Good afternoon all, Tom Owen here standing in for the inimitable Felix Lowe. You can think of me as the flustered substitute teacher of live text commentary.

We're entering 2015 Quick-Step territory here. If Bora don't get a win with they will be absolutely heartbroken, with a lot of questions to answer. They've put so much into this last part of the stage.

Laurens De Vreese goes long and the attack is followed by Buchmann.

Aqua Blue Sport have Kreder in this break. What an achievement that'd be for them, if he could pull it out of the bag here.

Very unusual to see a break this large stay together so deep into a stage. Bora must have supreme confidence in their man Majka. Julian Alaphillippe is another hot favourite for the win.

Two Bora lads are clearly riding here for their man, Majka. Pfingsten drives it on into the lower slopes of the climb. The pre-climb, if you will.

Cannondale, BMC and Astana all prominent at the front now (as well as Team Sky) as the gap dips to 4 minutes for the first time in what feels like hours.

The gap is 4"12' to the break. They need at least 2"30' at the foot of the Xorret de Cati to stand a chance. 12km till the climb.

In the peloton, Cannondale are well positioned up front now. They are protecting their man, Michael Woods, who currently sits tenth on GC.

The break is back together as the two Bora riders have a quick chat. What is the German for "Well, that didn't work. What next?" ?

Pfingsten and Buchman, of course, are team mates. They have their 'leader' also in the break today, Rafal Majka.

Attack at the front. Looks like De Vreese, Pfingsten and Buchman.

The peloton is really strung out now, with Cofidis riders tumbling out the back like confetti at a wedding... Sky are hammering this.

That lead is dropping again now. A final reminder, before the bidon hits the fan, of the 21 original breakaway artistes.

Jesus Hernandez (Trek-Segafredo), Julian Alaphilippe (Quick Step), Loic Vliegen (BMC), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Rafal Majka, Emanuel Buchmann, Christoph Pfingsten (Bora-Hansgrohe), Clément Chevrier (AG2R-La Mondiale), Brendan Canty (Cannondale-Drapac), Alberto Losada (Katusha-Alpecin), Daan Olivier (Team Sunweb), Przemyslaw Niemiec, Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates), Sergei Chernetski, Laurens De Vreese (Astana), Bart De Clercq, Maxime Monfort (Lotto-Soudal), Domen Novak (Bahrain-Merida), Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data), Guillaume Bonnafond (Cofidis) and Michel Kreder (Aqua Blue Sport)

We're seeing the first signs of cracks within the breakaway, as Bonnafond tests out his companions.

Have your say, folks!

The break is expected to cede between two to three minutes to the peloton on the final climb, so that's the sort of advantage they need to take onto its lower slopes. At this rate, it looks like they'll do it!

The break rolls through the intermediate sprint and Serge Pauwels takes the points. He will be dee-lighted, I have no doubt...

1. Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data)
2. Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe)
3. Christoph Pfingsten (Bora-Hansgrohe)

The gap continues to climb, it's nearly back to five minutes now..

Right folks, just made myself a 'finishing' coffee, with three spoons (yes, three) of instant and two sugars. One way or another, this is going to be an edgy final 40km. Full gas!

4"32' A brief lull has settled on the race, as the gap edges up again slightly. Team Sky want help to bring this back, but they're not getting it.

Dimension Data have Serge Pauwels in the break today and will be sorely hoping he can deliver them a result. The South African team has been decimated by illnesses and crashes thus far, with only five riders still in the race . Merhawi Kudus, who you may remember finished second on Stage 5, crashed out yesterday.