Tom Pidcock becomes youngest L'Alpe d'Huez stage winner

Tom Pidcock, 22, further cemented himself as the future of British cycling after picking up his first Tour de France stage win at the end of a long solo climb at L’Alpe d’Huez.

Key points:

• British youth Tom Pidcock adds debut Tour stage win to a cycling CV that includes cyclo-cross world champion and Olympic gold in cross-country mountain biking
• Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark defends the yellow jersey and leads defending champion Tadej Pogacar by two minutes and 22 seconds
• Pidcock team leader, Geraint Thomas, sits in third place overall

The cyclo-cross world champion and Olympic gold medalist in cross-country mountain biking attacked from the breakaway that day with more than 10 kilometers remaining on the final climb — a 3.8km effort at 8.1 percent — and never looked back.

“Riding the Alpe d’Huez, the most iconic finish in cycling, at the top of the race, it was one of the best experiences of my life,” said the Pidcock Tour debutant after stage 12, a 165.1km journey from Briancon.

Fending off a sea of ​​fans, flags and flares, Pidcock finished ahead of South Africa’s Louis Meintjes and four-time Tour winner Chris Froome, who was enjoying his best day on the bike since a career-threatening crash in 2019.

“You just have to pray they get out of the way,” Pidcock said of the tens of thousands of fans climbing.

“The idea today was to take me to the break and win the stage. So I guess the box was ticked.”

Overall leader Jonas Vingegaard came under fire from defending champion Tadej Pogačar in the final, but that was too little, too late by the Slovenian, who lost his yellow jersey earlier this week when he missed out on the final climb to the Col du Granon.

Vingegaard led Pogačar by two minutes and 22 seconds as the 23-year-old leapfrogged Romain Bardet to second overall after the Frenchman lost contact on the final kilometer.

Pidcock team leader Geraint Thomas, previous winner at L’Alpe d’Huez in 2018, finished with Vingegaard and Pogačar and sits in third place overall, 2:26 difference.

While the mountainous terrain poses a challenge, navigating flocks of fans can often be more dangerous for Tour de France riders.(Getty Images: Michael Steele)

Bardet dropped to fourth, nine seconds away.

The nine breakaways include Froome – who has been struggling to find his form since he suffered several serious injuries three years ago – as well as Pidcock.

They built a seven-minute lead, which began to melt in the searing heat when Jumbo-Visma’s Wout van Aert took a turn ahead of the group.

The lead fell to 4:15 when the peloton reached the Col de la Croix de Fer.

Pidcock made a high-speed descent to widen the gap again, and the leading group started the climb to L’Alpe d’Huez with a six-minute lead.

Load

Pidcock was the first to strike, 10.5km from the line, knocking out Neilson Powless and Giulio Ciccone for good.

Meintjes and Froome lost contact, but the Ineos-Grenadiers racer in their sights until another acceleration by 22-year-old Pidcock crushed their last hope of winning.

In the group favourites, the brutal acceleration of Vingegaard’s teammate, Primož Rogli, brought down Nairo Quintana and David Gaudu.

Acceleration from another Jumbos-Visma racer, Sepp Kuss, brought down Bardet and Adam Yates.

Pogačar jumped away, twice, in the last 4 kilometers, hoping to take revenge on Vinegaard the day after the Dane cracked him in the mountains.

Vinegaard, however, followed easily to retain the yellow jersey and stay in control of the race.

Reuters

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