Tour de France Stage 5: Hindley as Victorious and in the Yellow Jersey

The Tour de France finally begins, with a first stage in the Pyrenees. Cyclists started out for 162.7 km of racing with one hors catégorie climb, another of 1st category, and a finish in the streets of Laruns.

For the 4th stage, Jasper Philipsen again dominated on the Nogaro circuit, following a slow start to the day, then a complete change of pace 30 km from the finish. Yates remains the Tour leader with a six-second lead over Pogacar.

An Exciting Start to the Stage

Pierre Latour took off in front, with only a few seconds ahead of the peloton, which saw many riders attempt to catch the Frenchman without success. Notably, Jakobsen was already dropped by the peloton, with Morkov supporting him. A group of 36 riders broke away from the peloton. Among them were Julian Alaphilippe, French champion Valentin Madouas, Wout Van Aert, and Rigoberto Uran. A few kilometers later, four riders escaped: Wout Van Aert, Mads Pedersen, Victor Campenaerts, and Bryan Coquard.

Intermediate Sprint Won by Bryan Coquard

The Frenchman beat Mads Pedersen and Wout Van Aert, earning 20 more points in the sprint classification. After the intermediate sprint, Bryan Coquard rejoined the lead group.

Led by Soudal Quick-Step and Julian Alaphilippe, the chasing group tried to catch up with the lead group. At 83 km from the finish, the chasing group was about twenty seconds behind. The peloton was three minutes behind the leaders.

It was 77 km from the finish when the lead group was caught by the chasing pack, with the summit of the Col du Soudet classified as hors catégorie just 2 km away.

First Hors Category Summit

A few hundred meters from the summit, Félix Gall attacked within the lead group. He crossed the summit as the virtual best climber of the Tour, ahead of Martinez and Ciccone. Alaphilippe and Van Aert had been overtaken in the last part of the climb but caught up in the descent. At 58 km from the finish, they were 17 riders ahead, with a four-minute lead on the peloton.

In the valley between the Soudet and Ichère peaks, Wout Van Aert and Julian Alaphilippe set out to chase Neilands, who had gone earlier.

Col de Marie Blanque

Right at the foot of the climb, AG2R rode intensely and allowed Hindley to attack alongside Gall (AG2R). In the peloton, teams like UAE, like at the start of the day, worked to bring back Pogacar and Yates. A major surprise in this 5th stage: after Hindley’s solo attack, Vingegaard attacked Pogacar. The white jersey rider couldn’t keep up. Vingegaard has become the favorite for this Tour de France after this stage.

Hindley Wins and Wears the Yellow Jersey

After a very impressive climb, Hindley performed an excellent descent to take victory in Laruns. He finished with a 34-second lead over Vingegaard. The gap between the 2022 winner and Tadej Pogacar was 1’06. Hindley achieved the double by winning the stage and taking the yellow jersey. In the general classification, Hindley leads by 47 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard.

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