Britain's Tom Pidcock voyage of discovery in the Tour de France has both netted the young Ineos Grenadiers rider the biggest victory of his career to date on L'Alpe d'Huez, as well as giving the team their second straight win on cycling's most mythical climb.
Making his debut in the Tour de France, Pidcock's move also enormously consolidates Ineos Grenadiers' newly boosted strategy of fighting for Tour de France stage wins as well as the overall.
It marks Ineos Grenadiers' first stage win in the Tour de France 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 acted as a consolation prize for the British squad after losing top overall contender Egan Bernal to injuries, Pidcock's victory in 2022, ahead of former Tour de France winner and compatriot Chris Froome to boot, feels like the start of a new chapter both for the rider and his team.
"That was one of the best experiences of my life," Pidcock said when asked to describe racing at the head of the field through the massive crowds of L'Alpe d'Huez but simultaneously having to avoid getting entangled in flag waving fans spilling onto the middle of the road.
"I can't explain what it feels like, you have to just basically pray everyone's going to move out of your way, and that is 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."
Taking on such an emblematic stage and winning it on his debut was, Pidcock agreed, something that gave him "bigger ambitions in this race for sure in the future."
Exactly what the British racer targets in the Tour de France longer-term remains to be seen, but what Pidcock achieved in the present, both the final stage result and the process of how he managed to create that success, could hardly fail to impress, either.
Having bridged across to the early break with a spectacular descent of the Galibier, Pidcock was one of the most active riders in the early break. He helped to whittle it down from nine to five over the next of the three Hors Categorie ascents, the Croix de Fer, with repeated accelerations.
Then with 10.4 kilometres left to race on L'Alpe d'Huez itself, Pidcock launched a first testing attack, to which only Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux) and Froome could respond. Then with 10 kilometres to go, another move saw the Briton go clear for good.
Able to keep Meintjes at some eight seconds for nearly a couple of kilometres, as Pidcock rode higher, the gap slowly opened on the South African. By the summit the gap had stretched to 48 seconds, with Froome at over two minutes.
"His win, he said, formed part of a specific plan designed after he lost time on stage 11 and then discussed in the Ineos Grenadiers team bus on Thursday morning.
"The idea was for me to get in the break and win the stage, so box ticked I guess. I thought over the top I'd give it a dig and then me and Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech) were riding across to the break, which was quite cool.
"I was in a good mood on the bus, feeling good and once got in the break and gap started going up and up, I thought it was game on."
"They were all looking to me as the strongest guy in the break and not wanting 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 had he not descended fast enough to reach the break off the Galibier, the odds were that he would not have won the stage. And he gave a detailed explanation of why his descending skills were so well honed from a very young age.
"I guess I got good at descending with practice, on my way to school I would always go on detours through the woods, I'd come home with my uniform completely dirty," he said.
"But thanks to that I've become used to riding a bike and handling it well in situations where you're on the limit of your control. I have a very good understanding of the bike as well, the tyres and grip, but it's not easy to explain."
Pidcock's jump towards the top of the cycling hierarchy thanks to his Alpe d'Huez victory, though, needs no explanation. He ranked it as second in his achievements behind his 2021 Olympic gold medal in MTB, he said afterwards, "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."
