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By Chris Bevan
1059: Stefan Schumacher - he of the brave solo break yesterday - has joined those three riders off the front. With about 20km gone, they are about 20 seconds clear of the peloton at the moment, with more riders trying to get across and join them.
It's a beautiful day in the Alps by the way. I don't think the riders will appreciate the sun too much though - it looks like it's going to be an absolute scorcher.
1054: "It's maybe an exaggeration to say the Tour starts here, but today is fascinating. Make no mistake, CSC have to attack, attack again, attack some more and attack one last time to have a chance of taking time off of Cadel Evans."
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1049: Sorry, it's actually Remy Di Gregorio of FDJ in this breakaway, not Jeremy Roy.
1048: The riders rolled out of the neutral zone a few minutes ago and there has already been a breakaway of three riders - Jeremy Roy (FDJ), Peter Velits (MRM) and Ruben Perez (Euskatel).
1045: Today's 17th stage is a 210.5km hike that starts in Embrun and ends at the top of the legendary L'Alpe-d'Huez.
Things are still wide open in the race for overall victory and this stage will have a big say in who triumphs in Paris on Sunday.
Maillot Jaune Frank Schleck simply has to gain more time on Cadel Evans ahead of Saturday's time trial but there are plenty of other riders still in with a shout.
Bernhard Kohl and Schleck's CSC team-mate Carlos Sastre are still handily placed, while Denis Menchov and Christian Vandevelde cannot be ruled out either despite losing time yesterday.
1042 BST: Morning all. Well, we're still in the mountains for one more day - and what a day it promises to be.
(BBC)
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