The peloton reached the Col d’Aspin summit 3mins 35secs after Lenny Martinez.

Further up the road, Sepp Kuss and Valentin Paret-Peintre have joined leader Martinez.

The Frenchman actually slowed down to let them catch up. He’s fulfilled his main aim for the day, to hit the top of the King of the Mountain standings.

This morning the forecast said that from here there would be intervals of rain and moderate temperatures, dropping to 12C at the top of the climbs.

On its X account, the Tour de France called today’s stage “the hell of the Pyrenees”. Not only will the peloton face some gruelling climbs but it’ll be fairly chilly up there too.

Lenny Martinez summited the Col d’Aspin 40 seconds before Sepp Kuss and Valentin Paret-Peintre, with Michael Woods 2mins 20secs off the French youngster:

1. Lenny Martinez (Fra/Bahrain Victorious) – 5 points
2. Sepp Kuss (US/Visma-Lease a Bike) 3 pts
3. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Fra/Soudal Quick-Step) – 2 pts
4. Michael Woods (Can/Israel-Premier Tech)- 1 pt

Oscar Onley on today’s weather: “I prefer the heat. We see that some guys struggle more in the heat, so it’s nice to have a bit of an advantage there. I think today is more equal.”

Lenny Martinez bags another five mountain points on the category two climb of the Col d’Aspin.

The young Frenchman is the first rider to reach 50 points, which earns him a special prize of 5,000 euros for the 50th anniversary of the polka-dot jersey.

With a two-minute lead over the yellow jersey group, Tobias Johannessen has leapfrogged Primoz Roglic in the virtual general classification standings.

The Norwegian rider, who races for second-tier ProTeam Uno-X Mobility, is currently sixth and is just one minute off the podium.

1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Emirates-XRG) 45hrs 45mins 51secs
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Visma-Lease a Bike) +4mins 7secs
3. Florian Lipowitz (Ger/Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +7mins 30secs
4. Oscar Onley (GB/Picnic PostNL) +8mins 11secs
5. Kevin Vauquelin (Fra/Arkea-B&B Hotels) +8mins 15secs
6. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +8mins 50secs
7. Tobias Johannessen (Nor/Uno-X Mobility) +10mins 36secs
8. Felix Gall (Aut/Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +11mins 43secs
9. Matteo Jorgenson (US/Visma-Lease a Bike) +14mins 15secs
10. Ben Healy (Ire/EF Education-EasyPost) +16mins 57secs

With Remco Evenepoel now out of the equation, British youngster Oscar Onley needs to gain 41 seconds on Florian Lipowitz to move into a GC podium place and wear the white jersey tomorrow for best young rider.

Ben Healy is currently 11th in the GC standings but the Irish breakaway specialist could well lose time during this battle in the mountains.

Tough start to the season following that crash, a superb Pogacar and clearly some underlying illness. Shame he has to retire but age is on his side. He’ll be back next year and likely a lot stronger.

Pieter

ICYMI, Remco Evenepoel sustained rib, shoulder blade and hand fractures in a bike crash during a training ride in December.

He also needed surgery on a dislocated collarbone after crashing into an open door of a postal vehicle while on a ride in his native Belgium.

Sepp Kuss and Valentin Paret-Peintre were closing on Lenny Martinez, but his lead is now stable at about 50 seconds.

The Tobias Johannessen group is about to start the climb, about a minute further back, with the yellow jersey group two minutes behind them.

Now then, the leaders are now onto the next climb:

• 68km to go – Col d’Aspin – 5km at 7.6%
• 39km to go – Col de Peyresourde – 7.1km at 7.8%
• 12.4km to go – Luchon-Superbagneres – 12.4km at 7.3%

Come off it BBC. this year’s Tour de France route is no harder than most years. Remco is out of gas, legs are gone this year. That’s all.

Rob

Lenny Martinez is almost at the bottom, with Sepp Kuss and Valentin Paret-Peintre having closed to within a minute.

The other chasers are a further 20secs back, with the peloton 3mins 40secs adrift of Martinez.

1. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) – 47 points2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates-XRG) – 37 pts3. Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) – 37 pts4. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) – 27 pts5. Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) – 18 pts

Michael Woods is second over the Col du Tourmalet summit, leading a group that is 1min 45secs behind Lenny Martinez:

1. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) – 20 points
2. Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) – 15 pts
3. Aleksandr Vlasov (RedBull-Bora-Hansgrohe) – 12 pts
4. Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) – 10 pts
5. ValentinParet-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) – 8 pts
6. Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) – 6 pts
7. Michael Storer (Tudor) – 4 pts
8. Einer Rubio (Movistar) – 2 pts

Lenny Martinez isn’t the only rider chucking on the wet-weather gear.

And visibility is pretty poor coming down from the summit.

The riders are going to have to keep their wits about them, this is one treacherous descent.

Lenny Martinez is first to the top of the Col du Tourmalet to pocket 20 mountain points and claim the Souvenir Jacques Goddet.

And as the young Frenchman summits, he whips out his rain jacket and puts it on as he prepares to head straight into a sharp descent.

The yellow jersey group is more than three minutes back from Lenny Martinez and features 41 riders.

Behind Martinez is a group of 16 riders, including Visma team-mates Simon Yates and Sepp Kuss, plus Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) and Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla).

Tobias Johannessen, who is 10 minutes off Tadej Pogacar in eighth on general classification, is the highest GC rider in that group.

Back to the head of the course, and Lenny Martinez has gone clear – by more than a minute.

He’s now climbing into mist towards the top of the Col du Tourmalet.