Hello and welcome to live coverage of Stage 15 of the Tour de France - an intriguingly undulating 181.5km ride from Millau to Carcassonne as the riders leave the Massif Central and head through the Black Mountains to the Languedoc region of south-west France.

The peloton are approaching the start of the climb with a 13-minute deficit. Here's how Team Sky can make use of their power in numbers, according to the man who's seeking a record fifth win, but sees his path currently barred by team-mate Geraint Thomas, who's in the form of his life.

Domenico Pozzovivo swings onto the front and momentarily forces a split with Rafal Majka and Damian Howsen behind. The two Astana riders bridge over along with Skujins. Valgren and Nielsen are a solid duo - could they make it an Astana double after Omar Fraile's win yesterday?

Serge Pauwels, Jesus Herrada and Ion Izagirre taking pulls on the front of the break. They have reduced the lead of the French duo to 1'30".

Pawel Poljanski sets the tempo now alongside Tom Skujins. The Pole is one of two Bora-Hansgrohe team-mates Sagan has in this break - the other being Rafal Majka. That's a solid trio to have for this finale.

The break is onto the Cat.1 Pic de Nore (12.3km at 6.3%). The gap for the French duo is up to 1'55" as Movistar duo Imanol Erviti and Marc Soler come to the front to set tempo for this 27-man chase group.

With the decisive climb coming up, the gap for the two leaders over the peloton hits 12 minutes. It's Wout Poels and Luke Rowe who are controlling the tempo for Sky, who will surely come under a bit of pressure on the climb - and that sinuous descent afterwards.

The final climb is coming right up and it's a biggie...

And yes, Sagan takes the 15pts for third place ahead of Greg van Avermaet in this slimmed down chase group. That puts him onto 452 points - just 18pts from his record tally from 2015, which he is bound to reach later today, no doubt, at the finish. If not, then certainly before the end of the race.

Bernard takes the intermediate sprint - uncontested - with Grellier right in his wheel. Behind, expect Sagan to add to his huge tally of green jersey points...

We're approaching the intermediate sprint at Mazamet and our leading French duo have 50 seconds on the other escapees and 10'40" on the pack. Mazamet is the home town of a certain Christophe Bassons, who took a stance against Lance Armsrtong and the doping culture of the 1990s and early 2000s.

On another uphill drag, Bernard joins Grellier just as the road exits the trees. While it seems like we're in the middle of nowhere, there are also a huge number of fans lining the streets - and generally they're cheering and not booing. That's probably because we have two Frenchman in lead - I expect things are a little different for the Sky-led peloton...

Grellier has Julien Bernard of Trek-Segafredo bearing down on him. Both Frenchman are making their debuts in the Tour this July.

Grellier still leads as the road enters dense woodland and goes up-and-down a little amid throngs of spectators. He has about 15 seconds on a little ramp before the descent towards the intermediate sprint.

It's Fabien Grellier again who zips clear on another downhill stretch. The roads are winding and rolling, making it quite tricky to control. But the fast pace means the pack are now 9'10" back.

The trio were caught but Skujins has put in another dig - matched by Sagan, who will be aware of the intermediate sprint coming up.

Another attempt by Skujins to get away - he's one of three Trek riders in this break, and he's opened up a small gap with Grelier Van Avermaet. The pack is now 8'20" back after slowing considerably through the feed zone.

It's back together after that flurry of activity. Daryl Impey currently leads the pack until Terpstra takes over once again with Sagan on his wheel. They're clearly trying to force a selection on these rolling roads.

Astana duo Michael Valgren and Marcus Cort Nielsen drive the chase with that trio holding a small gap over the break.

With the break heading through the feed zone, Niki Terpstra rides clear with Tom Skujins in a dubious move which has Peter Sagan hot on their heels.

Geraint Thomas is back with the peloton after dropping back for a call of nature alongside fellow Welshman Luke Rowe. A lull while the yellow jersey was taking some time out has seen the gap for the breakaway grow to seven minutes.