"My legs are better than in the Pyrenees, today I felt good".

In the sprint to the line he edged out Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) and Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo), who clashed with Matthews as the riders came to a stop, accusing him of veering towards him on the high-speed dash for the line.

Elite cyclists get such tight-looking veins because they pump double the blood flow to their legs compared to recreational exercisers, a biomedical scientist explained.

Canadian pro rider Antoine Duchesne posted a similar photo of his legs prior to the 2017 Tour, although he was ultimately not selected to ride in the race by his French Direct Energie team.

This year he won a mountain stage on the Tour but he recently insisted he did not have what it takes to win the general classification.

"All he has to do is save that energy for the right time".

Meanwhile Matthews' team mate Warren Barguil, who like Dimension Data's Steve Cummings was also caught up in the crash that ended Kittel's race, picked up more points to consolidate his lead in the mountains classification.

By the 24km long hors category Col de la Croix de Fer just over 100km from the finish, he was losing serious ground and the prospect of getting to the finish line within the required time delay was diminishing, so Kittel quit. Yates now lies seventh overall, 4 minutes 7 seconds behind Froome. "I've lost (time) and I can't be happy", said the 27-year-old Astana rider, now 53sec back.

October 22, 2012 - The International Cycling Union announces that Armstrong is being stripped of his Tour de France titles and is being banned from professional cycling for life.

Known as 'Bling' for his diamond, the Aussie begun the day second overall in the green jersey competition, 79 points behind Marcel Kittel of Quickstep and knew that if he got into the breakaway today, he could earn 20 points at the intermediate sprint after 120km and possibly another 30 if he won the stage which would narrow the gap considerably.

Which brings us to the "sticky bottle" - or as they say in French: "la bouteille collante". "But don't put pressure on him", said the American, who won the Tour in 1986, 1989 and 1990. And one less rival for race leader Chris Froome to watch quite so closely.

We've already seen during this Tour just how much American Taylor Phinney stands out as a character within the peloton.

"It was a big day of climbing", Froome said. One more to come.

This will apparently be the final Tour de France for two-time winner Alberto Contador. With his departure, Australian Michael Matthews inherits the jersey. Landis, the first Tour de France winner stripped of the title, initially maintained his innocence but later admitted to doping and accused others, including Armstrong, of doing the same.