Although since its introduction to the Tour de France in 1952, Alpe d’Huez witnessed several pivotal moments of the race, especially regarding the fate of the yellow jersey and the overal victory, it happened only in 2018 for the very first time, that a current yellow jersey wearer cyclist won the stage on the top of the famous climb.
Gerain Thomas (Team Sky) surprised many people, when he won the 11th stage and jumped to the first position in the general classification in 2018.
If you rewatch the stage, you can see clearly, that the GC riders and their teams were focusing rather on Chris Froome. Evidently, everyone thought, that the attack by Thomas was only a preparation for Froome’s possible move.
It might have be the plan, but the result was different: Thomas won the stage and next day he won again.
And this was the only time, when a riders in yellow jersey crossed the finish line on the top of Alpe d’Huez first.
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