Tour de France 2019, stage 12 verdict: Simon Yates' masterclass shows how normal British grand tour success has become

There was a time when British success in grand tours seemed somehow otherworldly, the preserve of adventurers and dreamers who had journeyed to continental Europe and managed to upset the odds against the established cycling nations; Belgium, France and Italy. How quickly these things become normalised.

A day that started with Chris Froome being retrospectively awarded the 2011 Vuelta a Espana title - his seventh grand tour success - ended with Simon Yates pulling off a sensational victory on stage 12 of the Tour de France.

With the race hitting the Pyrenees for the first time, the Bury-born rider produced a tactical masterclass, successfully infiltrating the day’s 40-man breakaway before escaping up the road with two others, Pello Bilbao [Astana] and Gregor Muhlberger [Bora-Hansgrohe] on the final climb of the day, La Hourquette d'Ancizan.

The trio then worked together to extend their advantage on the descent into Bagneres-de-Bigorre where, despite being the smallest of the three, it was Yates who won the three-up sprint, initially holding back before brilliantly surging to the front just as the race hit a 90-degree left hand turn with 150metres remaining.

It was a cool and calculated finish from the former points race world champion, who has now won stages at all three grand tours as well as the overall title at last year’s Vuelta a Espana.

Ten minutes later Yates was followed into Bagneres-de-Bigorre by the main bunch, which was being controlled by a British team, Ineos, riding for a Welshman Geraint Thomas, who is the race’s virtual maillot jaune.

Thomas still trails Julian Alaphilippe [Deceuninck-QuickStep] by 1min 12sec in the general classification, with the Frenchman surviving the first day in the Pyrenees with no issues. But Thomas can expect to win back at least half of that time in Friday’s 27.2km time trial in Pau, possibly more.

And with the race then hitting the mountains proper, with summit finishes on the Tourmalet to come on Saturday and then Foix Prat d’Albis on Sunday, most pundits believe Alaphilippe’s early exertions in this race will begin to show, and Thomas will inherit yellow.

The extraordinary thing is how ordinary this all seems. Thirty years ago, individual stage wins by British riders at the Tour were rarer than hen’s teeth.

Since then, Mark Cavendish has won 30, Chris Froome seven, David Millar four, Chris Boardman three, and Bradley Wiggins and Steve Cummings two apiece. That accounts for well over half of the 70 British Tour stage wins in the race’s 100-year plus history.

Yates was typically understated afterwards. “I wasn’t super confident in my own sprint but you never really know after such a long day how fresh the other guys are, how fast,” he said. “I just heard from my director that I needed to arrive in the last corner in first position and I did that and thankfully I had enough to hold on for the win.”

The truth is the only way it could have gone any better was if his twin Adam Yates, seventh overall at 1min 47sec, had cunningly switched places with Simon without anyone noticing, and put 10 minutes into his GC rivals.

The day’s other big talking point revolved around Rohan Dennis [Bahrain-Merida] who was seen having a blazing row with members of his team’s support staff before the start in Toulouse.

The Australian proceeded to climb off his bike at a feed zone mid-stage and quit the race. Bahrain-Merida declined to comment but there was talk of Dennis being unhappy with his equipment and the team - which has partnered with McLaren this year - in general. Rod Ellingworth, the ex-Team Sky coach, has got a job on his hands when he arrives to head things up this autumn.

In the meantime, Dennis, one of the strongest time triallists in the world, misses out on the chance to compete for a stage win in Pau on Friday.

Thomas will not mind that. Not that he is racing the Australian overall, but he has a better chance of winning the stage himself without Dennis there. The 2018 champion is expected to put between half a minute and a minute into most of his GC rivals on a hilly TT course.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” he admitted. “It’s been quite hard, waiting and waiting, but tomorrow I’ll get to go all in. I’ve ridden it already three times. I like it. It’s fast and it should be hard. It’s going to be a big day.”