Former Giro champion Hindley wins Tour mountain stage to claim yellow jersey as Pogacar loses ground

Paris, July 5 (BNA): The first mountain stage of the Tour de France produced a new leader for the race on Wednesday, and he strongly suggested that defending champion Jonas Vingaard has the upper hand in a duel with two-time winner Tadezh Pogacar.

On his debut in the Tour de France, former Giro d’Italia champion Guy Hindley took the yellow jersey after winning a 162.7-kilometre (100.9-mile) fifth stage that also featured a grueling 15.2-kilometre (9.4-mile) course to grind the Col de Sudt, reports AP.

Vingegaard made the most of the brutal climb of Marie-Blanc, the third and final ascent of the day, to mount a sharp attack that Pogacar left unanswered.

Vingegaard moved into second place in the general classification, 47 seconds behind Hindley. Pogacar finished sixth overall, one minute, 40 seconds back. Former leader Adam Yates, Pogacar’s teammate, dropped to fifth.

Hindley was part of an early breakaway and became the first Australian leader of the race since the return of Rohan Dennis in 2015.

Hindley, who rides with the Bora-Hansgrohe team, was part of a 36-man group that managed to escape from the herd early on. After several moves from the other contenders including Wout van Aert and Julian Alaphilippe, Hindley attacked 4km before the summit of Marie-Blanc.

insignificant