Geraint Thomas won Stage 12 of the 2018 Tour de France on Thursday after a fierce sprint just metres from the finish. The Team Sky rider, who took the overall lead on Wednesday after winning Stage 11, will keep his yellow jersey for another day.

In a thrilling finale to the 175.5K stage, Thomas beat Sunweb’s Tom Dumoulin by 2 seconds to claim his second straight mountaintop win. Romain Bardet of AG2R La Mondiale came in third, finishing a second after Dumoulin. Thomas’ teammate (and four-time Tour champion) Chris Froome crossed the line another second behind Bardet.

The race to the finish – a mad dash to the top of the legendary Alpe d’Huez – got interesting around 5K from the line, when a group of four riders overtook Dutch rider Steven Kruijswijk, who impressively spent most of the day in the lead. Thomas, Froome, Dumoulin, and Bardet alternated attacks and traded places at the front of the lead group well within the final kilometre.

Thomas and Froome, who is racing the Tour after an extended controversy over a failed doping test during last fall’s Vuelta a España, were often met with boos from passionate fans who crowded onto the road.

Vincenzo Nibali fell behind when one spectator knocked him from his bike. The Italian would finish seventh, 13 seconds behind. Earlier, Froome had narrowly avoided disaster when he was struck by a fan at the roadside.

Around the 1K-to-go mark, Spanish rider Mikel Landa caught up with the lead group after getting dropped earlier. He ultimately finished seven seconds behind.

The day was also notable for the amount of high-profile riders who withdrew from the Tour. After Mark Cavendish, Mark Renshaw, and Marcel Kittel were disqualified for failing to make the time cut at the end of Stage 11, Stage 12 saw Rigoberto Uran leave due to injuries and former stage winners Fernando Gaviria and Dylan Groenewegen drop out.

Thomas continues to lead the overall classification, standing at 1:38 ahead of Froome and 1:50 ahead of Dumoulin. But the Welshman said he wasn’t only racing for himself. With riders in both the first and second-place slots in overall, this year’s Tour appears to be Team Sky’s to lose.

“I’m still riding for Froome,” Thomas told reporters immediately after the stage. “Froome is still the man.”

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