Vingegaard 'too fast' as he takes decisive lead over Tour de France rival Pogacar

Australian Jai Hindley grabs yellow jersey after brutal Stage 5

Jumbo-Visma's Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard during Stage 5 of the Tour de France on July 5, 2023. AFP

Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard won a tactical battle with key rival Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates as Australian Jai Hindley won Stage 5 of the Tour de France on Wednesday.

Denmark's Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) accelerated some two kilometres from the top of the last climb, the lung-busting ascent to the Col de Marie Blanque, to take over one minute off two-time Tour winner Pogacar.

Hindley leads Vingegaard with the Dane pulling off a major coup on the final mountain and now has a 53-second advantage on Pogacar in the overall standings.

Bora-Hansgrohe rider Hindley, the 2022 Giro d'Italia winner, shook off his rivals on the Col de Marie-Blanc to break clear in the yellow jersey standings.

The 27-year-old finished 32 seconds ahead of Italy's Giulio Ciccone and Austrian Felix Gall with Vingegaard fifth at 34 seconds.

Vingegaard's Jumbo-Visma stunned the UAE Team Emirates when Wout Van Aert dropped back from an early break and led Vingegaard uphill with an impressive 500m pull.

Meanwhile Pogacar, the 2020 and 2021 champion, was left isolated as overnight leader Adam Yates appeared unable to help in the chase.

The Australian may be making his Tour de France debut, but given Hindley has twice stood on the podium of the Giro it was not a huge surprise to see how easily he got into the break.

“I'm a bit lost for words to be honest,” the Bora-Hansgrohe rider said. “I can't believe it. I was pretty surprised to find myself in that group. I just sort of slipped into it.

“I was sort of having fun, then looked back and there was no group behind so I thought, 'I guess we're in for a bike race'.

“The gap grew out initially and I was just trying to maybe get a bit of a buffer on the GC guys and then I started to think about the stage win.”

Pogacar admitted Vingegaard timed his charge perfectly.

“He was just too fast on the climb. I tried to hold on until the top but he was really, really strong. What an attack,” said Pogacar, who had grabbed a few bonus seconds in the first two stages.

“There's nothing you can do when someone is stronger than you like that.”

Thursday's sixth stage is an another mountain ride over 144.9km between Tarbes and Cauterets featuring punishing climbs up the Col d'Aspin and Col du Tourmalet.