Matt Rendell's upper mountain.

It's pouring with rain, leaving Chris and me to hold the fort.

So in the absence of Matt Rendell, here's Matt Rendell's voice.

Stage 17, banyet de Louchon to Saint-Lé-Lé-Soulé-D-Porte.

65 kilometres? How short was that?

Here are some shouts,

Kintana takes the win at the Col du Porte and points to the sky.

Dan Martin, a second place to go with his victory at the Mour de Britannia.

That was a small climb in Brittany.

Now we're down in the Pyrenees at altitude, not far in fact from where Dan Martin is based.

Mountains that he knows pretty well.

But the Col du Porté, I think, on the Tour de France is uncharted territory for him.

He battled to get onto Kintana's wheel.

Couldn't do much about the Colombian on the day,

but that second place is going to look very, very good

in his Palmaris and Garant Thomas has dropped everyone else

and he now, as he has shown so many times,

of the GC racers is the best climber.

It's as simple as that.

Geraint Thomas is the real deal. He is doing it again here

in the ups with back-to-back mountain stages, including Alp Duwes. And that could be the moment

that Garand Thomas knows for sure, not only that he leads the team, but also that he is the

...