Tour de France 2023 – Stage 05 [LAST 20 KM]

July 5, 2023

Tour de France 2023 – Stage 5 – Pau – Laruns : 162,7 km

For three weeks of the year cycling fans put their bikes away and root themselves to their sofas, eyes fixed on their television screens as they watch one of the greatest races of the season play out in front of them. We are, of course, talking about the Tour de France – the one bicycle race that nearly everyone on planet Earth has heard of. This three-week race is regarded by many as one of the toughest sporting events in the world. With 21 gruelling stages to complete over a 23-day period, adding up to around 3,500km in total, the Tour de France is a race of pure endurance. The winner isn’t necessarily the strongest rider, but rather the one who can survive the most suffering, day after day. The 2023 route, which is due to start in the Basque Country, Spain, and finish in Paris, France, features three leg-breaking summit finishes, one individual time trial and a high-mountain stage that will see the riders take on no less than 5,200m of climbing. The rest of the route is made up of flat and hilly stages, offering the sprinters, puncheurs and escape artists – those who aren’t as focussed on the famous yellow jersey – plenty of opportunities to take a career-defining stage win.

Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) won a tumultuous stage 5 of the Tour de France in Laruns to move into the yellow jersey, but Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) is now the clear favourite for overall victory after he dropped Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) on the Col de Marie Blanque, gaining more than a minute on his rival in the process.

Vingegaard is now up to second overall, 47 seconds behind Hindley, while already some 54 seconds ahead of Pogačar.

The first day in the Pyrenees produced spectacle from start to finish, with Hindley part of a dangerous split that went clear before the road had even started to climb. The sizeable group built up a maximum lead of four minutes over the top of the Col de Soudet and they still had 2:30 in hand at the base of the Col de Marie Blanque.

Four kilometres from the top of the Marie Blanque, Hindley tracked a move from Felix Gall (AG2R-Citroën) and he then proceeded to drop the Swiss rider to crest the summit alone and drop to the finish in Laruns as the stage winner.

Further down the mountain, Jumbo-Visma had taken up the pace-making in the yellow jersey group and when Sepp Kuss went into overdrive on the upper slopes of the Marie Blanque, only Vingegaard and Pogačar could follow.

Vingegaard was clearly encouraged by what he saw. 1500m or so from the summit, he delivered a familiar acceleration that Pogačar simply could not match. While Pogačar battled to limit his losses, Vingegaard zoomed ahead into the mist, picking off the remnants of the break as he set about closing the gap to Hindley.

The defending champion crested the summit 1:05 down on Hindley but 36 seconds clear of Pogačar, and he continued to improve his position on the 18.5km that remained to the finish in Laruns.

Vingegaard caught Gall, Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) in the closing kilometres, coming home fifth on the stage, 34 seconds behind the Australian.

Pogačar, who waited for overnight leader and teammate Adam Yates on the descent reached the finish some 1:37 down, leaving him already with a significant deficit on Vingegaard.

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