On his Tour de France debut, Tom Pidcock attacked from the breakaway on Bastille Day to win stage 12 atop Alpe d’Huez. At 22 years old, he became the youngest rider ever to conquer the legendary summit.
The stage ran 165.1 kilometres from Briançon. Early on, Pidcock bridged across with Chris Froome to form a nine-man escape group that pushed its lead beyond seven minutes on the Croix de Fer.
With 10.6 kilometres left on the final climb, Pidcock launched the decisive move. He rode clear of Louis Meintjes and Froome, tackling the 21 hairpins alone as the crowds parted.
48 seconds on the most famous road in cycling
Pidcock kept the chasers at a steady distance of less than ten seconds before the gradient bit hardest. Meintjes crossed 48 seconds later; Froome followed at over two minutes. The GC contenders reached the summit together, 3 minutes and 23 seconds behind the young Briton.
From rainbow jerseys to a Tour first
Pidcock arrived at the 2022 Tour already an Olympic mountain bike champion and a cyclo-cross world champion. His win on Alpe d’Huez added a Grand Tour stage to a palmarès that would later include Strade Bianche, Amstel Gold, and a second Olympic cross-country gold.
“I guess that stage win at L’Alpe d’Huez for my first Tour de France, it’s not bad!” he told reporters afterwards. The result broke a record held since 1984, when Lucho Herrera won aged 23.
A single climb, taken early and held alone, now sits among the most complete careers in modern cycling.
