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.

The peloton have picked up musettes of food ahead of the business end of the stage - need to keep eating ahead of all these climbs...

Our 12 escapees are onto the second climb of the day, the Cat.2 Col des Ares (7.4km at 4.6%). They have a six-minute advantage to play with. Now the stage really gets going, so keep tuned in...

The pack are 5:45 down as they come through the intermediate sprint. And a reminder where today's stage will finish...

Despite these rainy conditions in the Comminges foothills, it's still very sunny at the finish high up in the Pyrenees. And it's intermediate sprint time, with Michael Matthews opening up first and just holding off Marcel Kittel for the 20pts. Thomas De Gendt takes third and Jack Bauer fourth. Those 20 points puts Matthews onto 222pts while Kittel adds 17pts to move onto 352pts. So, just the small matter of 130pts separating them then...

With the gap now at 5:30, the break approaches the intermediate sprint at Loures Barousse. You'd bet on Kittel and Matthews going head to head there before, perhaps, a selection forms on the next climb - the second of six climbs on the menu today.

FranceTelevisions has just interviewed Nicolas Portal, Team Sky's French directeur sportif. According to letour.com, Portal said: "We're not really interested in winning the stage. But this is the first big mountain stage and the idea is to gain something in the finale. At least we want to maintain Chris Froome's advantage. I foresee attacks starting in the col de Peyresourde, possibly by Nairo Quintana as we see his team-mate Imañol Erviti in the front group now. We've been put under pressure but it has strengthened the morale of the team."

British national champion Steve Cummings is a good tip for the win today - and he has a good track record at picking the right break: Cummings has won a stage in the past two Tours after attacking from the right break. Can he make it three in three today?

The gap edges out to over five minutes now as the break continues its way towards the intermediate sprint. Poor Michael Matthews - the Australian was hoping for a repeat of his effort on Sunday when he got over the climbs to pick up 20pts at the sprint. But today, Marcel Kittel sniffed out his move and joined the break. A bit greedy, to be fair: Kittel leads the green jersey competition with 335pts, with Matthews a distant second at 202pts. With the German still likely to pick up at least one more win, it's hard seeing anyone beat him to Peter Sagan's points crown come Paris.

Watching these climbs can make it look easy - and, to be fair, any of us can get over mountains with the right gears and techniques. Our friends at GCN put together this primer about how to climb like a pro...

The peloton approach the summit of the climb and it's Luke Rowe still on the front after he and his Team Ske colleagues picked up some musettes from their soigneur. The Welshman is the Lanterne Rouge of the race - almost two hours down on his team-mate Chris Froome. So, Sky are bookending this race at the half-way point - at least on GC.

The single KOM point over the summit of that gentle, gradual climb goes to Thomas De Gendt of Lotto Soudal who will move onto 4pts in the polka dot jersey standings - still a fair bit behind Warren Barguil's leading tally of 60pts.

The break is well onto the first climb of the day, the Cat.4 Cote de Capvern (7.7km at 3.1%). It's a steady climb running alongside the motorway - so hardly the most scenic. But because of the rain and fog, that doesn't matter so much.

It's raining again as Welshman Luke Rowe comes to the front of the pack to take over pacing from Knees for Team Sky. The gap is up to 4:05 and that will suit Sky and Froome just fine because it may eliminate the desire for others to ride for bonus seconds.

Given the terrain, you'd have thought Messieurs Pinot and Rolland would have been up for this one. Pinot was fairly active near the start but never made the break, while Rolland may be on pacing duties for team-mate Rigoberto Uran, who is fourth on GC. Both Frenchmen rode the Giro d'Italia in May and may also still be feeling the pinch.

It's been a very fast pace so far today with the break covering 48.5km in the opening hour. Kung currently leads the break on a short uphill rise before Bauer comes through for a pull. 3:40 back, it's Christian Knees of Team Sky who sets a steady chasing tempo on the front of the peloton.

One person who will certainly be watching today's stage is Richie Porte - who is finally back home after hospital treatment for his nasty crash on Sunday. The BMC rider would have been one of the favourites for today's stage...

The gap is up to 3:10 for this break but it remains to be seen if today's winner comes from these 12 riders. There aren't any super strong climbers here, and you get the impression that there will be two races going on behind them: for the yellow jersey and for the polka dot jersey. I may be wrong - and if I am, the likes of Erviti, Gautier, Cummings and Ulissi can come and slap me.

The best placed rider in this break is Gautier, and he's 51 minutes down on Froome. So we have no GC threat here today. The subplot is the green jersey points - what with both Matthews and Kittel here, and the intermediate sprint coming after 94km between the first two climbs. Erviti is a solid climber and could act as a relay for Movistar leader Nairo Quintana, while Gautier, Ulissi and Cummings are the danger men. I would add De Gendt, but he's been climbing like a sprinter in this year's Tour, so it remains to be seen if he can turn things round.

Team Sky are on the front of the peloton now that there's some order to today's stage. It was quite gnarly at the start - especially with that rain - but the break now has 2:30 over the pack. The 12 escapees are: Cyril Gautier (AG2R-La Mondiale), Imañol Erviti (Movistar), Koen De Kort (Trek-Segafredo), Stefan Küng (BMC), Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates), Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data), Marcel Kittel and Jack Bauer (Quick-Step Floors), Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Michael Matthews (Sunweb) and Julien Simon (Cofidis).

Remember, it's the 50th anniversary of the death of Tom Simpson today. The British rider infamously died while climbing Mont Ventoux during the 1967 Tour - with a cocktail of Cognac and amphetamines in his blood stream. Simpson was world champion in 1965 and won a host of major races: Tour of Flanders, Milan-Sanremo, Giro di Lombardia and Paris-Nice.

This break includes the likes of Steve Cummings, Dani Bennati, Diego Ulissi, Jack Bauer, Nils Politt, Thomas De Gendt, Stefan Kung, Cyril Gautier, Imanol Erviti, Koen de Kort as well as Matthews and Kittel. Full details coming up. They have more than a minute now, so it looks like it's going to stick - at least, for a while.