Tour de France 2018: Geraint Thomas wins Alpe d'Huez climb to extend lead over Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin

Geraint Thomas sprinted away from Sky teammate Chris Froome to win the legendary climb on Alpe d'Huez while wearing the yellow jersey in the Tour de France on Thursday.

With questions over which rider Sky is backing for victory, it was a bold demonstration of strength by Thomas, who has been Froome's loyal lieutenant for years.

Tom Dumoulin crossed second, two seconds behind, and Romain Bardet was third, three seconds back.

Froome finished fourth, four seconds behind Thomas, as the 12th stage concluded with the famed 21 bends to the Huez ski resort.

Thomas extended his lead over Froome in the overall standings to 1 minute, 39 seconds. Dumoulin was third overall, 1:50 behind.

Vincenzo Nibali recovered from a crash in the final kilometres to finish seventh in the stage. The Italian was fourth overall, 2:37 back.

The last and most feared of the three stages in the Alps this year, the 175.5-kilometer (109-mile) leg began in Bourg-Sant-Maurice and took the peloton over three grueling, beyond-category climbs.

It was a second Tour mountain stage win in a row for Thomas following Wednesday's victory in La Rosiere, and his third career Tour stage victory.

Thomas had actually appeared in danger of losing yellow at the mid-point of the stage, with LottoNL-Jumbo's Steven Kruiswijk, who started the day sixth overall at two minutes and 41 seconds down, enjoying a lead of more than six minutes as he went clear of the day's breakaway.

The Dutchman hit the bottom of Alpe d'Huez with a lead of four minutes 18 seconds, but the gap began to tumble as the gradient bit and he was caught with 3.5km to go.

Landa, Bardet, Froome and Dumoulin all tried moves off the front as the ski resort came into view, but they were all together on the final bend before Thomas burst forward.