Tour de France 2022 Stage 7 LIVE - GC riders primed ahead of La Super Planche des Belles Filles

No sooner had Geschke been pegged back than a group of 11 went clear including the bearded German himself as well as Mads Pedersen and the last winner on La Super Planche, Dylan Teuns. This could be the move. Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) counters and the Canadian veteran quickly opens up a good gap on the pack, with Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) in pursuit. They're giving it their all but it looks like they have missed the boat here.

After a shake of the head, Filippo Ganna pushes his breakaway companion forward and then takes his foot off the gas. It seems like he's been told on the radio that he's flogging a dead horse and the Italian drops back to the peloton. Geschke continues to plough a lonely furrow before he's eventually pegged back as Trek-Segafredo take it up once again on the front of the pack with Mads Pedersen pushing hard. We go again.

The duo has an advantage of 15 seconds as a very large split occurs on the front of the peloton. Either a strong group will emerge from this or they will simply drag it all back together. Two big engines are Ganna and Geschke so you'd fancy their chances - although the pace is pretty mad behind.

It's now been seven years since German's Simon Geschke won at Pra Loup and he's not trying his luck. The Cofidis rider has opened up a small gap on the front after taking advantage of a slight lull after the last series of thwarted attacks. In response, Ineos Grenadiers - who have three men in the top 10 - have sent Filippo Ganna up the road in pursuit.

It's amazing to think that it's been an entire decade since Chris Froome won his first Tour stage on the mountain where they're headed today. That was the 2012 Tour where he played second fiddle at Team Sky to Bradley Wiggins, who because the first British rider to win the Tour. Froome won four Tours in the subsequent years, but he's not going to win a fifth: the 36-year-old is currently 11 minutes down in the standings in 71st place.

After that last move came to nothing, Nils Politt has come to the front with teammate Schachmann and the German duo from Bora are really drilling it now to open up a gap. And look, there's a blast from the past: it's Peter Sagan who is leading the chase! The Slovakian champion from TotalEnergies is keep to join his old teammates in this one, but he's just dragged a load of other riders with him and that may sound the death knell for this latest attempt.

The average pace so far is 51.3km/h which explains why no breakaway has yet managed to form. Victor Lafay (Cofidis) and Bora-Hansgrohe duo Max Schachmann and Lennard Kamna are in the mix now as around 15 riders open up a slight gap on the front of the peloton. That would be intriguing for both Bora riders aren't that far down on GC and have Aleksandr Vlasov as their leader, the Russian currently sitting in seventh.

Giulio Ciccone and one of his Trek-Segafredo teammates are on the nose of the next attempt to force a break. The Italian came second the last time the race went up La Super Planche three years ago - making up from the disappointment of losing out to Dylan Teuns by taking the yellow jersey that day. Could we see a new rider in yellow today? Pogacar wouldn't be adverse to letting someone else take the responsibility off his shoulders - provided it's not one of his GC rivals.

If Wout van Aert, to borrow a phrase from Tom Pidcock, is "playing with the peloton's balls," then Tadej Pogacar is, well, crushing them. After his first win and taking the yellow jersey in Longwy, we witnessed a changing of the guard yesterday - albeit one in which Van Aert went down fightint. Now we must all strap in for the Pogacar show. Bravo, Wout, for warming up the crowds with such gusto - but now, dear viewers, it's time to enjoy your headline act whose set is about to begin with his 2020 hit single, 'Super Planche'. Read on below...

Mikkel Honore's brief foray off the front comes to an end after German champion Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) leads a group of around five riders over to the Dane, and drags the front of the stretched-out peloton over in the process. It's back together and there's another issue for Marc Soler, who this time stops for a bike change.

The Dane from Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl has ridden clear of the pack to establish a 10-second gap. His team need a bit of a pick up after losing two of their sporting directors overnight because of Covid-19 positive tests. Meanwhile, UAE Team Emirates are in the wars with early mechanicals for both George Bennett and Marc Soler.

Multiple attacks come from the outset of this key stage, which is bound to mix up the general classification and turn things on its head. We've had two terribly tough days with the cobbles and then the endless attacks yesterday, so we could see some real damage today because there will be some battered, bruised and very tired bodies out there.

We head into the Vosges today for a summit showdown on the "Super" gravel ramp above the climb of La Planche des Belles Filles, where that man Pogacar wrested the yellow jersey off the shoulders of compatriot Primoz Roglic in the penultimate day's time trial two years ago...

Before we move onto today's stage, here's the highlights of yesterday's action - with Van Aert involved in numerous breakaways ahead of the Slovenian sensation taking the first of no doubt many stage wins this July.

It was a game of musical jerseys yesterday as double Tour champion Tadej Pogacar kicked clear of everyone on the rise to Longwy to upgrade from white to yellow. Belgium's Wout van Aert, meanwhile, traded in yellow for the green jersey that Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen had been keeping warm for him since Stage 2. Denmark's Magnus Cort remains the man in polka dots - although that will probably change today with the arrival of the race's first mountaintop finish...

The question on the tip of everyone's tongue today is whether we will see Wout van Aert on the rampage again? If we do, the Belgian renaissance man won't be head-to-thigh in yellow but in the green jersey - for his swashbuckling antics yesterday ultimately become his undoing at the top of the general classification, the Jumbo-Visma livewire conceding his maillot jaune to stage winner Tadej Pogacar and swapping yellow for green.