In 2012, Christopher Froome is a little-known runner.
On the Grande Boucle, he is a luxury teammate for his boss and compatriot Bradley Wiggins.
His team, the overpowered Sky, promised him victory before he lit the Olympic flame a few days later in London.
On this Tour, however, the strongest is perhaps not Wiggins but Froome, who is often asked to wait for his leader.
On July 7, 2012, when the Tour arrived in a Vosges massif that he discovered for the occasion, the Planche des Belles filles, Bradley Wiggins was not yet in yellow.
When the Sky takes power and keeps it for 10 years
It's only the 7th stage of the Tour but everything will change.
The Sky thus takes power over the race to keep it for almost 10 years.
The Australian Richie Porte launches the first hostilities.
At the foot of the formidable Planche, nine riders are still fighting for the stage victory so far unprecedented: Bradley Wiggins, Richie Porte and Christopher Froome (Sky), Cadel Evans (BMC Racing), Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), Denis Menchov (Katusha), Haimar Zubeldia (RadioShack-Nissan), Pierre Rolland (Europcar) and Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis).
At the red flame, they are only five: Wiggins, Froome, Evans, Nibali and Taaramäe.
It was the moment that Froome chose to make a name for himself, to win his first stage on the Tour and to win ahead of Cadel Evans.
Wiggins arrives seconds later and grabs his first yellow jersey.
He will keep it as far as Paris without ever letting go.
Froome, he makes an appointment for the following years.
It was on the board of the Belles-Filles in 2012 that the Sky, now Ineos, put its hold on the Tour.