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.

The escape looks pretty doomed. It got as big as 30 riders, but it only ever had a handful of seconds over the pack, and most of the riders have now been reeled in.

The leaders have around 15 seconds on the pack. Andrey Grivko (Ukraine) and Robert Gesink (Rabobank) are both in this group, whose numbers are swelling.

Marcus Burghardt of BMC attacks right at the outset of this stage. His team-mate Tejay Van Garderen, incidentally, had some mechanical problems in the neutral zone. Around a dozen riders have jumped clear of the peloton to join Burghardt.

They're off! Under blue skies and bright sun, the remainign 174 riders get stage 11 underway.

The riders are in the neutral zone in Albertville and the stage is about to get underway. This could well be the Queen Stage of this year's Tour - so be prepared for fireworks from the outset!

Just one withdrawal to report today: Four-time world champion Fabian Cancellara, who wore the yellow in the first week after winning the prologue in Liege, has withdrawn from the Tour and will return to Switzerland to be with his pregnant wife.

Team Sky dealt with a downhill attack by Vincenzo Nibali to make sure Brad Wiggins retained his yellow jersey. The Briton leads Cadel Evans (BMC) by 1:43 in the GC, with team-mate Chris Froome in third at 2:07.

Yesterday, a magnificent Thomas Voeckler of Team Europcar won stage 10 of the Tour de France ahead of Italy's Michele Scarponi to take the polka dot jersey. The Frenchman was on the offensive throughout the mountainous 195.5km stage, leading a four-man break over the summit of the race’s first HC climb and capping a typically aggressive performance with a superb win in the Jura valley town of Bellegarde-sur-Valserine.