The Brit Thomas Pidcock celebrates the stage victory in the high mountains on the French national holiday. Both Jonas Vingegaard and Simon Geschke defended their shirts.
The Briton Thomas Pidcock won the king’s stage of the 109th Tour de France and thus celebrated his first day’s victory in the world’s most important cycling race. The 22-year-old from the Ineos Grenadiers team prevailed on Thursday after 165.5 km in Alpe d’Huez as a breakaway. Meanwhile, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) successfully defended the yellow jersey he won on Wednesday. The German professional cyclist Simon Geschke can continue to wear the dotted bib of the best climber.
“A stage win on my first tour, not bad, isn’t it?” Said Pidcock with a grin: “It’s definitely one of my greatest days, one of my greatest experiences. This slalom through the fans and the flags, you don’t experience that anywhere like here in Alpe d’Huez.”
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Defending champion Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia/UAE Team Emirates) finished at the same time as Denmark’s Vingegaard, the two were 3:23 minutes behind Pidcock. In the overall standings, however, Pogacar moved back up to second place, still 2:22 behind Vingegaard.
Pidcock had just won Olympic gold on a mountain bike in Tokyo last summer. He now prevailed on Thursday’s stage ahead of Louis Meintjes (South Africa/Intermarche-Wanty) and four-time Tour winner Chris Froome (Great Britain/Israel-Premier Tech). The now 37-year-old belonged to the five-strong breakaway group, but had to be torn away in the last 10 km.