5th stage of the Tour de France
Pogacar left behind: German team conquers yellow jersey
The 5th stage of the Tour de France is the first in the Pyrenees – and causes massive shifts in the overall rankings. Jai Hindley from the German team Bora-hansgrohe takes the yellow jersey, Emanuel Buchmann jumps to fourth place. One of the favorites is decisively left behind.
A very strong Emanuel Buchmann celebrated his return to the top of the world at the first Pyrenees spectacle and paved the way for his captain Jai Hindley into the yellow jersey. Thanks to the strong support of the German champion, Hindley took the lead in the overall standings with his solo victory on the first high mountain stage of the 110th Tour de France and gave the German Bora-hansgrohe racing team the second yellow jersey in team history. Buchmann completed the triumph with fourth place. “The result is simply perfect,” said Buchmann.
Meanwhile, two-time Tour champion Tadej Pogacar suffered a serious setback when he was duped by defending champion Jonas Vingegaard on the last climb and lost a good minute to the Dane. “It’s not over yet,” said a defiant Pogacar, who won his first Tour stage in Laruns in 2020.
Hindley single-handedly took victory on the fifth stage from Pau to Laruns over 162.7 kilometers ahead of the Italian Giulio Ciccone and the Austrian Felix Gall. The 2022 Giro d’Italia champion replaced British opening winner Adam Yates as leader. “That’s unbelievable. I don’t even know what to say,” Hindley stammered.
Buchmann “didn’t expect it”
While Pogacar reached the finish line defeated, the Bora racing team pulled off a real coup. The team was represented in a top-class breakaway group with three riders. The plan worked completely. German champion Buchmann accompanied Hindley over the 1540 meter high Col de Soudet and also gave great help on the ramps of the Col de Marie Blanque before Hindley completed the job. It was only the second yellow jersey for team boss Ralph Denk’s team; former world champion Peter Sagan catapulted the Raublingen team to the top for one day for the first time in 2018.
The tour de force also paid off for Buchmann. The Ravensburg native, who even took fourth place overall in 2019, moved back up to fourth place in the rankings. He is 1:11 minutes behind Hindley, second overall is Vingegaard again (+0:47). “We didn’t expect that before the stage,” assured Buchmann.
The starting signal had barely been given in Pau when things got straight to the point. In particular, all-rounder Wout van Aert pushed the pace hard and broke through the peloton. Pogacar and his UAE team underestimated the action and had to follow and do a lot of work for the rest of the stage.
Sprinters fight against the waiting period
The main victims of the hellish pace were the sprinters, who had to let go. In particular, the Dutch sprint star Fabio Jakobsen, who was already suffering from fall injuries from the previous day, had to struggle hard. For the German sprint surprise Phil Bauhaus, the first tour stage in the high mountains of his career was all about staying in the waiting period.
Bauhaus surprised everyone with second and third place in the first two mass arrivals of the tour. However, he was subsequently punished for his sprint on Tuesday: 50 points deducted in the fight for the green jersey, a time penalty of 30 seconds and 500 Swiss francs cost the Bocholter a jostling in the sprint final. Bauhaus should be able to cope with the punishment.
The suffering in the Pyrenees continues for the sprinters on Thursday when the first mountain finish is on the program. At the end of the sixth stage over 144.9 kilometers there is the climb to Cauterets-Cambasque, a mountain in the first category. Before that, you also go over the Col d’Aspin and the legendary Col du Tourmalet at an altitude of 2,115 meters.
