolled back the years to ride the finale earlier today.

A great quote coming through from BMC sport director Yvon Ledanois, who told letour.com this morning: "Even without Richie Porte, we still have a role to play in this Tour [Stefan Kung is currently in the breakaway]. But in any case, Chris Froome is going to kill the Tour today.”

Still Team Sky drive the peloton, paving the way for their man Chris Froome. The Astana army of Aru are tucked in just behind, ahead of Romain Bardet's Ag2R-La Mondiale.

The calm before the storm... the gap has come down to 4:20 for the break, and the gruppetto has almost regained contact with the peloton. We should also add that Marcel Kittel has been caught by the pack after his cameo in the break.