On Monday the Tour de France riders had their second rest day of the competition. At present the popular opinion is that Italian Vincenzo Nibali, who has dominated the peloton, has all but won the race thanks to the massive lead he holds over Alejandro Valverde.

However, there is still competition for second and third place as well as various other honours. At present Valverde is 4:37 behind Nibali, but Frenchman Romain Bardet is just 13 seconds behind him, furthermore, his compatriot Thibaut Pinot is just 29 seconds behind Vlaverde.

In other news Britain’s Simon Yates has withdrawn from the race after 15 stages. This leaves Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas as the only British rider left in the race which finishes on Sunday in Paris.

The green jersey remains with Peter Sagan, Joaquim Rodriguez is wearing the polka-dot jersey and Romain Bardet is the white jersey wearer.

On Tuesday the race resumes with the 237.5km mountainous ride from Carcassonne to Bagneres-de-Luchon. After that the riders face another tough stage from Saint-Gaudens to Saint-Lary Pla d’Adet on Wednesday. Thursday’s stage is slightly easier, with just one major climb in the ride from Pau to Hautacam before a relatively flat stage on Friday from Maubourguet Pays du Val d’Adour to Bergerac. The penultimate stage on Saturday takes the riders 54km from Bergerac to Perigueux before the final day on Sunday which covers the 137.5km from Evry to the Champs Elysees in Paris for the traditional sprint finish.