Countdown to Le Tour de France at Alpe d'Huez

After the early departure of several big names in the first week of racing the Tour is now making its way across from the Pyrenees to the French Alps before it concludes its journey on the infamous Alpe d'Huez and finally the Champs Elysees in Paris.

GC (General Classification) hopeful Fabian Cancellara who was involved in a huge crash on Stage 3, that saw 5 rides abandon the race, completed the stage riding another 65 km to the finish, but relinquished the yellow jersey (leaders jersey) at the end of that day after X-rays revealed fractures to two vertebrae in his low back. Another team leader, Etixx-Quick-Step's Tony Martin then left the race with a broken collar bone after a late crash on Stage 6. 

But crashes aside, the first week of racing also brought some fantastic sprint finishes with Andre Gripel showing great form by taking two stage wins over his rivals Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan, and Mark cavendish coming back to form for the win on stage 7; his 26th stage victory at the Tour.

Week one also saw Daniel Teklehaimanot, a racer for the first African cycling team to ever compete in the Tour, pull on the polka-dot jersey for being the King of the Mountains. A title that he is likely to lose as we head into the bigger mountains but an historic moment none the less.

Going into the Pyrenees on stage 10 the main contenders for the overall lead were Chris Froome, Tejay van Garderen, Alberto Contador, Nairo Quintana and Vincenzo Nibali (the 2014 Champion). However a breakaway by current yellow jersey and race leader Chris Froome just 6.4km from the finish on stage 10 has meant that the other leaders have suffered substantial losses. Increasing his lead to nearly 3 minutes over second placed Tejay van Garderen, Froome now has a comfortable lead over the rest of the field, most noteably last years winner Nibali who is now over 7 minutes back.

Holding off attacks from all his main rivals on Stage 12, Froome continues to hold his 2 minute 52 second advantage over second place, Tejay van Garderen, as they go into the weekend. There is also a close battle for the Green sprinters jersey between Andre Greipel and Peter Sagan. Split on the road by only 1 point after today's (Friday) sprint at the half way point of Stage 13.

We'll keep you up to date with the race throughout next week as the peleton makes its way towards Alpe d'Huez and the penultimate stage of the 2015 Tour de France.