Tom Pidcock treated the Tour de France to a thrilling glimpse of a possible future Yellow Jersey winner with a stunning breakaway and grinned: “Not bad that, is it?”
On Bastille Day, Pidcock topped a record 100km (63mph) on the descent of the Col du Galibier before conquering the madness of Alpe d'Huez, Le Tour's signature mountain, and its 21 hairpin bends. Just 353 days since he won Olympic mountain bike gold in Tokyo, on his Tour de France debut Pidcock announced himself in the peloton with his first stage win. And on the evidence of 102.5 memorable miles on stage 12, it will be the first of many.
An emotional Pidock, 22, from Leeds, said: "I guess it's made my Tour de France. Even if nothing else happens and I get dropped every day now, I don't care. A stage win in my first Tour, not bad, eh? That was certainly one of my best experiences in cycling. It's unreal when you're literally slaloming through people's flags, fists and God knows what else.
“You can't experience that anywhere else other than the Alpe d'Huez in the Tour de France. I thought I might win one stage somewhere, but to do it here... that was insane. You can't imagine what it's like riding through all those people – there is literally no room. I don't know how they manage to get out of the way in time.”
Pidcock's display was one of the most perfect exhibitions of a cyclist going from 0-100km an hour, mixing stamina on gruelling climbs through vast crowds at the roadside with Evel Knievel-style daredevil descending. He added: “I don't think I've ever been over 100km an hour before – but I'm lucky I can descend, otherwise I wouldn't have won.
“In the end, I paced it pretty well and it was unbelievable going up the Alpe d'Huez – one of the craziest experiences ever. The noise was incredible, I could barely hear anything."
On a near-perfect day for the Brits, four-times Tour winner Chris Froome produced his best performance for three years since a terrible crash left him in intensive care to finish third, 2min 6sec behind Pidcock.
And Geraint Thomas – Britain's first winner on the Alpe d'Huez when he won Le Tour in 2018 - jumped back into the top three on the general classification as great French hope Romain Bardet fell away on the final climb.
Pidcock and Froome joined forces on the breakaway from the main Yellow Jersey group, and Britain's new king of the mountains said: "It was pretty nice getting across there with him. We worked well together. He's a legend and I just beat him up the Alpe d'Huez. Maybe he's not has fast as he once was, but he's still good, isn't he?"
Froome, now 37, said: “I have no regrets. I wold have loved to put my hands in the air as stage winner, but I gave it absolutely everything I had. After where I've come from in the last three years, and battling back from my accident in 2019, I can be proud of coming third on one of the hardest stages on the Tour de France. I'm going to keep pushing, keep believing and, hopefully, I can get back to winning ways again.”
On the GC, Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard – who took over the maillot jaune on Wednesday – remains 2min 22sec ahead of defending champion Tadej Pogacar with Thomas, one of three Ineos Grenadiers riders in the top eight, a further four seconds back.
Thomas said: “It's fantastic for Tom, he's a super talent and he rode really well.”
