Making his Tour de France debut, Pidcock’s move also massively cements the Ineos Grenadiers’ new enhanced strategy of fighting for Tour de France stage wins as well as the overall. It marks Ineos Grenadiers’ first Tour de France win since Michal Kwiatkowski and Richard Carapaz crossed the line together at La Roche-sur-Feron in the 2020 race. But if their joint success in 2020, also in the Alps as it happens, effectively served as a consolation prize for the British team after losing top overall contender Egan Bernal to injury, Pidcock’s 2022 win ahead of former winner of the Tour de France and Chris Froome’s countryman at the start, it feels like the start of a new chapter for both the rider and his team. “That was one of the best experiences of my life,” said Pidcock when asked to describe the race at the top of the field through the huge L’Alpe d’Huez crowd, but at the same time had to avoid engaging fans who flags are waving. in the middle of the street. “I can’t explain what it’s like, you basically have to pray that everyone gets out of your way, and it’s the most ridiculous experience ever. It’s one of the most iconic stage finishes in cycling, if not the most iconic and it’s one of the best experiences of my life.” Stepping onto such an iconic stage and winning on his debut, Pidcock agreed, gave him “higher aspirations in this fight for sure in the future”. Exactly what the British racer aims for in the Tour de France in the long term remains to be seen, but what Pidcock has achieved in the present, both the end result and the process of how he managed to create that success, could hardly fail to impress. either. Bridging the early break with a spectacular descent of the Galibier, Pidcock was one of the most active riders in the early break. He helped reduce that from nine to five on the next of the three Hors class climbs, the Croix de Fer, with repeated accelerations. Then, with 10.4km left to race on L’Alpe d’Huez itself, Pidcock launched a tentative first attack, which only Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux) and Froome could match . Then, with 10km to go, another move saw the Briton clear for good. Able to hold off Meintjes to around eight seconds for almost a couple of kilometres, as Pidcock climbed higher, the gap slowly opened up on the South African. By the summit the gap had grown to 48 seconds, with Froome over two minutes ahead. His victory, he said, was part of a specific plan drawn up after he lost time on stage 11 and then discussed on the Ineos Grenadiers team bus on Thursday morning. “The idea was to go into the break and win the stage, so I guess the box was ticked. I thought I’d dig it and then me and Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech) went across the break, which was really nice. “I was in a good mood on the bus, I was feeling good and once I got into the break and the gap started going up and up, I thought it was game on.” “Everyone was looking at me as the strongest guy in the break and they didn’t want to give any more pulls and when we got to the bottom of the Alpe there were five of us there, I think.” Pidcock himself said that if he hadn’t descended fast enough to reach the Galibier break, chances were he wouldn’t have won the stage. And he gave a detailed explanation as to why his downhill skills were so well honed from a very young age. “I guess I got it down with practice, on the way to school I always took detours through the woods, coming home with my uniform completely dirty,” he said. “But thanks to that I’m used to riding a bike and handling it well in situations where you’re at the edge of your control. I also understand the bike, the tires and the grip very well, but it’s not easy to explain.” However, Pidcock’s leap to the top of the cycling hierarchy thanks to his victory at Alpe d’Huez needs no explanation. Ranking it second in his achievements behind the 2021 Olympic MTB gold medal, he then said, “He’s done the Tour de France so far. Even if something happens and I fall every day, I don’t care. A stage win in my first Tour, not bad”.
