Pierre Rolland con­firmed his huge tal­ent and gave Colnago a sec­ond con­sec­u­tive stage vic­tory at the Tour de France by con­quer­ing the Alps and his break­away rivals to win the stage to La Toussuire.

Thomas Voeckler was the first rider to win at the Tour de France on the new Colnago C59 Team Edition bike on Wednesday. His vic­tory inspired his younger French team­mate and Rolland won rid­ing a Colnago M10 S in Team Edition col­ors. Rolland cel­e­brated vic­tory by lift­ing his Colnago above his head just after cross­ing the line.

Rolland attacked on the first climb of the short but test­ing stage, the Col de la Madeleine, and got across to the break of the day with team­mate Christophe Kern. Davide Malacarne was already in the move, giv­ing Team Europcar the power to force the break­away clear. Kern worked hard to help Rolland on the Col de la Croix de Fer, reduc­ing the break to just a few riders.

Rolland crashed on the test­ing descent of the Col du Mollard but picked him­self up and bat­tled on, deter­mined to win. He caught the rid­ers in front on the early part of the climb to the fin­ish and fought back the pain as he was cheered to vic­tory by the French crowd along the roadside.

“This stage had become a night­mare for me. I’ve been dream­ing about it for six months. I really went for it but I didn’t have the legs and only won because of my men­tal strength,” Rolland said.

“Last year I won the stage to L’Alpe d’Huez thanks to my tac­tics. But this time I was the favourite in the break­away. I’ve been so unlucky in this Tour de France but I didn’t let it get to me and was deter­mined to win.”

Thanks to his incred­i­ble per­for­mance, Rolland also moved up into the top ten over­all in the Tour de France. He is now ninth, 8:31 behind over­all race leader Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky.

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