Live text - Tour de France

Stage 20 - Montelimar to Mont Ventoux, 167km

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606: DEBATE Your thoughts on the action

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By Chris Bevan

1140: Bradley Wiggins' friend and coach at British Cycling, Shane Sutton:

"The podium is still all there to play for. One bad period on Ventoux and you become exposed then you're in trouble. It could be Bradley, of course, but you can rest assured that all those top six contenders are not going to be feeling great at the same moment on Ventoux."

1137: Those three riders have caught up with the front 13 and are now four minutes and 10 seconds clear after 31km.

1135: Bradley Wiggins has just had a chat with his Garmin team car about a mechanical problem but is safely back in the peloton, along with all the other big hitters in the general classification.

1132: thewholehog on 606: "The battle for the podium places will be quite something. I just hope Wiggins has one more good day left in him. Can't believe he lost time to Lance yesterday - he should have had Millar and Vande Velde etc making sure he was up the front, or just stuck to Lance's wheel. That four seconds could yet be important."

1129: The 13 riders in this breakaway group are Hayden Roulston, Juan Manuel Garate, Joost Posthuma, Tony Martin, Christophe Riblon, Aleksandr Kuschynski, Anthony Geslin, Samuel Dumoulin, Daniele Righi, William Bonnet, Maxime Bouet, Cyril Lemoine and Albert Timmer. They are three minutes and 35 seconds clear of the peloton with 26km of the 178km done. The three men trying to bridge the gap are Mickael Delage, Ruben Perez Moreno and Jose Ivan Gutierrez, they are just 25 seconds behind now.

1124: This gap keeps growing - up to two minutes and 40 seconds now after 24km. I'll list the 13 riders who are clear next...

Bushell makes final climb of the Tour

1115: So, what's it like to cycle up Mont Ventoux? I spoke to Bradley Wiggins' coach and close friend Shane Sutton a couple of days ago and he told me: "Until you've ridden on Ventoux and endured it you can never appreciate it. It's so easy to crack." One person who has tried it is BBC Breakfast sports presenter Mike Bushell - you can check out how he got on here.

1112: After 10km, the 13 breakaway riders are two minutes and 10 seconds ahead of the peloton - the three men trying to bridge the gap are 45 seconds behind the escapees.

1110: TOUR DE FRANCE 2009 AFTER STAGE 19:

Yellow jersey: Alberto Contador (Spa/Astana)
Green jersey: Thor Hushovd (Nor/Cervelo)
Polka dot jersey: Franco Pellizotti (Ita/Liquigas)
White jersey: Andy Schleck (Lux/Saxo Bank)

1107: Just a correction from earlier - there are 156 men left in this year's Tour, not 157. Amets Txurruka (that's hard enough to write, let alone pronounce!) and his fellow Spaniard and Euskatel team-mate Alan Perez Lazaun finished outside the time limit in yesterday's stage, and their race is over.

1105: Blimey, they're not hanging about today. Thirteen men escaped inside the first 3km and have a 40 second lead on the peloton - another three riders are trying to bridge the gap.

Bradley Wiggins' wife Cath on Twitter: "Flaw in meticulous planning - I'll be on the bloody Eurostar when @bradwiggins is riding up the Ventoux!"

1102: lordSUPERFRED on 606: "Today is gonna be amazing, I hope for the best for the Wiggler and pray he gets a run at Lance Armstrong and is not impeded by the throngs on the slopes. Can he put 15 secs into Lance over the Mont and a 20 min climb?Man on man I think he can - go Wiggo go !"

1059: GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 19:

1. Alberto Contador (Spa/Astana) 73 hrs 15 mins 39 seconds
2. Andy Schleck (Lux/Saxo Bank) + 4 mins 11 secs
3. Lance Armstrong (USA/Astana) + 5 min 21 secs
4. Bradley Wiggins (GB/Garmin) + 5 min 36 secs
5. Andreas Kloden (Ger/Astana) + 5 mins 38 secs
6. Frank Schleck (Lux/Saxo Bank) + 5 mins 59 secs

Lance Armstrong on Twitter: "Good morning! Big day today (literally). Expecting 500k spectators on the Ventoux today. What an arena. Know it well, we're old friends but haven't always gotten along. Two times 2nd. Ugh."

1052: The 157 riders left in the race will roll out of the neutral zone at Montelimar in the next few minutes. Before we get to what we're all waiting for - the bottom of Ventoux - they will negotiate a few smaller climbs. Today's stage is quite short at 178km but it will end in fireworks, trust me...

1048: Of course, also hoping for a slice of the Paris podium pie is Bradley Wiggins, who lies 15 seconds behind Armstrong in fourth overall. He is likely to be attacked from all sides today, but is one great ride away from making history and becoming Britain's first rider to manage a top-three Tour finish.

1046: The climb to the finish line is sure to see a series of attacks from the Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank, who will want to secure second and third place behind champion-in-waiting Alberto Contador. Contador, and the rest of the Astana heavy-mob, must make absolutely certain that the Spaniard is safe in yellow but will want his team-mates Lance Armstrong and Andreas Kloden to join him in the top three.

1043 BST: Time to sort the men from the boys. The battle for podium places in this year's Tour de France will be decided on the slopes of the 'Giant of Provence' - Mont Ventoux - at the end of today's stage.

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