Today’s medium mountain stage takes us across l’Aubrac, a large volcanic plateau in the Massif Central. Glaciers carved a quartet of lakes, including the Lac de Saint-Andéol.

The lake was the site of a Celtic cult which persisted until the late 6th century. Crowds would gather on the boggy shores of the lake and toss clothes and food into the water. The practice was stopped by Saint Hilaire of Mende.

Perhaps Bauke Mollema and Chris Froome made offerings to the gods of l’Aubrac this morning. The former pulled off an impressive escape from a motivated but unfocused breakaway group, and the latter managed to hang on by his fingernails despite a series of mistakes on the penultimate climb of the day.