Welshman Geraint Thomas retained the Tour de France yellow jersey by winning the 12th stage on Thursday.

The Team Sky rider, who took the race lead on Wednesday by winning stage 11, beat Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) by two seconds in a sprint to the line, with Frenchman Romain Bardet (AG2R) in third.

The 31-year-old becomes the first Briton to win on the Alpe D’Huez.

‘Honestly, I’m speechless. I don’t know what to say,’ said Thomas afterwards. ‘Not a chance in hell I thought I was going to win today. I just followed Dumoulin and Bardet.

‘It was obviously a bit of bad luck for [Vincenzo] Nibali [who was knocked from his bike by spectators], I nearly went down myself.

‘It’s just unbelievable. Can we just go to Paris now?

‘I did say yesterday, this race is made for me now. Today, that’s it. I can be happy for sure now. Maybe I can keep the yellow jersey for the next few days, but this race is so hard. You never know how the body reacts.

‘But I’m still riding for [teammate and defending champion Chris Froome] Froomey. He’s a legend, probably the best ever. I’m just going to enjoy this. It’s great. I can’t believe it.

‘Alpe d’Huez, man. Speechless.’

Stage 12 result:

1. Geraint Thomas (GB/Team Sky) 5hrs 18mins 37secs
2. Tom Dumoulin (Ned/Team Sunweb) +2secs
3. Romain Bardet (Fra/AG2R La Mondiale) +3secs
4. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) same time
5. Mikel Landa (Spa/Movistar Team) +7secs
6. Primož Roglic (Slo/Team LottoNL-Jumbo) +13secs
7. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Bahrain-Merida) same time
8. Jakob Fuglsang (Den/Astana) +42secs
9. Nairo Quintana (Col/Movistar) +47secs
10. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned/Team LottoNL-Jumbo) +53secs

General classification after stage 12:

1. Geraint Thomas (GB/Team Sky) 49:24:43
2. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) +1min 39secs
3. Tom Dumoulin (Ned/Team Sunweb) +1min 50secs
4. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Bahrain-Merida) +2mins 37secs
5. Primož Roglic (Slo/Team LottoNL-Jumbo) +2mins 46secs