Tour de France 2023 Stage 14 LIVE: Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard set to fight for yellow on the final climb of the first day in the Alps

Two kilometres from the official start and we're offered a shot inside the race director's car, which shows Christian Prudhomme on the phone. To whom, we cannot know. Maybe his mum. The charistmatic Frenchman, of whom I have had the pleasure of meeting a couple of times, smiles and proceeds to wind up the tinted window.

A few hundred metres from KM0 his call complete, he emerges from the sunroof, takes a look around at his hoard, gives the final instruction, and sends them on their way with a sweep of the flag. No delays today. We're racing.

While we wait for today's racing to get going, please take a moment to enjoy Michal Kwiatkowski's truly sublime stage victory yesterday. An elite in more ways than one.

All lined up in Annemasse and rolling out for the 8km neutralised start. It's already extremely hot down at road level, but a little cloudy, and not oppressively humid, which will be welcome for some. The road rises from the gun, so expect a pretty brutal breakaway battle, before things settle down. If and when there is calm today, it won't be for long.

After a few days where he hasn't picked up too many points, the incumbent King of the Mountains is one big score, or a couple of smaller ones, away from losing the jersey. The maximum any rider can take today is 52 points, broken down as follows by the five categorised climbs:

Col de Saxel - 2 points for first (Cat 3)
Col de Cou - 10 points (Cat 1)
Col du Feu - 10 points (Cat 1)
Col de la Ramaz - 10 points (Cat 1)
Col de Joux Plane - 20 points (HC)

It's hard to imagine the final climb won't go to the general classification, which means Powless will need to add to his tally on at least a couple of the climbs before.

Adam Blythe is not so sure he'll be in a position to, or be allowed by his team to take the risks that might be required to race - at least the way he can - for the stage win on the final descent. By far the most important thing is that everyone arrives in Morzine in one piece.

The breakaway are discussing whether all that effort on the front was worth it. Eight seconds might have been a sizeable chunk of Vingegaard's general classification lead, but it's nothing compared to what we know the Dane is (or could be) capable of taking on either of the two mountains today has in store. Indeed, he has already, taken many times that in a single swoop earlier in this race.

It looked as if Jumbo Visma's domestiques (Sepp Kuss excepted) were deliberately dropped off in order to save their legs for today. In contrast, Pogacar's team-mates were riding hard right until the very end. Will they be able to be there for him today? Surely he's going to need them.

Welcome to live coverage of stage 14 of the Tour de France. We’re now well into the second half of the race and, frankly, we’re just getting started.

There is just a stage win bonus separating the two riders at the top of the standings. Today’s final 15km offers that and a little bit more, with a few extra seconds available for the riders who summits the spectacular Col de Joux Plane in first place.

UAE Emirates will be hoping that person is Tadej Pogacar, which gives them a good reason to ride.

Ineos Grenadiers must surely have their master descender in mind for today, with the downhill finish the ideal terrain on which to take his second Tour de France stage victory, so his team-mates will surely be tasked, too, with keeping the breakaway on a short lead. On the mountain itself, and the one before, it will be whether Pidcock can stay with, or within reach of, the two riders who are head and shoulders above everyone else at this year’s Tour.

Today is set to be, perhaps, the most fascinating day of racing so far.