Tom Pidcock won the first stage at his debut Tour de France on 14th July, Thursday. The Ineos Grenadiers proved his worth by taking over the L’Alpe d’Huez climb remarkably, leaving behind the yellow jersey to fend for himself.
The crowd of the Bastille Day cheered the 22-year-old as he fought Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) to make his way to victory. Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech), Picock’s senior by 15 years, managed to land third place.
Meanwhile, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) tried his best to shrug off Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) but his efforts were all in vain. On the final climb, Pogacar launched intro sprints thrice, but Vingegaard matched all his efforts. It looked like the sole purpose of the Jumbo-Visma rider was to stick to Pogacar throughout the ride.
Even though Pogacar had a second consecutive loss in the Alps, he is hopeful for his future on the tour because the tour is far from over.
Talking about his first victory at the Tour, a seemingly happy Pidcock said to the camera:
It’s made my Tour de France so far. Even if something happens, and I get dropped every day, I don’t care. A stage win at my first Tour, it’s not bad
He continued to say that this has been his best cycling experience:
It is certainly one of my best experiences in cycling, it was unreal. When you are literally slaloming through people’s flags, fists and god knows what else, you can’t experience that anywhere else, in anything, other than on l’Alpe d’Huez at the Tour de France.
Result
| POS | RIDER | TEAM | TIME |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Pidcock | INEOS Grenadiers | UAE Team Emirates |
| 2 | Louis Meintjes | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | + 48 |
| 3 | Chris Froome | Israel-Premier Tech | + 02:06 |
| 4 | Neilson Powless | EF Education-EasyPost | + 02:29 |
| 5 | Tadej Pogacar | UAE Team Emirates | + 03:23 |
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Featured Image Via YouTube/ Cyclemoments
