Hindley grabs Tour de France lead as Pogacar suffers in Pyrenees

LARUNS, France: Australian Jai Hindley crossed the line alone to win stage five of the Tour de France on Wednesday and take the overall leader’s yellow jersey as defending champion Jonas Vingegaard won a tactical battle with key rival Tadej Pogacar.

Hindley’s feat, however, was overshadowed by Vingegaard’s show of class as the Dane pulled off a major coup on the final mountain to carve a 53-second advantage over Pogacar in the overall standings.

The anticipated duel between the pair has been the main focus on the Tour so far, but now Bora-Hansgrohe rider Hindley, the 2022 Giro d’Italia winner, has stolen some of that thunder.

After joining an early escape as the peloton left Pau, the gateway to the Pyrenees, at frantic speed, Hindley eventually shook off his breakaway rivals on the final Col de Marie Blanque climb.

At the village of Laruns the 27-year-old raised his arms to the sky and finished 32 seconds ahead of Italy’s Giulio Ciccone and Austrian Felix Gall with Vingegaard fifth at 34sec.

Ciccone climbed to third in the overall with his second place. The Italian held the yellow jersey briefly in 2019 after a breakaway on the Planche des Belles Filles climb.

The stage winner said he had been ready should an opportunity arise on this first relatively benign foray into the mountains.

“I’m here for the overall win and the aim was to put as much time as possible into the others,” said Hindley.

“It has been a dream since I was six years old but I never thought I’d find myself in the yellow jersey,” he said.

“It was chaotic behind with different teams riding with various aims. I got the win and the lead so I’m delighted, it’s going to be a crazy bike race.”

Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma stunned the UAE Team when Wout