‘That was never the plan’ - Jai Hindley climbs to surprise yellow jersey

Bora-Hansgrohe played their cards to perfection on stage 5 of the Tour de France, placing their trident of climbers, Patrick Konrad, Emanuel Buchmann and Jai Hindley, into the breakaway of the day. It was from the surprising 36-man break that Hindley emerged the strongest to cross the line alone and ride into the yellow jersey.

Entering the stage in seventh and 22 seconds behind race leader Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), Hindley would not have been expected to get up the road in an early breakaway, but found himself part of a move after only 35km that contained other big names such as Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep).

Conserving his energy throughout the middle portion of the stage, Hindley benefitted from a strong pace driven by the Jumbo-Visma riders out front, and the help offered by teammates Konrad and Buchmann.

"I was pretty surprised to find myself in that [front] group,” laughed Hindley after the stage. “I sort of just slipped into it and I was just having fun. I looked back and there was no group behind, so I thought 'I guess we're in for a bike race’.”

Bora-Hansgrohe Head Sport Director Rolf Aldag was as surprised as any after the stage.

That was never the plan,” he chuckled. “It was the plan to think aggressively, think forward - never backwards, always forwards - but it was honestly an accident with Jai in the group!”

The final climb of the day was the 7.5km Col de Marie Blanque and it was here that Hindley dispatched his toughest rival Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën), as the leading pair approached the summit. From here, Hindley went solo to the finish in Laruns and crossed the line 32 seconds ahead of the group that contained breakaway companions Buchmann, Gall, Ciccone, and the peloton’s chief attacker, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma).

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Jai Hindley: “To all the Aussie fans staying up late at home, thanks for all the support and I hope you enjoyed that one!"

Recognising the danger of Hindley and wanting to take time on the main obstacle between himself and a second successive Tour de France title, Vingegaard unleashed a ferocious attack on Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and co. This attack saw the Dane put in 1:06 on his great Slovenian rival and move up to second in GC, but it was Hindley who ended the day in yellow.

Becoming the first Australian to pull on the Tour’s yellow jersey since Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) in 2015, Hindley took a huge step forward as he attempts to finish on the podium of his first Tour de France. Cadel Evans is, of course, the only Australian to win the Tour de France to date, but Hindley might well begin to dare to dream, leaving stage 5 with a 47-second advantage on Vingegaard and a 1:03 gap to third-placed Ciccone.

Two-time champion Pogačar, however, now sits in sixth and is faced with a 1:40 deficit to the 2022 Giro d’Italia champion. Speaking after the finish, Hindley was “lost for words” as he tried to let it all sink in.

"It's really emotional [having my parents here]. I saw them at the bottom of the last climb and got pretty emotional seeing them on the road. It's just really special to have them on the roads because they've been there for me from day one and I owe them everything. It means the world,” he beamed with delight.

Bora-Hansgrohe Head Sport Director Rolf Aldag was full of praise for his leader who now takes the race lead into the final day in the Pyrenees on stage 6.

“Jai spent so much time preparing for this Tour - at altitude, the [Critérium du] Dauphiné, altitude [again], never seeing his family. He knew this [stage] also from the recon, he knew every metre, he could basically do the briefing in the meeting on the bus because he knew it inside out. And he cashed in on all that hard work - brilliant!”