The peloton took it easy, Sergio Paulinho took the win, and we talked about Stanley Bagshaw and the fruits that can fit whole into a person's mouth

Afternoon all and welcome to live coverage of stage 10 of this year's Tour de France. Today's 179km trip from Chambery to Gap (where the peloton will presumably pick up some plain T-shirts and a surprisingly expensive hooded top) marks the halfway point (in terms of stages at least) of Le Tour.

We have the Category 1 Côte de Laffrey and the Category 2 Col du Noyer, but this isn't the challenge that was presented by the monstrous Col de la Madeleine yesterday (as you can check out for yourself with out rather wonderful interactive guide). What a stage that was, by the way. The exertions of Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador on stage nine, coupled with the heat, the undulations of the stage, the fact that a French rider or two will be going all out for victory on Bastille Day and the almost-downhill sprint stage tomorrow means, I reckon, that we may see a little ceasefire today as Andy and Alberto gather themselves for the final day through the Massif Central that is Stage 12 and then the decisive stages through the Pyranees.

Our man William Fotheringham reckons we will be seeing more sweat and tears today. And Andy Schleck has certainly been producing some fighting talk:

"The others can also attack, but they don't. Right now it looks like it's Alberto versus me. It's possible he might be better in the Pyrenees. Me, too, you know. [PREGNANT PAUSE] I will be better in the Pyrenees than him."

12.28pm: Lance Armstrong produced a more-than-respectable ride yesterday and he might well be relishing today's stage - back in 2003, en route to his fifth Tour win, on the descent from La Rochelle (the same descent that provides the finish today) we saw one of his most memorable moments ...

What's been happening on the road today: Not much. But they've only been out for 30km.

What's been happening off the road today: All sorts. Away from the Tour, the New York Times is reporting that subpoenas have been issued to witnesses in the Lance Armstrong inquiry. At the Tour, as I mentioned below, Andy Schleck has looked to crank up the pressure on Alberto Contador. On the site, William Fotheringham has blogged on Armstrong's improving status among French fans. And in personal news, I've been recovering from my first attempt at quizmastering at the Rose and Crown last night. Seemed to go quite well, although it was rather disconcertingly won by a team calling themselves 'I Belong To Glendenning' and no one in the building (apart from me) had the answer to: 'In Huddersgate (famed for its tramlines), up north where it's boring and slow, who resides with his grandma, at No4 Prince Albert Row? I mean, come on ...

12.49pm: Out on the road we've got a little breakaway, with Sergio Paulinho of Radioshack, Mario Aerts of Omega Pharma, Dries Devenyns of Quick Step and Vasil Kiriyienka of Caisse d'Epargne 1min and a few seconds ahead of the peloton. None of them are French, so expect an attempt to claw them back pretty soon.

12.52pm: "Stuck as you are in the newsroom, are you trying to recreate the whole TdF atmosphere?" wonders Dan Levy. "Picnic table at the deskside from 10.30, throwing processed cheese and salamis and shampoo around, editor dressed as a devil, etc?" In homage to the fans on the big climbs I'm stripped to the waist, painted red, and running ahead of anyone who walks past my desk, screaming at them and pumping my fist.

12.54pm: Yep, as expected a few French teams have got onto the front of the peloton and looked to increase the pace.

12.57pm: Slightly disconcerted that my inbox hasn't been filling up with answers to my earlier quiz question. Am I really the only person in the world who knows about Stanley Bagshaw? Stanley Bagshaw and the Fourteen foot wheel? Stanley Bagshaw and the short-sighted football trainer? Stanley Bagshaw and the Mafeking Square cheese robbery? No?

1.00pm: The gap twixt peloton and breakaway shows no sign of reducing - in fact it's up to 1:30. Ah, hang on. Maxime Bouet of AG2R La Mondiale and Pierre Rolland of BBox Bouygues Telecom have launched themselves from the pack, two little champagne corks popping from the bottle. French teams and French riders.

1.08pm: "What's the view on Cadel?" ponders Gary Naylor. "Seems he's always lacking in legs or aggression come the grand tours. No shame in that of course, but if only he'd be willing to risk blowing up in order to seize the initiative, his career might have looked rather different."

He's putting it down to a fractured elbow suffered in a crash on Sunday: "I'm not at my normal level, but when you're in yellow at the Tour de France, you've got to be there. The team was just fantastic but I'm the one who had the crash two days ago. I'm the one that is wearing the jersey and I'm the one that is vulnerable. I'm not my normal self if I get dropped by a group like that."

1.12pm: TV pictures show Schleck and Armstrong having a good old natter in the peloton - likely to be that sort of stage today for the leaders. I often wonder what they talk about when they're going along like that. What they're having for tea? Which suncream they use? Chafing?

1.17pm: Just for those not totally up to speed with this cycling lark and wondering why these six riders have been allowed to break out on their own (the chasing Frenchman are three minutes ahead of the peloton now and the front four another 1.20 ahead of them) – none of that hearty half-dozen are in contention for the yellow jersey. The highest placed in the General Classification is Mario Aerts, who is 44th and nearly 33 minutes behind Andy Schleck, the leader. They are no threat, so can be allowed off on their own.

1.19pm: "Your Rose and Crown quiz went better than quite well last night. Really good stuff," writes Chris Bond (a man who clearly knows how to get an email published). "Right up to the point where your specialist round was on... Yorkshire. Would it hurt if I told you the winning team were mostly Lancastrians?" Why you rascally red roses!

1.21pm: "I am sure Schleck and Contador were chatting about whether or not to allow the day's break to go clear," writes James Cavell. "Armstrong is still 'The Boss' and as such gets to decide who is allowed to go clear. Very interesting that Lance seems happy to let a break go clear without any French riders, on Bastille day. I saw some signs of Gallic discontent. Is 'The Boss' perhaps in a bad mood about a certain investigation

reaching the subpoena phase?" It is the sort of thing that could put a crimp on your day ...

1.23pm: "In my pub quiz last night, someone answered the question 'Who sang Dedicated Follower of Fashion and who was the lead singer?' with 'Dexy's Midnight Runners with Jimmy Nail'." writes Matthew Round. "They were serious." I'm yet to do the full analysis on last night's worst answers, but I'm fairly sure someone thought the current Queen was Queen Victoria's niece.

1.27pm: "Any word on how Thor (great name) is after his tumble?" writes a concerned Mark Healey. "He dropped back to the see the doctor during yesterday's min by min but not spotted anything to say he is badly hurt?" No, he seems to have his slippers and pipe today, lounging in the heart of the peloton.

1.30pm: The breakaway have put eight and a half minutes of road between themselves and the peloton, with the poursuivants within 20 seconds of turning that leading four into a leading six.

1.33pm: "As a kid, Stanley Bagshaw was my favourite set of books, by a mile," writes Mark Quinn. "Until I read that I had forgotten about him. I recognised his name but couldn't remember why. The link reminded me of something very beautiful indeed. The man is a legend. Speaking of legends (or a son thereof), how is Nicholas Roche doing?" Nice link. It was another gutsy ride from his yesterday, finishing in Wiggins group, so he's another ensconsed in the peloton and trying to take it as easy as possible.

1.36pm: Speaking of Roche, such was Evans' implosion yesterday that the Irishman in ahead of the man who was in yellow during stage nine. "Re Evans, I suppose, with an injury like that, it's fair enough, but his problem has never been getting dropped, it's been dropping others," writes Gary Naylor. "One of the reasons we love grands tours is that a statement has to be made at some point - Armstrong favoured the first mountain stage, Indurain the time trials, Hinault by riding on the front. Evans never makes a statement." Very true.

1.37pm: "Okay, so Liz isn't Vic's niece (apparently), but any question relating to the familial bloodline of the Royal Family is likely to be far more tricky than your question about Huddersgate," writes Steve Johnson. "No one can seriously be expected to remember which member of some faded royal family married which of their German cousins, can they?" True, but I like to think the scope of the quiz was one of its plus points: royal families, the name of He Man's cat, name the Mr Men, Jesus Christ on the cover of Portuguese Playboy ... the full gamut.

1.40pm: Bouet and Rolland have made that link at last, giving us a super soaraway six up front, the gap remaining eight and a half minutes with 108km still to go. The riders are approaching the foot of Côte de Laffrey, today's only Category One climb.

1.44pm: "How many bikes does each rider have?" wonders John Sanderson. "Do they have specific bikes for each stage or the same one with a different set up? I was thinking this the other day when one rider gave his bike to another, might be a tad difficult if they are set up for each rider?" Interesting one – I have to say I have no idea. Can anyone out there enlighten us?

1.46pm: "Following on from the ubiquitous G Naylor's point on Evans, I fear this is also destined to be true of Bradley Wiggins," writes Dave Collins (presumably not the former performance director of UK Athletics, but you never know). "He is undoubtedly an incredibly talented rider (Wiggins, not Naylor), but can we ever realistically see him dropping any of the big guns on the big climbs? And at 30+, time is not on his side. His best hope is the time trials, and when they go wrong, like this years prologue, he has too much catching up to do. I'm confident Dave Brailsford at Sky will get there, but I think our best hope is definitely going to be the long-term grooming of Geraint Thomas."

1.51pm: Four and a half kilometres to the top of this here hill for the leaders. It's a long straight climb – 886m up and 10km long in total – followed by a winding descent.

1.55pm: James Cavell, whose emails over the course of these pedal-by-pedal reports have shown a proper knowledge of the sport, has an answer to the question posed earlier. Not the Stanley Bagshaw one. The one about the bikes:

"Team cars usually have a replacement bike for the team leader(s) and a few other spares following the peloton. Teams usually use same peddles, saddles etc and although bike dimensions are different, you might have a plan in the team that if such an important rider goes down and breaks the bike, a domestique of similar size and dimensions might be ordered to surrender his bike and wait for a spare. Back at HQ the mechanics have as many surplus frames, groupsets and wheels as they can afford on the team budget, and are regularly building different combinations of size, wheel type, gear ratios etc to personal demands of riders and the terrain. Notice most guys used normal shallow rim wheels for the cobble stages, apart from a certain Texan who was riding more aero rims. Guess who punctured. Some guys are really into equipment, others don't care. Dutch TV was mocking the Euskaltel guys yesterday for technical ineptitude for dropping their chain when shifting from the 54 to the 39 in the run into a climb for example."

1.58pm: "Work means I'm getting through the live updates slowly but was the He-man question a trick one?" writes the super-sharp John Bentham. "Surely he has two names - Cringer pre-transformation and Battle Cat post transformation." Very good - a point for each. The original question was going to be 'Where does He Man live?' with the answer being Castle Greyskull, but apparently it's a bit of a grey area.

2.03pm: The crest of the hill is approaching, which means the half-naked, face-painted, bandy-legged, flag-wearing happy clappers are charging up and down the road next to the leaders. These are experienced riders, but it must take some getting used to.

2.08pm: "I'm distraught to have missed the earlier Stanley Bagshaw love-in (all two of you)," writes Sue Holden. "'Listen sonny, are you trying to be funny?' (And that's when the real fun began!) is a stock phrase in our household (second only to Tangerines? That IS a surprise! from the far inferior 'Handa's Surprise'). The humdrum way those fantastic stories (Stanley, not Handa) finish is always slightly sad... a bit like the end of the tour. But plenty of excitement to be had before then." I knew we'd be able to shoehorn a link from Stanley Bagshaw to Le Tour eventually! The end of the Tour de France is a bit like the end of a Stanley Bagshaw book. In that it's a little melancholy and bittersweet. OK, it's not the world's greatest link, but it's a link nevertheless.

2.13pm: Under 100km to the finish line in Gap - apparently it's somewhere between underwear and the checkouts (yes, I'm here all week, try the veal etc and so forth). Still the gap is up over eight minutes. Maillot jaune Andy Schleck is prominent at the front of the peloton and looking strong, surrounded by Saxo Bank bodyguards.

Jerome Pineau - soon to be back in the dots? Photograph: Laurent Rebours/AP

2.16pm: Jerome Pineau takes a few King of the Mountain points ahead of Anthony Charteau. The pair began the day equal on 85 each, with Charteau in the polka dot jersey. Pineau's win there though, means he has the virtual lead in that particular race once again.

2.19pm: SCURRILOUS RUMOUR ALERT! "One of things Schleck and Armstrong could have been chatting about earlier is the possibility of Andy moving to Radioshack next year," writes Mark Oliver. "Saxobank are withdrawing from sponsorship and there is a Luxembourg team being set up next year, but rumour has it that Radioshack are keen to bring in a real GC contender - and Andy is the only real challenger to Alberto ..."

2.24pm: The breakaway group are travelling through a refuelling area – team staff stand at the side of the road dangling little bags of food, the riders grab them and chow down (a bit like Golden Axe, but without the little pixies that you have to kick up the backside), then discard the bags into the verge where a few lucky spectators get a decent souvenier. Well, once they've cleaned off the spittle.

2.27pm: "The Luxembourg team is already definite, and Saxo bank have actually arranged a new sponsor," writes James Cavell, shooting down those Andy Schleck transfer rumours. Do Luxembourg have enough people to make up a team? I've been there – it's a lovely place, particularly the Ardennes bit in the north, but it's not exactly big. When I say 'in the north', it's more 'up the road'.

2.33pm: Under 90km to go, the gap staying pretty constant at just over nine minutes. We've got fast downhill section to come as the peloton drops off the plateau at Laffrey, then a short, sharp Category Three climb up Côte des Terrasses, before the long, but fairly gentle trek up to the final peak of the day Col du Noyer. The winner is likely to come from the lead six now I'd say: Paulinho, Aerts, Devenyns, Kiriyienka and the two Frenchmen, Rolland and Bouet, hoping for a Bastille Day triumph.

2.35pm: More on that Luxembourg team from James Cavell: "Luxembourg had three top level pros, but as I mentioned the other day Kim Kirchen has just had a heart attack and will probably never ride again. There is some talent coming through in the top end amateur 'Differdange' team though, although I hope they've improved since the time I raced with them and one of them opened up a gap in front of me

and those of us behind him all got dropped."

2.36pm: By the way, if you've got nothing better to do this afternoon you can follow me on Twitter, where I'm vaguely attempting a new WORLD RECORD of MOST FOLLOWERS WITHOUT A TWEET! Join the, er, lack of fun.

2.45pm: Apologies for that lilttle gap in proceedings - I think they call it a comfort break. The peloton are flying down serpentine curves, forests crowding in on either side. Great TV pictures from the Helicoptercam.

In one go? Really? Photograph: Andy Crawford/Getty/Dorling Kindersley

2.47pm: Perhaps one of the moments of the Tour so far – Vasil Kiryienka, one of our super soaraway six, just unpeeled a banana and stuck the whole thing in his mouth. The whole thing. Can't quite get over that ...

2.53pm: The gap is up over 10 minutes now. Peloton taking it very, very easy. Not envying our man Will Fotheringham at the moment – he's got 1200 words to write on this for the paper tomorrow (and I don't think he'll be allowed to use a Stanley Bagshaw riff to get through them).

2.58pm: "It was mentioned during the prologue that one of the Schleck brothers (can't remember which one) was Luxembourg time trial champion, he won from a total field of four," writes John Adams. "Apparently it's an open competition which means that someone could have turned up on an old rust bucket bike dragged from the back of the shed and been the fifth best time-triallist in Luxembourg."

3.02pm: "Re: your banana point at 2.47pm, you've led a sheltered life haven't you?" notes Gary Naylor. Fruits you should be able to get in your mouth whole: grapes (certainly), satsumas (probably), mangoes (at a push). Fruits you should not be able to get in your mouth whole: Pineapples. Cocunuts. And bananas.

3.06pm: "Each day I'm feeling better and better," said Contador this morning. "Some days I'm more inspired than others, but every time I take part in three-week races I feel better every day." He should certainly be feeling pretty good after today. It's turned into kind of an extended rest day run for the peloton.

3.10pm: With 67km to go, the lead group have put over 11 minutes of road between themselves and the ambling-more-than-chasing pack. That final descent into Gap is apparently very technical (I'm not sure what the fuss is about. I usually just use the escalators. OK, I'll stop now) and could well favour Sergio Paulinho according the boys on the box.

3.14pm: "There were plenty of riders taking part in the Luxembourg national road race championships who could have taken part in the TT. But who wants to kill themselves for an hour to come fifth?" writes James Cavell. "And unfortunately even though such events are 'open' you do need to either have a professional or 'elite' UCI license to take part, and your equipment would have to conform to UCI regulations." Damn. I'll have to put the Chopper back in the shed. (No, that's not a euphemism).

"Many smaller countries allow elite amateurs to race in the same race as the pros in the National Championships. In the Netherlands they have just done away with this, not because the pros were dropping the amateurs, but because the amateurs were making the pros look silly. Last year young amateur Joost van Leijen almost won solo, and made Rabobank look very silly in the process."

3.16pm: "A mango in one but not a banana?" writes a sceptical Hugh Maguire. It might have to be a small mango, admittedly.

3.19pm: The breakaway group, with 60km to go, have reached the foot (if 800-odd metres above sea level can be considered 'the foot') of the Col du Noyer. It's a long, sapping climb that seems to get steeper as you approach the summit. It'll be interesting to see if anyone tries to shed a couple of riders from the lead six.

Tour de France bears. Photograph: Nathalie Magniez/AFP/Getty Images

3.25pm: Thanks for all the Twitter follows, folks. Much appreciated. As a reward, here's a bear in a polka dot jersey. Saxo Bank are on the front of the peloton dictating the pace, as is the unwritten rule when your man is in yellow.

3.28pm: "Mangoes have massive stones in them," notes Justine Rob (or possibly Justin Erob - apologies, it's hard to tell from the email address), "unlike satsumas, pineapples or bananas so even if you could fit one into your mouth you'd be unable to eat or swallow it or breathe ..." It's just these sort of logistical details that I hadn't taken into account.

3.31pm: Just as the lack of action on the road has meant we've been focussing more on Stanley Bagshaw, the size of Luxembourg and which fruits you can stick it your mouth, the Eurosport commentators have also been playing for time. They've just moved on to Tour de France-themed lingerie and an unpleasant incident with a dog in a swimming pool.

3.35pm: Here's part XVIII of an educational series that I've decided to call James Cavell's Emails:

Many newcomers or July fans won't be aware of the amateur racing scene - "elite amateurs" are almost the same level as the pros, and ride with them in some smaller races. Some unofficially more or less make a living from the sport, and all the top amateur teams have sponsors, equipment and take part in UCI affiliated national one day races and lesser known international stage races (Tour of Hungary, for example) that are ridden virtually as fast as the pro versions. Pro teams recruit from these ranks, and also some ex pros find themselves here between contracts. Guys at this level will base their lives around the sport and will not have time for a proper job. Under that each country usually has three or four other adult mens categories competing in local races. You move up and down categories depending on ability and success. Moving up to the higher categories requires serious fitness and ability, and a top end amateur racer would need to train at least 12 hours each week for several years to build up the

required form. Unless you're an absolute freak of course, like Greg Le Mond. It's pet hate of many an amateur racer that the media and participants refer to the riders in the cyclo-sportive scene as "amateurs" as if the next step up from "La Marmotte cyclo sportive" is the Tour itself. Anyone who trains enough at distance can ride 180km in one day in the mountains, it will just take some a very long time indeed. But the raw speed required for actual racing (not touring) takes real talent and training to achieve, and the majority of sportive riders wouldn't even finish a race in the lowest amateur category. Apart from the Gran Forno scene in Italy where many ex pro riders really race each other for sponsor and prize money, and amusing stories of police raids and pharmaceuticals being flushed down toilets and thrown out of windows abound. I even heard of a fiftysomething participant jumping out of a first floor window and legging it into the forest when informed that the police had been tipped off about doping in the veteran ranks.

3.40pm: Just over 50km to the finish line now - it'll be in maybe an hour and 20 minutes. So you've got time to go and make a cup of tea. In fact, for all the action we've had today, you've had time to make a roast dinner with all the trimmings.

3.42pm: Just to take up an earlier thread, it's just occured to me that I could well be doing some further quizmastering in the future. If anyone's got any killer questions feel free to send 'em in.

3.47pm: Let's have a bit of a look at the leading six, courtesy of Eurosport. Kiryienka: a diesel engine. Rolland: one-time big French hope, good all-rounder, excellent time-triallist. Devenyns: punchy, bit of a kick. Aerts: very canny, very professional. Bouet: an agressive young rider with a good future. Paulinho: very good climber. I've not exactly fleshed out the characters there, but at least it's something. They all look reasonably cool at the moment, despite the heat.

3.50pm: The peloton, meanwhile, are plumetting down another leafy hillside, some scarily precipitous drops on the left.

3.52pm: "Which city is furthest west: Cardiff, Liverpool, or Edinburgh?" teases Edward Males. "Where does the term 'trivia' come from?" writes John Sanderson, enigmatically stroking his beard. No need to email in answers, it's just for fun. I'll pop the answers up in a bit. Or you could just go and Google it, I suppose. Though that's not really in the spirit of the thing. You wouldn't be letting Edward down. You wouldn't be letting John down. You wouldn't even be letting me down. You'd be letting yourself down.

3.55pm: "What would win in a fight, a bear or a gorilla? (grizzly v silverback - neutral venue)." Ross Purnell, I don't think you've quite got the hang of this quiz lark.

3.59pm: The gap from peloton to breakaway is 11 minutes, 11 seconds - not sure if that's some sort of cycling equivalent to Nelson. "A cracker from last nights shooting stars," uvavus Ben Broughton. "Q: True or false: Tom Waits? A: False: Tom Waits for no man!"

4.04pm: A couple of real doozies have come in – I'm holding those back for future use. The leaders are perhaps two thirds of the way up the Col du Noyer (try saying that in a French accent (in you head if you're within ear shot of others is probably best). It's lovely. You get a kind of Noooyyeeeuuuurrr thing going on). 40km to go.

4.07pm: Not quiz questions, these, but interesting nevertheless. Possibly. Anyway, here's George Leicester-Thackara:

A couple of questions for you and your more knowledgeable readers: 1) Would an average rider (not a club rider but someone who cycles to work everyday, does a few laps of Richmond park on occassion and the odd tour/race) on a fancy carbon road bike be able to beat Contador on a full suspension mountain bike on a TdF stage? 2) Secondly, if the same rider sat in the middle of the pelaton on a flat stage and never took their turn at the front would they be able to keep up? I often slip-stream a bus on my way to work and it seems pretty easy to keep up a decent pace if there's no wind resistance

I'm guessing the answers would be NO and NO. But I could be wrong.

4.09pm: And a good Tour de France-themed puzzler from Gary Naylor: "Eddy Merckx won the Tour de France in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1974. Why didn't he win in 1973?"

4.15pm: It's just started chucking it down here in London – not exactly looking forward to the ride home now. But it's nothing compared to the journey being undertaken by the six leaders. They are clawing, scrabbling their way through the heat to the top of Noyer – just a couple of kilometres now.

4.17pm: "In answer to George Leicester-Thackara's second question: I've done a couple of cycling trips through Belgium and France and on Sundays when some of the amateur teams do their training rides, I have tried to latch on to the back," writes Ben Mimmack. "Most of the time I get dropped within five minutes. Although the fact that they hate you slipstreaming and speed up when they see you doing it may be a factor, I'd still suggest that the TdF peleton would shed an average rider very quickly."

4.21pm: Poor old Maxime Bouet is struggling as the peak of Noyer nears and he's dropped away from the other five – only by 20 or 30 yards, but he seems to be seriously suffering.

4.23pm: Well done, Bouet. He's pulled himself together and got back with his breakaway cohorts. Here's a different view on George Leicester-Thackara's questions from Nigel James: "I reckon yes and yes. A full suspension bike would require a lot more energy to ride on a road that doesn't have any bumps. A nice stiff light bike for a daily commuter would make for an even match up. With no wind resistance it is easy to maintain a fair pace ... a friend of mine doing the étape this year commented on enjoying being pulled along in the middle of the pelaton at 50kph."

4.26pm: Aerts gets the climbers' points, but all six of these men will be focussed on the finish line in Gap now. And this descent is terrifying.

4.27pm: It's a car-and-a-half wide with a tiny knee-high wall on one side and a cliff face on the other. The other side of the wall is a sheer drop – looks maybe 40, 50 yards – down to more tarmac where the road has switched back on itself. Yipes!

4.29pm: "I read an interview with Mark Cavendish where he said he always gets asked questions like George's by the really decent club cyclists he sees when he goes home to the Isle of Man," writes Ben Broughton. "He says he feels bad, but always has to tell them they wouldn't make it to the end of the neutral zone."

4.30pm: And with 30km to go, let's wrap up the rest of those questions. Edinburgh is the furthest west, trivia is from the Latin Tri Via, and refers to a 3-way (tri) fork in a road (via), therefore has come to mean "choices" or "options". And Eddy Merckx was asked not to compete as he was spoiling it for everyone else. I've not checked those, so don't shoot the messenger.

4.32pm: Have to say, I'm not really looking forward to the peloton going down this slope – the first two kilometres are seriously hairy. "Contador would beat that rider if he was riding a tricycle, with three flat tires and a broken pedal," reckons Gordon Henderson. "And, with the second question, no, he wouldn't, because he wouldn't be able to sit in the middle of the peloton through the corners, or on the hills, or through any technical sections, or on the downhills, or when the speed picked up from 40kph to 60kph because someone wanted to go harder. Maybe that rider would be OK through the neutral start zone, but I wouldn't put any money on him."

4.34pm: Just 1km to the summit for the peloton now.

4.36pm: And the final word from James Cavell: "In answer to George Leicester-Thackara's second question about 'recreational' riders trying to slipstream 'amateur riders' the main reason 'we' drop them is because they often look so terrible, and

amateur racers are often consumate poseurs. It takes something off your immaculate team kit, shaved legs, polished bike etc if some guy with hairy legs, a US Postal Service jersey and ONCE shorts and mirrors on his helmet latches onto you grinding on a gear that's meant

for 48kph while you spin elegantly at a textbook cadence of 95 ..."

4.37pm: Christophe Moreau makes a little charge away from the peloton, with Yaroslav Popovych following him. Slightly mystifying that – Moreau is in the hunt for the polka dot jersey, but all the points had already gone.

4.40pm: The peloton go snaking down this treacherous hill, and thankfully everyone is being sensible. If you can be sensible when you're hurtling down an Alpine slope at ridiculous speeds, with 200 of your friends and enemies. The slope looks like something you should parachute off not cycle down.

4.42pm: The super soaraway six at the front have put a few more seconds between themselves and the pack, the clearer road meaning they could go that little bit quicker down the slope of Noyer. And they're just passing under the 20km-to-go inflatable archway.

4.45pm: Popovych has opened up a little gap on the peloton, with Moreau drifting back to the pack. Up front Bouet is still clinging on, but it's fingertips stuff now.

4.47pm: There's a slight – in Tour terms at least – incline for the leaders now, up to the final peak before the short, but technical, hurtle down to the finish in Gap.

4.51pm: According to Le Tour's official site, we're about 30 minutes behind schedule in terms of expected finish times – that's a real indicator of the Sunday morning pace of the peloton today.

4.52pm: With 15km to go Mario Aerts takes a punt on breaking this group up. The only man dropped, though, is the unfortuante Boeut.

4.53pm: Now Dries Devenyns goes for the stage win – he's quickly opened up a decent margin, Sergio Paulinho and Vasil Kiryienka take up the chase, but its too much for the others. Rolland and Aerts look like they've gone. So we're not going to get a French winner on Bastille Day.

4.55pm: There still going uphill here – Paulinho drags back Devenyns and powers past! He's followed, 20 yards back, by Kiryienka.

4.56pm: Stick a fork in Devenyns - he's done. It's a two-horse race for this stage now.

4.59pm: Aerts, Devenyns and Rolland have grouped together but they're 30 seconds off the front two now and neither the Portuguese or the Belarussian looks minded to hand anyone else a sniff of a chance.

5.00pm: A family of horses (and a hanger-on donkey) whinny and trot about in a sunny field as the peloton rumbles past. They're 12 minutes off the leaders, who have a mere 10k left.

5.03pm: Not really sure about this, but it's the first email I've had in French today:

"Kia ora from down under. TdF is too boring tonight," writes Lamorna. "La Marseillaise aka Va te faire amuser, sage fils de vélo"

Allons cyclistes de la Toooour,

Le jour relax est arrivé !

On s'en fout de la tyrannie,

le banane est fait pour avaler! Détendez-vous dans les campagnes

Bouffer ce paradis de fruit

Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras

Gorgez vous des mangues, des satsumas!

There's something about satsumas and bananas in there, but otherwise it's a bit of a mystery.

5.06pm: Paulinho (who sounds like he should be a Brazilian No10) and Kiryienko (17-year old female Russian tennis prodigy) have reached that final descent into Gap – it's a very dangerous slope, as Joseba Beloki, who had his career ended on this hill back in 2003, will testify. The heat was such that day that his tyres melted into the tarmac, sparking his crash (and Armstrong's off-roading).

5.08pm: Nicolas Roche breaks away from the pack and starts to put daylight between himself and a few other GC top-10 hopefuls.

5.10pm: Just 2km to go for our leading pair.

5.11pm: Cat-and-mouse stuff from the front two now. Inside the final kilometre. Over five hours of riding all boils down to the next few seconds.

5.13pm: Paulinho goes for the line ... Kirylienko on his rear wheel ...

5.13pm: PAULINHO CELEBRATES! But it was so close as they came over the line, it's tough to tell if he really has taken it.

After five hours and almost 200km through the Massif Central, it all boils to half a wheel. Photograph: Nathalie Magniez/AFP/Getty Images

5.15pm: A minute and a half later Devenyns takes third, denying France even a podium spot. And the side-on slow motion replay shows Sergio Paulinho held on in that final sprint, beating Kiryienko by less than half a wheel length.

5.17pm: There'll still be a sprint finish in the peloton, as there's a goodly amount of points still on offer. Maybe we'll see some fireworks from Mark Cavendish.

5.20pm: Hushovd is already up near the front of the peloton, Cavendish too. Petacchi is there as well.

5.25pm: Confidis's Remi Pauriol has broken off the front of the main group. Roche, meanwhile, is crossing the line, just shy of 13 minutes behind Paulinho.

5.28pm: Petacchi leads out the peloton ... but Cavendish surges on the inside to take a few extra points.

5.30pm: Right, that's it for the day. A dull stage, but one providing a vital rest for the leaders. The yellow jersey remains on the shoulders of Andy Schleck. Be sure to head back here tomorrow for coverage of stage 11, one that could well be right up Mark Cavendish's street. Thanks for all those emails over the past five hours, particularly those recognising the genuis of Stanley Bagshaw. Cheerio!