Bonjour le Tour! Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 16 of the Tour de France - an out-and-back loop through the Gard from Nimes to Nimes. And it's going to be a scorcher...

And a quick reminder of the top 10 as we enter the final five competitive stages of the race, with that man Julian Alaphilippe still top of the pack.

A quick reminder of what happened before the rest day... The first cracks in Julian Alaphilippe’s yellow armour appeared in a scintillating and sodden Stage 15 to Foix Prat d’Albis on Sunday as the Frenchman limited his losses to retain the race lead after Britain’s Simon Yates held off a late surge by the irrepressible Thibaut Pinot to take his second win of the race.

Indeed, it's already 35 degrees Celsius in the shade and the mercury is only going to get higher as the afternoon progresses.