Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 9 of the Tour de France - and it's the big one: the queen stage of this year's race (at least, for many) is this seven-climb 181.5km schlep through the Jura mountains from Nantua to Chambery.

A reminder that Geraint Thomas crashed out earlier today on the descent of the Col de la Biche. The Welshman withdrew with an expected broken collarbone. It wasn't caught on camera, but here's a video of the aftermath...

The gap is up to 1:05 for the two leaders now as they continue this fast descent before the final climb. The peloton is 3:20 back, so neither Vuillermoz nor Betancur are in the virtual yellow jersey anymore.

No contest at the top of the climb as Bakelants leads Gallopin over the summit to pick up the solitary point. No change in the KOM standings: Barguil is still the man in the hot seat there, but all could change on the next HC climb.

Jan Bakelants and Tony Gallopin continued to push following the intermediate sprint and the leading duo have ridden onto the Cat.4 Cote de Jongieux with a gap of 40 seconds on the other escapees.

Michael Matthews takes maximum points in the intermediate sprint on a day that none of the other sprinters will take any points - and one of them, Demare, may even find himself disqualified for finishing outside the cut. Matthews is now on 160 points in the green jersey standings, with Marcel Kittel leading on 212, the question mark that is Arnaud Demare on 182 points, and Andre Greipel back on 130.

Geshcke is leading Matthews out for the sprint, with Gallopin and one of the Ag2R riders behind.

Sunweb and Lotto Soudel are battling it out for the intermediate sprint points: Gallopin and Benoot don't want to let Matthews get maximum points because the Australian is a threat to Andre Greipel in the green jersey competition. He and Geschke put in a dig to react to their rivals - and the four ride clear for a bit, before being pedded back.

We're heading that Arnaud Demare, who has been suffering from illness, is more than 40 minutes down and is no longer with his FDJ team-mates, who have ridden clear lest they, too, finish outside the time cut. This could be the last day on the race for the Stage 4 winner, Demare.

The gap is down to 3:35 as Team Sky continue this TTT along the valley. This peloton is about 40-strong, with Cannondale-Drapac represented by Rolland, who was in the break, and Rigoberto Uran. Intermediate sprint coming up.

Lots of riders are taking on bottles and musettes from the team cars while they have the chance. Nairo Quintana has changed his bike. He's isolated, with Betancur up the road but no Movistar rider with him for now following that crash involving Herrada. Aru, the Italian national champion, is also isolated - I can't see any other Astana riders here. Yates, as well, with no Orica-Scott riders to be seen. Froome and Bardet and, to a lesser extent, Porte, have team-mates. Actually, Aru has two. Dan Martin is there for Quick-Step Floors, but he's on his own as well.

With Rafal Majka crashing in the same incident as Thomas, Bora-Hansgrohe will be relying on young German Emanuel Buchmann for a decent finish. He was in the break yesterday and is in the Froome peloton today. Buchmann is currently fourth in the white jersey youth standings, 46 seconds behind SImon Yates, who has 24 seconds on Pierre Latour and 41 on Louis Meintjes.

Richie Porte has three BMC team-mates: De Marchi and Moinard from the initial break, and Caruso. The final climb and descent will be a real test for him and his yellow jersey credentials. Before that, we have the small matter of the intermediate sprint and the smallest of today's climb, a Cat.4 leg-stretcher ahead of the Mont du Chat.

This flat drag in the valley offers the riders - and us commentators - some much-needed respite from what has been a frenetic stage. The gap for the leaders is down to 4:50 after that slowing as they came together, with Team Sky setting the tempo in the pack. Froome has Landa, Kwiakowski, Nieve and Henao with him - but if you're only just joining us, Geraint Thomas has crashed out of the race with an expected broken collar bone after a spill on the descent of the Col de la Biche.

Mollema and Roglic weren't too happy with Barguil as the pace in the break dropped dramatically - but they must appreciate the situation. And, right on cue, the chasing group has made contact, so we have 12 leaders now: Betancur (who is once again the virtual yellow jersey), Vuillermoz, Bakelants, Barguil, Navarro, Pantano, Benoot, Gallopin, Mollema, Roglic, Matthews and Geschke.

With Michael Matthews in that chasing group behind, Warren BArguil has taken his foot off the gas. The rest of the leading break ask him what's up - and he effectively says that he's under team orders: you see, if these groups come back together, Matthews is near-guaranteed 20pts in the up-coming intermediate sprint. That could be a real coup for the Australian - the kind of tactic Peter Sagan would have tried. And Sagan won green for five years in succession before being disqualified last week...

Yes, Betancur has joined that chasing group - which is now six-strong and trails the leading quintet by 45 seconds.

Alberto Contador has two men ahead in Mollema and Pantano, but he's been down twice today, and may look to limit his losses and stay in touch rather than make any advantages today - especially with that technical and dangerous descent off the final climb to the finish.

It's worth not forgetting Nario Quintana: the Colombian has won both the Giro and Vuelta in the past, and he's ghosted his way though the Tour so far. He's 54 seconds down on GC, but he has Betancur further up the road in one of those chasing groups, and on his day he's a very solid climber.

This situation means that Sky have to ride because Vuillermoz once again has become a threat to the yellow jersey of Froome. The Frenchman was 3:33 down this morning, and Ag2R-La Mondiale have him and Bakelants up ahead, and the likes of Domont, Gastauer, Latour and perhaps Frank all working hard in support of Bardet in the pack.

Five riders on the front now after the leaders regroup on the descent: Benoot, Barguil, Mollema, Vuillermoz and Roglic. They have five in pursuit about 1:10 back: Bakelants, Dani Navarro, Pantano, Gallopin and Matthews.

The peloton comes over the summit of the Grand Colombier 5:50 down on the break, with the likes of Froome, Bardet, Aru and Porte all on the front ahead of this descent. It's no longer raining - in fact, the sun is out - but there will be patches of wet on the road, so they will have to be careful.