Welcome to live coverage of stage 11 of the Tour de France - a short but beastly 148km ride from Albertville to La Toussuire that features four climbs including the fearsome Madeleine and Croix de Fer climbs, and the summit finish at La Toussuire.

Nibali must have had a mechanical issue because he's powering through the cars onto the back of the main pack.

Sagan and Oss seem to have sat up and are waiting for the main pack. Their descent was pretty breath-taking, but essentially rather futile. Not sure what they hoped would materialise - perhaps they did it simply because they could.

Kessiakoff and Velits are still out ahead. The pair crossed the summit in pole position and then completed the descent ahead of the other escapees. They have 35 seconds over the rest, with the Sagan chasing group 1:25 further back. Sagan and Oss have pulled out one minute over the yellow jersey group on the downhill. Impressive.

Yet another Vacansoleil rider calls it quits: Sweden's Gustav Larsson has joined Ruigh and Westra back in the broom wagon.

Still Boasson Hagen earning his paycheque on the front of the descending pack. In fact, it wasn't Liquigas pair Basso and Koren on the front of the break, it was Sagan and Oss breaking clear of the pack. It looks like they want to get as many men out in front of the peloton as possible: they have four now. Perhaps he's after some intermediate sprint points? Not likely - there are too many riders up ahead.

The leaders have three minutes over the peloton as Liquigas pair Basso and Koren pull out a small gap ahead of the escapees.

Team Sky are leading the descent in the yellow jersey group. So far, no attacks of the ilk Vincenzo Nibali put in yesterday. The Italian said after the stage that he was annoyed with Wiggins's lack of class as a race leader, claiming the Briton had no respect for his rivals.

The peloton are onto the long 20km descent to the foot of the Col du Glandon, which is part of the Col de la Croix de Fer climb.

Confirmation of the summit of the Col du Madeleine: 1. P. Velits (25pts), 2. Kessiakoff (20), 3. Kern (16), 4. C Sorensen (14), 5. Scarponi (12). That puts Kessiakoff into the lead of the polka dot standings ahead of Scarponi.

Almost three months further down the mountain, Team Sky still lead the yellow jersey group through Boasson Hagen. Thomas Voeckler is back with this group. Wonderful win for the Frenchman yesterday - it wasn't pretty, but it was thoroughly deserved.

Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) sprints clear of Frederik Kessiakoff (Astana) over the summit of the Madeliene. That will put the Swede Kessiakoff into the virtual polka for jersey at the moment.

Another withdrawal to report: Bauke Mollema of Rabobank. The young Dutchman was one of the riders who went down hard in stage six.

Riders are being shed off the back of this leading group: Koren and Kruijswijk the latest to drop back. Bouet (AG2R-LaMondiale) is in the group now, after arriving with Izagirre.

Malacarne still leads this break as they approach the summit of the Madeleine. Johnny Hoogerland appears to be having some woes on the back. It will be interesting to see who goes for the points over the summit: today is an ideal chance for someone to take a firm grip on the polka dot jersey and then take it all the way to Paris.

Euskaltel's Gorka Izagirre has managed to join the leading group. His team have had a terrible Tour and are already down to five riders after the first half of the race. Back with the pack, Peter Sagan has returned after dropping back to speak to his team car.

The green jersey Peter Sagan (Liquigas) seems to be struggling a little. The Slovak has 232 points in the green jersey standings, with Australian Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) second with 205.

Two withdrawals from Vacancsoleil-DCM: Rob Ruijgh and Lieuwe Westra. The Dutch team have had a pretty torrid Tour, it has to be said. They hardly featured in the opening week breaks, seemingly preparing themselves for the mountains. But then lost most of their best climbers to huge crashes.

Malacarne and ten Dam have edges a dozen bike lengths clear of the leading group. No apparently attack, just an upping of the tempo. This group is beginning to stretch out now. There will be another selection soon.

RadioShack's Maxim Montfort needs a bike change and will have to pace himself back into the group of the yellow jersey and GC favourites.

Fact from Infostrada: The Col de la Madeleine is Richard Virenque's back yard. He is the only rider to reach the summit of the mountain first in three consecutive times the Col was used in the Tour. This was between 1995 and 1997. The last rider in the Tour to cross over the summit of the Madeleine in pole position? Europcar's Anthony Charteau back in 2010.

Robert Gesink, who was part of the initial group today, is now off the back of the peloton, pedalling squares. It hasn't been his Tour.