With Buchmann's help: Hindley takes stage win & yellow
DPA
· 05.07.2023
A 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 to take the yellow jersey.
Tour de France: Buchmann pilots 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 the team's 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 outsprinted by defending champion Jonas Vingegaard on the final climb and lost a good minute to the Dane.
Hindley wins ahead of Ciccone and Gall
Hindley soloed to victory on the fifth stage from Pau to Laruns over 162.7 kilometres ahead of the Italian Giulio Ciccone and the Austrian Felix Gall. The 2022 Giro d'Italia champion thus replaced the British stage winner Adam Yates as the leader. "This is incredible. I don't even know what to say," stammered Hindley.
The big loser of the day, however, was Pogacar, who was left behind by Vingegaard in the high mountains, similar to last year. In 2020, Pogacar had won his first Tour stage in Laruns.
However, the Bora team pulled off a real coup on stage 5 of the 2023 Tour de France, with three riders in a high-calibre breakaway group. The plan worked perfectly. German champion Buchmann accompanied Hindley over the 1540 metre high Col de Soudet and also provided great help on the ramps of the Col de Marie Blanque before Hindley finished the job. It was only the second yellow jersey for team boss Ralph Denk's squad, with former world champion Peter Sagan catapulting the Raubling team to the top for a day in 2018.
Buchmann moves up the rankings
The par force ride also paid off for Buchmann. The Ravensburg native, who had even finished fourth overall in 2019, moved back up to fourth place in the classification. He is 1:11 minutes behind Hindley, while Vingegaard (+0:47) is again second overall. "We didn't expect that before the stage," said Buchmann.
The starting gun had barely been fired in Pau when the action got underway. All-rounder Wout van Aert in particular pushed the pace hard and broke away from the peloton. Pogacar and his UAE team had underestimated the move and had to ride behind and do a lot of work for the rest of the stage.
Sprinters have to let go
The main victims of the hellish pace were the sprinters on stage 5 of the Tour de France 2023, who had to abandon early on. Dutch sprint star Fabio Jakobsen in particular, already struggling with injuries from the previous day's crash, had to fight hard. For the German sprint surprise Phil Bauhaus, the first Tour de France stage in the high mountains of his career was also all about staying within the grace period.
Bauhaus had surprised with second and third place in the first two mass arrivals of the Tour. However, he was subsequently penalised for his sprint on Tuesday50 points deduction in the battle for the green jersey, a time penalty of 30 seconds and 500 Swiss francs cost the rider from Bocholt a bump in the sprint final. Bauhaus should be able to get over the penalty.
On Thursday, the suffering continues for the sprinters in the Pyrenees when the first mountain finish is on the programme. At the end of the 144.9 kilometre sixth stage, the climb to Cauterets-Cambasque, a first category mountain, awaits. Before that, the riders will also have to conquer the Col d'Aspin and the legendary Col du Tourmalet at an altitude of 2115 metres.
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