Bonjour le Tour! Hello and welcome to live coverage of Julian Alaphilippe's second day of destiny as the Frenchman bids to defend his yellow jersey from Egan Bernal et al in Stage 19 of the Tour de France...

Heartbreak for Thibaut Pinot who stops on the side of the road in tears, gets off his bike and goes straight into the Groupama-FDJ team car. Such a cruel way to end his Tour. He was in fifth place and very much one of the contenders to take the yellow jersey today.

The peloton goes over one minute down. Ineos are down to just Jonathan Castroviejo on the front for Thomas and Bernal - but they do have Dylan Van Baarle up the road in the break.

This super group is approaching the summit and it's Damiano Caruso who zips clear ahead of Tony Gallopin and takes the 5pts. The Italian was in third place in the polka dot jersey standings this morning on 60pts - 26 down on Bardet, who isn't in this break, and so he could take the polka dot jersey if he rides cannily today. Gallopin doing his best to spoil that for Caruso for his teammate Bardet, but didn't have the zip.

The four leaders have been reeled in by a large move off the front - so we have around 25 riders around 50 seconds ahead. The likes of Valverde, Uran, Barguil, Aru, Ciccone, Amador, Simon Yates and the original leading quartet are all there.

Thibaut Pinot has completely cracked. We'd heard that he was in trouble with some kind of injury - and now the Frenchman has stopped. He was passed by teammates who didn't stop and just patted him on the back - which suggests that the team has given up on him. He's already minutes back. What is wrong with Pinot? He could have become France's first Tour winner since 1986 but instead he's going to be another DNF. Will he ever finish another Tour? He hasn't got to Paris since 2015.

Meanwhile, we're onto the second climb of the day, the Cat.2 Montee d'Aussois (6.5km at 6.2%).

PINOT IN TROUBLE! The Frenchman is back with the race doctor and receiving treatment to his left leg. The doctor has cut part of his bib shorts away and is being given a dressing to his leg above the knee. Some spray is being applied too.

Those counter attacks came to nothing but the main yellow jersey pack is already down to around 40 riders and is being driven by EF Education First. The gap is 50 seconds for the quartet.

Rigoberto Uran is now trying his luck in pursuit of the break and Alejandro Valverde is trying to bridge over, as is Enric Mas of QuickStep.

CRASH: Matej Mohoric and Sergio Henao hit the deck on a hairpin bend on the descent. Both riders are back on their bikes.

Some big-name casualties on the first climb with David Gaudu, Rein Taaramäe and the polka dot jersey Romain Bardet all dropped near the top...

It's Dan Martin who leads the break over the summit in pole position. Behind, a quartet is chasing with Wellens, a Movistar rider, Patrick Konrad and perhaps Woods in pink. Barguil was reeled in - and Valverde, apparently, has had a dig. It's all happening.

Riders are being shelled out left, right and centre - but primarily backwards. Still the quartet out ahead only have 16 seconds.

Aru is reeled in and now we have the French national champion Warren Barguil on the attack with a rider from Ag2R-La Mondiale. It's Gallopin. Barguil is knocking on the door of the top 10 down in 12th place at 7'47".

We're onto the first climb of the day, the Cat.3 Cote de Saint-Andre (3.1km at 6.8%). Just 21 seconds for Martin, Nibali, Herrada and Bilbao. Aru in pursuit just ahead of the strung-out peloton.

It's full gas as the race heads up the Maurienne valley with the peloton all strung out over around 400m. The gap for the four leaders is down to 25 seconds after the chase group was brought back. I'm not sure how Martin will feel about Fabio Aru counter attacking behind and sparking a response from the front of the pack...

It's far from settled with Movistar and Ineos both quite active on the front of the pack. Michal Kwiatkowski, who has had a rotten race, tried to ping off in pursuit of the chasers, but it came to nothing. Fabio Aru is having a go now ahead of the first categorised climb.