The French had put up a candle to see one of their winners in the Alpe d’Huez on July 14, Bastille Day, but instead have seen Romain Bardet, who started the second stage, prick and fall to fourth place overall. And it was also up to them to see exactly how an Englishman won. Road cycling was one of the sports in which the British could not compete with the French for decades, but things have changed a lot in the last decade with Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas and now the young Tom Pidcock. The 22-year-old Leeds rider, Olympic mountain bike champion in 2021, has taken his first win in a stage of the Tour by beating Alpe d’Huez on the 70th anniversary of the first ascent to this summit. mythical. Pidcock has added his name to the list inaugurated by the legendary Italian Fausto Coppi in 1952 with a dry, hard, steady pace attack, leaving fellow escapees such as four-time Tour champion Chris Froome or Italian Giulio Ciccone far away. He has made his glory on a peak where every cyclist dreams of winning someday. Winning in the Alpe d’Huez is a milestone that will always accompany you. And even more so in a stage of 165.1 km where you also had to climb the Galibier and the Croix de Fer.
The great interest, however, was behind it. The favorites were rolling five minutes from the getaways when the Alpe d’Huez ramps arrived. After the theatrical blow of the Dane Jonas Vingegaard at the Col du Granon, who dressed in yellow and caused the first major defeat of Tadej Pogacar in the Tour, everyone was waiting for the Slovenian’s counterattack. Pogacar has tried with an attack four kilometers from the finish, but the response of the Dane has been one of demoralizing, stuck to the neck of the Slovenian, without fainting. Pogacar tried twice more before the finish, consolidating second place overall, but without biting Vingegaard. Both have come within 3 minutes and 23 seconds of Pidcock.
Enric Mas, among the best
The Mallorcan Enric Mas (Movistar) has kept pace with the favorites and has consolidated his presence in the top 10, as he now occupies ninth place in a general classification where Vingegaard takes 2 minutes and 22 seconds in Pogacar. Welshman Geraint Thomas is third in 2 minutes and 26 seconds, with Bardet fourth. The thirteenth stage, this Friday between Le Bourg-d’Oisans and Saint-Étienne (193 km), will be ideal for sprinters after two spectacular days of high mountains.
