The British Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), 22, won the twelfth stage of the Tour de France alone on Thursday over the distance of 165.1 kilometers between Briançon and Alpe d’Huez.
The South African climber Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) finished in second place, while four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech), 37, showed panache by going on the attack. He finished in third position.
In the group of favorites, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) tried twice to distance the new yellow jersey, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma), without success. They finished at the same time, in fifth and sixth places.
Tom Pidcock, crowned Olympic mountain bike champion in Tokyo in 2021, animated the day, both downhill and uphill, and was the fastest in the 21 bends of the most “folkloric” pass of the Tour de France by placing his decisive acceleration more than ten kilometers from the summit.
More than a year after his only victory among the professionals, Tom Pidcock took full advantage of the “exit voucher” granted by the peloton to go and win a prestigious success in his first Tour de France, for his second season in the peloton.
The start of the stage, launched at the foot of the Galibier, one of the three passes of the day, was animated by a breakaway of five men, including the Belgian Kobe Goossens (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert). Another rider from the Belgian team, Louis Meintjes, returned to the leading group in the company of Giulio Ciccone five kilometers from the summit.
Behind, Britons Tom Pidcock and Chris Froome descended the Galibier and came back to the seven leading men in the Telegraph.
The situation evolved in the Col de la Croix de Fer, 29 kilometers long: Tom Pidcock accelerated to just over five kilometers from the summit, only Chris Froome, Giulio Ciccone, Neilson Powless and Louis Meintjes succeeded in accompanying him. In the peloton, on the other hand, nothing has changed.
From the first bends in Alpe d’Huez, Neilson Powless and Chris Froome seemed to be in trouble. Tom Pidcock took the opportunity to place his decisive attack, while Wout van Aerthe got up ten kilometers from the finish after having once again worked very well for Jonas Vingegaard.
Tadej Pogacar tried his luck three times to outrun his opponent in the last four kilometers, but he failed to clinch the Danish yellow jersey.