After Phil Anderson, Stuart O’Grady, Bradley McGee, Robbie McEwen, Simon Gerrans, Cadel Evans and Rohan Dennis, Jai Hindley became the eighth Australian in the yellow jersey as he soloed to victory in Laruns after making a smart move in a numerous breakaway from far out on his Tour de France debut! Jonas Vingegaard bettered arch-rival Tadej Pogecar in the first Pyrenean stage.
PIERRE LATOUR FIRST IN ACTION
The start proper of stage 5 was given at 13.24 to 172 riders. Non-starters: Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and Jacopo Guarnieri (Lotto-Dstny). Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) was the first rider to go clear at km 3. He was brought back at km 19 as the peloton remained very active with many breakaway attempts. 36 riders gathered at the front at km 28: Tiesj Benoot, Christophe Laporte, Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Felix Grossschartner, Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Omar Fraile, Daniel Martínez (Ineos Grenadiers), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Esteban Chaves, Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-EasyPost), Julian Alaphilippe, Kasper Asgreen, Rémi Cavagna (Soudal-Quick Step), Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious), Jai Hindley, Emanuel Buchmann, Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe), Giulio Ciccone, Juan Pedro Lopez, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Clément Berthet, Felix Gall, Aurélien Paret Peintre (Ag2r-Citröen), Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), Matteo Jorgenson, Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar), Chris Hamilton (Dsm-firmenich), Hugo Houle, Krists Neilands (Israel-PremierTech), Chris Juul Jensen (Jayco-AlUla), Anthony Delaplace (Arkéa-Samsic), Victor Campenaerts, Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny), Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan), Torstein Traeen (Uno-X), Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies). This group was formed after Cavagna and Mühlberger broke away at km 24.
THE STRONG SHOWING OF PEDERSEN, VAN AERT AND CAMPENAERTS BEFORE COL DU SOUDET
Four riders escaped from that group at km 45: Coquard, Pedersen, Van Aert and Campenaerts. Coquard won the intermediate sprint at km 48 and sat up, leaving a trio at the front while UAE Team Emirates seized the reins of the peloton, two minutes behind. At the beginning of the ascent to col du Soudet, the first HC climb of the 110th Tour de France, Pedersen let Van Aert and Campenaerts at the front while Lopez was pulling the chasing group at the service of Ciccone. The Belgian duo got reeled in 2.5km before the summit. Gall attacked one kilometre further. He reached the top alone in the lead while Martinez outsprinted Ciccone for the second place. 17 riders gathered together at the front when Neilands rode away solo with 53.5km to go.
HINDLEY BY HIMSELF WITH 20KM TO GO
Alaphilippe and Van Aert caught up with Neilands at col d’Ichère (cat. 3) with 38km remaining. At the bottom of Marie-Blanque, the second major climb of the day, the deficit of the peloton was 3 minutes. Van Aert, Alaphilippe and Neilands were reeled in with 24km to go. 4km before the summit, Hindley attacked with Gall. Hindley went solo 20km before the finish. Vingegaard also attacked 1km before the summit and Pogacar could go with him. Hindley crested Marie-Blanque alone in the lead and kept going till he crossed the finish alone with a great emotion. Vingegaard recovered enough time to reach the line 34’’ after the Australian who has 47 seconds lead over the defending champion in the overall ranking while Pogacar is 1’40’’ adrift.
