Pidcock enters the history books on L'Alpe d'Huez as Pogacar attacks!

Jonas Vingegaard defended attacks by Tadej Pogacar on L'Alpe d'Huez and defended the yellow jersey, as Tom Pidcock took the stage for INEOS Grenadiers from the breakaway

Stage 12 of the Tour de France promised spectacle and it delivered.

The start of the day saw a hard ascent of the Col du Galibier. It was a chaotic start with some very large groups going up the road, and a small early group making it over the Galibier in front, blown to pieces.

After the descent the breakaway re-grouped, along with with Chris Froome (Israel - Premier Tech) and Tom Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers) who attacked over the top of the climb, joining Louis Meintjes and Kobe Goossens (Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Giulio Ciccone (Trek - Segafredo), Anthony Perez (Cofidis) and Sebastian Schönberger (B&B Hotels-KTM).

Over the Col de la Croix de Fer, Jumbo-Visma set a conservative pace in the peloton, up front only five survived: Froome; Pidcock, Meintjes, Ciccone and Powless.

In the peloton it was all to be decided in the final ascent as the riders conserved their energy for the mythical Alpe d'Huez.

The breakaway entered the final climb with six minutes of advantage, with Tom Pidcock attacking after the first steep hairpins of Huez.

Meintjes and Froome briefly tried to bridge across, however with ten kilometers to go the gap started to grow. Behind, Jumbo-Visma set a strong pace, preventing attacks from surging from behind.

Tadej Pogacar attacked inside the final five kilometers but was unable to drop Vingegaard. Shortly afterwards, he was joined again by Sepp Kuss and Geraint Thomas. Pogacar tried one more time but without success, being perfectly matched by the Jumbo-Visma leader, as they arrived at the finish together.

Up front Tom Pidcock took the stage win and entered cycling's history books with a win up L'Alpe d'Huez at just 22 years old, with Louis Meintjes and Chris Froome completing the podium.

Chris Froome putting all doubts behind him and he returns to the top ranks of cycling after many years recovering from his horrendous crash.

VIDEO: 2022 Tour de France Stage 12 Highlights

2022 Tour de France Stage 12 Top 10

1 GBR Tom Pidcock INEOS Grenadiers 04:55:24
2 RSA Louis Meintjes Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert + 48
3 GBR Chris Froome Israel-Premier Tech + 02:06
4 USA Neilson Powless EF Education-EasyPost + 02:29
5 SLO Tadej Pogacar UAE Team Emirates + 03:23
6 DEN Jonas Vingegaard Jumbo-Visma + 03:23
7 GBR Geraint Thomas INEOS Grenadiers + 03:23
8 ESP Enric Mas Movistar Team + 03:26
9 USA Sepp Kuss Jumbo-Visma + 03:26
10 ITA Giulio Ciccone Trek-Segafredo + 03:32

2022 Tour de France GC after Stage 12

01 DEN Jonas Vingegaard Jumbo-Visma 46:28:46
02 SLO Tadej Pogacar UAE Team Emirates + 02:22
03 GBR Geraint Thomas INEOS Grenadiers + 02:26
04 FRA Romain Bardet Team DSM + 02:35
05 GBR Adam Yates INEOS Grenadiers + 03:44
06 COL Nairo Quintana Team Arkéa-Samsic + 03:58
07 FRA David Gaudu Groupama-FDJ + 04:07
08 GBR Tom Pidcock INEOS Grenadiers + 07:39
09 ESP Enric Mas Movistar Team + 09:32
10 RUS Aleksandr Vlasov BORA-hansgrohe + 10:06