1700: Right, that's me done for the day. Thanks for all the texts and 606 input on what turned out to be a great day for Sylvain Chavanel who timed his climb up Lamoura to perfection as he blew away Cancellara to take yellow with ease. Wiggo did his bit by sticking with Contador, Armstrong and Andy Schleck while the sprinters had a tough tough day. I'm having a few rest days and will be back on Thursday. Alex Murray hops into the saddle for Sunday's 189km ride into the Alps and the summit finish at Morzine-Avoriaz. Promises to be another great day. Who is going to have the legs for that one? Make sure you join him for the 1130 BST start.

1655: The top five today were as follows:
1. Sylvain Chavanel (Fra/Quick Step) 4h 22m 52s
2. Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa/Footon) +57"
3. Juan Manuel Garate (Spa/Rabobank) +1'27"
4. Thomas Voeckler (Fra/Bbox) +1'40"
5. Mathieu Perget (Fra/Caisse d'Epargne) +1'40"

1645: Here comes Cancellara and he finishes 14'12" behind Chavanel. If he found today tough, who knows what tomorrow will do to him? It's the first of the mountain stages and more on that in a moment.

1641: Britain's Geraint Thomas, who was in second place overall at the start of the day and only 20 seconds behind Fabian Cancellara, slipped away on the final climb after suffering a puncture and finished 5'18" off the pace.

1639:Bradley Wiggins on his race after finishing with the rest of the main contenders: "It was harder than a lot of people expected. There was a bit of a stalemate going on and it turned out to be quite a hard stage but it's good to get one out of the way."

1635: Cadel Evans moves into second in the general classification after finishing in the main bunch alongside the likes of Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador, Bradley Wiggins and Andy Schleck. Cancellara is still on the road with 4km to go.

1632: The main pack come in around 1'47" down with Cancellara still coming up the hill so Chavanel is confirmed as being back in yellow.

1630: And there we go, Quick Step's Sylvain Chavanel crosses the line on his own after 4 hours, 22 minutes and 52 seconds of riding to win stage seven after a superbly-timed ride. Footon's Rafael Valls Ferri takes second at 57 seconds and Juan Manuel Garate takes third at 1'26" back.

1627: Chavanel picked up double King of the Mountain points, but it's not the 20 points that kept him going up the final climb of the day. He's 2km from the finish and with the peloton two minutes back, the yellow looks assured.

1623: Cancellara losing big time and is now more than eight minutes down on Chavanel who is just finishing his climbing for the day at the summit of Lamoura - sweat pouring off his face, he zips up his jersey and puts his head down as he goes for yellow. Footon's Rafael Valls Ferri is second over the top 50 or so seconds back.

1621: Small consolation for Pineau, whose brave efforts were ended on the final climb - he has been voted the most aggressive rider of the day. Sky's Bradley Wiggins also sitting pretty in the main bunch and looking very comfortable.

1618: Will Chavanel hold on for the stage win? He's only got a couple of kilos to the top of the final climb of the day but then has 4km from there to home. But with Armstrong, Contador and Andy Schleck all at the front of the peloton, they are eating into Chavanel's lead. His lead is 38 seconds over Valls, 60 seconds over Voeckler's group of five and 1'55" ahead of the the big names.

1613: Just 10km to go for Chavanel and he's looking good for yellow if he can maintain his form as Cancellara is more than five minutes back. Geraint Thomas has been dropped from the peloton. Lance Armstrong is being shadowed by Alberto Contador and the favourites for the overall victory are busy watching each other.

1610: Pineau is hanging on to the coat tails of Voeckler, Garate and Cunego while Rafael Valls is the latest to go in pursuit of Chavanel who is 30 seconds up the road.

1607: Riders being strung out all along the climb. Astana are pushing on the front of the peloton. Chavanel has under 12km remaining. Remember, about 8km of that is climbing and then the final 4km is flat, or slightly downhill.

1603: Chavanel has caught Pineau and we have a Quick Step pairing - Chavanel is not hanging around though and with Pineau's nod he flies off up the road. Pineau is then caught and passed by Voeckler and Cunego who have set off in pursuit of our new leader. Geraint Thomas has punctured.

UrlaubInPolen on 606: "Brilliant stuff with QST. Hondo finally blown out the back. Chapeau, my man. Great ride for the big German."

1600: Meanwhile Pineau keeps plodding along and is now only 15 seconds ahead of his team-mate Chavanel but more than three minutes ahead of the peloton. Team Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen, who talked of trying to win this stage, is way off the back.

1556: Chavanel, who of course had the yellow jersey taken off him by Cancellara after the third stage, could well end the day in yellow after this latest dig. He is currently more than two and-a-half minutes ahead of the Swiss and in virtual yellow.

1554: The two Quick Step riders in the front two groups, Pineau and Chavanel go for broke at the same time. Coincidence? Hondo is left for dead by Pineau's kick and will be overtaken by Chavanel in no time. Are they looking for a party on the summit?

1550: Hondo continues to lead Pineau down the hill, maintaining a 52-second lead over 11 riders in the chasing pack. Juan Manuel Garate, Daniel Moreno, Damiano Cunego and Rafael Valls are among those. There's 18km left for the leaders who are about to start the final climb of the day. It's a 14km slog up Côte de Lamoura. Can they hold out?

1548: Given all the changes on that last climb, anyone care to make a prediction for stage winner and who will end the day in yellow?

1546: Here's the full result of the penultimate climb of the day. Pineau picked up 10 points, Hondo nine, Chavanel eight, Voeckler seven, Perget, six and Cunego five.

1543: Gutierrez makes it up to the Voeckler/Chavanel group making it nine-strong as they descend.

1540: Pineau takes another 10 points for going first over the Col de la Croix de la Serra. Hondo leans in and finally takes a turn at the front and leads down the other side. Chavanel has another go and is first over the top from his group and third overall. Interesting developments in the pack with Astana and RadioShack moving to the front.

1537: Chavenel has made it up to Voeckler's group who are now almost 50 seconds behind the leading duo. The yellow jersey group is two minutes back. Pineau, head rolling ever-so-slightly continues to lead Hondo as they go past the 1km to the summit sign.

1534: Another little dig off the front of the peloton - it's Sylvain Chavanel. He's only a minute or so down on Cancellara in the overall standings. Will they let him go for yellow? Voeckler's group catches Knees. They are 35 seconds or so behind Pineau and Hondo.

1532: Geraint Thomas was briefly in virtual yellow when Cancellara dropped back a few minutes ago. The British Team Sky rider is safely in the peloton. Up at the front, Pineau continues to push on. Hondo is happy to sit in his wheel and allow Pineau to take the maximum points at the summit.

1528: Knees drops off the front leaving Pineau and Hondo out on their own. Cancellara is 82 seconds back and in a group several seconds behind the main peloton with 36km remaining. There's still 5km to the summit of the category two climb.

1525: Cyril Gautier tries to break the breakaway, but Perget and Damiano Cunego, who has joined them, reel him back in. Jose Gutierrez goes off the front of the bunch. Voeckler then pushes on before looking round to see how committed everyone else is to the chase.

1521: The lead group has been split to three with Hondo, Knees and Pineau moving away from Ruben Perez and Dumoulin. Whatever was troubling Cancellara appears to be passed as he is working his way back to the peloton. 40km to go.

1519: Caisse d'Epargne's Mathieu Perget is one of those in Voeckler's group. Matty Lloyd from Omega and Bbox Cyril Gautier in there. They are 45 seconds behind the leading group. More interesting perhaps is Cancellara starting to drop off the back of the peloton. Where are Geraint Thomas and Cadel Evans?

1515: Here come the attacks. Tommy Voeckler has had a dig off the front. The leaders are 80 seconds up the road. Voeckler tries to get his Bbox team-mates to get a move on. He's joined by three other riders. Names to follow in a minute.

1512: And the sprinters are starting to form the bus. Thor Hushovd and Gerald Ciolek are among those toiling up the cat two climb. Cavendish was dropped a while ago while his Columbia team-mate Mark Renshaw has also gone backwards. BBox continue to push at the front though and the gap has dropped to 2'22".

1510: Pineau is leading the escapees up the Col de la Croix de la Serra. The peloton is beginning to get stretched out as the Bbox team continue to set the pace on the front. Cancellara, who has been up near the front of the chasing group all day appears to have slipped back a little. If you click on the console above, you will be able to hear the voice of Peter Slater commentating on the run-in to Station des Rousses.

1504: Lampre's Hondo leads the quintet who have been out front since the opening kilometre over the final intermediate sprint of the day. Knees and Ruben Perez follow to hoover up the points. The peloton is three minutes back. Robbie McEwen is clearly struggling and is more than seven minutes off the pace.

1502: Peloton grinds to a halt as the riders grab their musettes. A few young kids scrabbling round in the grass verge, collecting discarded energy bars and drinks containers.

1500: Leaders whizzing through the feedzone and filling their pockets with all manner of energy bars. Need to fill your boots quickly though with another intermediate sprint looming and the longest climb of the day following - the 15.7km category two Col de la Croix de la Serra.

1458: The live commentary from BBC 5 live's Peter Slater starts at 1510 BST. If you manually refresh this page, the console will appear at the top.

1454: Dumoulin took seven points for fourth over the summit. Hondo claimed six points for fifth and Anthony Charteau, who was first over from the peloton picked up five points. Lead is down to 3'45".

phildange on 606: "The breakaway is dead. They look tired. I'd like Pineau to leave alone, he looks good and the others are too exhausted."

BBC 5 live's Phil Sheehan via Twitter: "Anyone in the Annecy area on the rest day? I'm planning a morning ride if you want to join me. 100-120km flattish with a medium climb or two."

1447: Lots of cars, mobile homes and indeed people on the slopes of Vouglans. With just under 1km to the summit, Pineau takes over at the front and leads the quintet over the top for 10 valuable King of the Mountain points. Ruben Perez follows him and collects nine points with Knees taking eight for third.

1443: 2km to the summit for Pineau, Knees, Ruben Perez, Dumoulin and Hondo. Lead dropping all the time though. Down to 4'38".

1437: The lead has been cut to under five minutes and Bbox are still tapping away at the front with Saxo Bank riders dragging yellow-jersey wearer Fabian Cancellara up in their wake. All five of the riders in the leading pack taking a turn on the front to keep their advantage for as long as they can. HTC Columbia's Mark Cavendish finding the pace a little hot and Bernie Eisel drops back to help his team-mate out.

BBC 5 live's Phil Sheehan via Twitter: "There's a fantastic descent off the next climb, the cat 2 C. du Barrage de Vouglans. Not many turns, wide, excellent surface. 100km/h?"

1430: The Côte du barrage de Vouglans comes into view. It's the first category two climb of this year's Tour. It's a 6.6km climb to the top and there's the carrot of today's feedzone waiting on the other side of the hill.

Ray Silvester on 606: "I reckon the next Aussie to quit will be McEwen. He looks like he's in big trouble."

1420: Just the three category two climbs left for today then. Bit of an incentive for Pineau to stay out there with 10 points on offer for the first to reach the top of each. Pineau's group lead the peloton, which has just gone over Côte d'Arinthod by 5'55".

1416: Another maximum four points for Quick Step's Pineau at the top of Côte d'Arinthod. Second over was Ruben Perez Moreno, with Dumoulin and Hondo sweeping up the remaining points on offer.

1415: Didier Rous of the Bbox team has been explaining their tactics to Le Tour website: "It wasn't part of the original plan," he said. "That was to be in the escape, but we missed out and now we're taking responsibility. We hope to reduce the advantage of the escapees and bring it down to around three minutes at the base of the penultimate ascent of the stage." Robbie McEwen, he who stacked it into a journalist yesterday, is back at the medical car getting a few pills.

Sam on 606: "What are the odds on Matty Lloyd crashing out in the coming days?"

1408: Japan's Yukiya Arashiro and France's Anthony Charteau leading Bbox team-mate Tommy Voeckler up the Côte d'Arinthod. French champion Voeckler said before the stage started that he wanted to be in the breakaway - are they planning something? Lead is down to 6'35" and 3km to the summit for those out front.

1404: We're on the third climb of the day and here come the bare-chested fans who try every year to beat the cyclists up the hill. One of the support cars veers purposefully towards one of the duo to nudge him into the verge on the climb up Côte d'Arinthod. It's an 8.5km category three ascent, so points for the first four to reach the top. Pineau anyone?

1400: Fantastic TV shots of a beautiful aqua coloured lake snaking through the Jura mountains. Lead is chopped to under seven minutes. Bbox riders on the front of the peloton doing most of the chasing. 86km remaining.

1353: Little touch of wheels in the peloton and FDJ's Anthony Roux takes a tumble. He looks around, a little bewildered, then gets back up and gets on his way.

Snaplegs on 606: "Can I have a new keyboard please? Dr Pepper sprayed everywhere when I read about the 'bleeding carrots'"

1348: Quick Step's Pineau has taken over at the front to ensure he picks up the three points. He now has 20 points in the King of the Mountains classification and leads by eight from Caisse d'Epargne's Mathieu Perget. Euskaltel's Ruben Perez, showing he can stay on his bike (see below), was over second and Cofidis rider Dumoulin third.

UrlaubInPolen on 606: "(Omega's) Matty Lloyd has drawn my ire with this quote: "The only issue with us in terms of accidents in the first week is the number of Euskaltel-Euskadi riders crashing everywhere. They just fall off. There's no reason why. You'll just be riding along and there they'll be like a bleeding carrot in the middle of the road lying in pain. There'll be another who has fallen off earlier in the day and it's like they want to make sure of their injuries... 'oh look, I've hurt my elbow. I'd better fall off again and make sure I break it this time." Grrrrr. You'll pay for this, puny Aussie."

1340: Pineau, Knees, Dumoulin, Ruben Perez and Hondo pushing up the Cote des Granges. The summit is at 581m above sea level. The peloton has upped the pace a little and reduced the lead to 7'40".

1333: By the way, there's a bit of other live sport on the website today. Mark Orlovac has the British F1 Grand Prix qualifying, and Pranav Soneji is guiding you through England's one-dayer against Bangladesh.

1330: The peloton is around 8'45" behind the quintet up front with 105km of today's stage remaining. The leaders are on the bottom of the 5.9km haul up Côte des Granges. It's a category four climb so points only available to the first three over the top.

tgsgirl on 606: "(HTC Columbia rider) Maxime Monfort's wife gave birth to a daughter yesterday, even though she wasn't due til August. When he got back to the teambus he fired up his cell, to find a picture of his brand new baby girl on it. She's called Lou, and she'll have a teeny-tiny yellow jersey to wear already. He's flying home and back on Monday (rest day) to see the newest addition to his family."

Im_partial on 606: "What I love best about these long up and down days is the long elastic that keeps the back markers trying to stay attached to the group, endless shots of some poor veteran sprinter realising that the 'holiday' is over and they've reached the gateway to the mountains. You can just see the blood draining out of their faces as they begin to question why they put themselves through this year after year for the team. Love it."

1321: RadioShack's team director Alain Gallopin tells Le Tour website that he doesn't expect his main rider Lance Armstrong to take any time off Astana's Alberto Contador today. He also reckons BMC's Cadel Evans or Team Sky's Geraint Thomas will end the day in yellow.

1319: Dumoulin leading up the climb but it is Pineau, who sat in his wheel for much of the ascent, who nips out and over the line first to take the four points with German road race champion Knees over in second and Spain's Ruben Perez third and Dumoulin gets a solitary point for fourth.

1315: The second sprint was taken by Hondo (six points) from Knees (four) and Ruben Perez Moreno (two). Lead hovering around eight minutes on the slopes of the Côte de l'Aubépin. About 1km from the top for those out in front - no prizes for guessing who's looking to summit first.

From Mol_Daze_Etty, via text: "Re 1230 (dave_eddie_and_oz) The last debutant to win the Tour was Laurent Fignon in 1983. Interestingly he had a poor first week: disappointing prologue; his team having to wait for him in the team time trial; purgatory on the two cobbled stages and to cap it off contracted conjunctivitis before the first long time trial (where he was 3 minutes off the pace)."

1308: Bit more from Robbie McEwen who crashed into a journalist after the end of stage six. "I feel terrible," said the Australian. "One idiot jumped out in front of me while I was doing 60km/h having just come over the finish line, it's just unacceptable and I'm really hurt. I injured my lower back, shoulder and neck. I'm trying to start today and hope I can make it to the finish."

1303: Looks like an interesting finish at Station des Rousses today. There's a 14km long category two climb up Cote de Lamoura, followed by a 4km flattish ride in. Gap drops back to eight minutes.

1254: The second intermediate sprint in Saint-Amour will be on us in 5km and then it's straight up the first climb of the day. It's a category three 4.9km climb up Côte de l'Aubépin. Lead approaching 8'30". Lots of chatting in the front five. Pineau, in his polka dot shirt looks like he's doing a lot of the organising. He's desperate to keep the jersey.

1250: Leaders out to more than eight minutes. Peloton meandering along with no real desire to even consider bringing this back just yet.

tgsgirl on 606: "Bbox tried to reign in the break once it got away because Tivo (Thomas Voeckler) wasn't in it, but without any luck. They wanted to be there, but missed the right escape."

From Dan in Oxford, via text: "Why the comfort breaks early each stage? Do they forget to go to the loo before the start? Or are they deliberately over hydrating before a long and sweaty day?"

1242: Milram's Christian Knees is technically the Tour leader as he is the highest placed rider in the general classification at just over three minutes behind Cancellara. No contest for the sprint, with Lampre's Hondo going over first for six points. Cofidis rider Dumoulin was second for four points while Euskaltel's Ruben Perez rolled over third for two points. Nobody in the leading five is threatening the classification for the green jersey. Lead up to 7'45" with 133km to go.

1240: Bradley Wiggins drops back to the Sky car to talk to Sean Yates and get a bit of a free wheel for a few yards. Lead keeps increasing and is now over six minutes.

1237: Lead up to five minutes as our intrepid five head towards the intermediate sprint in Cormoz in about 5km. Pineau doing a lot of work on the front - he told Le Tour website yesterday that he was planning to "slip into the escape".

From Dan in Dorchester, via text: "A big shout out to thegreattour.org - these guys are cycling for 64 days straight around our coast, some 6,600 miles. I joined in on Saturday for the Seaton to Swanage leg, that was hard enough, let alone doing it for another 63 consecutive days! All in the name of caravan and prostate charities."

1232: Here's Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford's thoughts on the first week: "I'm very happy with the way things have gone so far and we're all ready for this next hillier phase of the race to get under way. A lot of people will already know about Bradley Wiggins, but to see someone else like Geraint Thomas breaking through and performing so well at this level is amazing. He's a young guy who's come up through the British academy and he's right up there with the best riders in the world now. It should be inspirational for everyone to watch his success and see how his progression is panning out. It's very exciting to be involved with and we're delighted to have him in the young rider's jersey."

1230: Lead stretching out to two minutes as several riders in the peloton drop off for a quick 'comfort' break.

From Jon in London, via text: "Anyone know what the fight between Barredo and Costa was about? I'm thinking World Cup results figured."

dave_eddie_and_oz on 606: "I can't remember a more accomplished first week at the Tour by a young rider as what we have seen from Geraint Thomas. A strong prologue, an awesome day on the cobbles and he even keeps his nose up with the sprinters to avoid peloton breaks. He's riding like a seasoned pro."

1224: Nocentini's little dash came to nothing and he's back in the peloton, which has allowed the front five to open up a 65-seconds lead after 14km. They are about halfway to the first intermediate sprint of the day.

1222: It's going to be another long day in the saddle, so, on the back of Barredo and Costa's little scrap, let's have your top Tour punch-ups.

UrlaubInPolen on 606: "I'm surprised at Perget not going. He was certainly thinking about it, and was only 1 point shy of Pineau. Pérez Moreno is on the warpath again."

1217: As the race settles into more of a rhythm, a quick reminder of how you can get involved today. Please use Twitter,606 or text us your views & comments on 81111 (UK) or +44 7786200666 (worldwide). (Not all contributions can be used. Messages will be charged at your standard operator rate)

1215: Our leading quintet are Danilo Honda, Jerome Pineau, Christian Knees, Samuel Dumoulin and our friend from yesterday Ruben Perez Moreno. The lead is a mere 15 seconds and Ronaldo Nocentini, who had a few days in yellow himself last year, has leapt out of the peloton to try and bridge the gap.

1212: Quick bit from Bradley Wiggins while the peloton settles down a bit. He said, after stage six: "Everyone is wondering who's got the form and the questions will be answered over the weekend. I've recovered well from the crash over the last few days."

1210: And we're off! Quick Step's Jerome Pineau, maybe predictably, is in a five-strong bunch that have immediately launched themselves off the front. The Frenchman is currently leading the King of the Mountains classification and will be looking to collect a few points today.

The_Usual_Suspect on 606: "It looks like a day where the breakaway may be allowed to stay away, but I'm going for an EBH (Edvald Boasson Hagen) win. Dare I say it, it also looks like a stage suited to Vino. I'm hoping Geraint can claim yellow for a day, but its a long shot, if he can stay with the bunch then Cancellara probably can too. Cuddles (Cadel Evans) looks like he'll get yellow today or tomorrow."

1205: Peloton still rolling through the neutral zone - no wind and pretty hot is the simplest of weather forecasts. Just time for a bit from Team Sky director Sean Yates about Thomas' chances of ending the stage in yellow: "It's in the back of my mind but we'll have to see how the race pans out It may come of its own accord or we may have to work for it, but it's not one of our main objectives."

1203: "Bit more from Geraint who has also played down his chances of retaining the white jersey for the best young rider. The 24-year-old added: "I could get used to it, but every day's like a bonus. Andy Schleck and (Roman) Kreuziger are obviously in the same competition, so I'm under no illusions. It's been a nice first week, it's not bad really, is it? I'm still primarily here to do my job for Brad (Wiggins). I've just been doing my team duties and that's it really."

1200: Britain's Geraint Thomas has been playing down any talk of him getting into the maillot jaune. The Welshman is handily placed in second, only 20 seconds behind Cancellara, however, he said: "Obviously I can knock out a half-decent time trial, but climbing's sort of my weakest point at the moment."

1157: Who's in the frame for yellow then? Cancellara's Saxo Bank team may need to focus more on Andy Schleck's general classification hopes. The Luxembourg rider, was has been the best young rider for the last two years, was second overall on the 2009 Tour and has ambitions to go one better this time. He is 69 seconds behind his team-mate who readily admits he is not the best climber in the world.

1155: It's not going to be the hardest of hilly stages, but it could shake up the general classification a bit. Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara still leads the way but will his time in yellow come to an end today? If it's not today, then he will certainly be usurped on Sunday's more mountainous stage to Morzine-Avoriaz.

1151: Today's stage is scheduled to start in about nine minutes. The seventh on the 2010 Tour is classified as mid-mountains with three category two climbs, two cat three and one cat four in the Jura mountain range. It's 165.5km, or 101 miles, if you like. There are three intermediate sprints to contest as well - two of them coming before the first climb - will Mark Cavendish look to sneak a few points in the race for the green points jersey, or will incumbent Thor Hushovd slam the door shut?

Millsy on 606: My favourite for yellow's Cadel, he likes the long slow climbs like the final one, and shouldn't loss much, if any tbh, time.

1148: Morning all. Anyone think the lengthy stage and heat got to Barredo and Costa? Surely they should have been preserving their energies with the Alpine mountains coming. All sorts of shenanigans going on post-race. Katusha's Robbie McEwen was knocked off his bike moments after he crossed the finish line in fourth place and he, understandably, was not a happy bunny. The Australian tweeted: "My back is so sore. I want him identified and expelled. Just too ridiculous for words what he did. I hope I can ride tmoro." Turns out it was a TV journalist who has been handed a one-day ban. McEwen tweeted this morning that he is turning blue and purple.

1145: Anybody see the wee dust up between Spanish rider Carlos Barredo and Portuguese man Rui Costa at the end of stage six? Quick Step's Barredo attempted to lump Caisse d'Espargne's Costa with a wheel immediately after they had crossed the finish line. Barredo also tried to punch Costa in the face several times before they both ended up rolling around on the floor like a couple of schoolkids. Tour organisers fined both riders somewhere between £125 and £250 dependant on which report you want to believe, although no further punishment has been dished out yet.