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

first mountain st of Tour de France produced a new race leer on Wednesday and firmly indicated that defending champion Jonas Vingegaard has upper hand in his duel with two-time winner Tej Pogacar.

On his Tour de France debut, former Giro d’Italia champion Jai Hindley took yellow jersey after winning 162.7-kilometer (100.9-mile) fifth st that also included a daunting 15.2-kilometer (9.4-mile) grind up Col de Soudet.

Vingegaard me most of brutal climb of Marie-Blanque, third and last ascent of day, to launch a sharp attack that was left unanswered by Pogacar.

“He was just stronger today,” Pogacar said.

Vingegaard moved into second place in general classification, 47 seconds behind Hindley. Pogacar was sixth overall, 1 minute, 40 seconds back. Previous leer am Yates, a teammate of Pogacar, dropped to fifth.

Hindley was part of an early breakaway and became first Australian leer of race since Rohan Dennis back in 2015.

“I was surprised when I was part of break, and bunch didn’t really react,” Hindley said. “We decided to start working in group and just have fun. Initially my idea was to just get a buffer to or general classification guys.”

Vingegaard perfectly timed his attack after American teammate Sepp Kuss imposed a fast and exhausting tempo that took its toll on Pogacar, who found out after finish that his girlfriend h crashed during women’s Giro in Italy, and may have suffered a concussion.

“It’s a bit more of a s news than losing 50 seconds to Jonas, or 1 minute,” Pogacar said.

Vingegaard stopped short of celebrating, perfectly aware that Tour is a three-week race of attrition full of twists and turns.

“I kw Tej, he never gives up,” Vingegaard said. “It will be a fight all way to Paris.”

Hindley, who rides for Bora-Hansgrohe team, was part of a 36-man group that mand to escape from pack early on. Following several moves from or contenders including Wout van Aert and Julian Alaphilippe, Hindley attacked 4 kilometers before Marie-Blanque summit.

“On Soudet I started thinking about a st win, at bottom of climb I also saw my parents which was really special and emotional,” Hindley said. “When I attacked, everything went so fast, I knew I h a good chance, but I only started really believing on home straight.”

After cresting first, Hindley went all in, averaging 55.8 kph (34.6 mph) from top of mountain to finish, with a maximum speed of 82.9 kph (51.5 mph) in downhill. Giulio Ciccone was second, 32 seconds off pace, with Felix Gall completing st podium.

Vingegaard crossed finish line 34 seconds behind, with Pogacar struggling 1 minute, 38 seconds rift.

Vingegaard dethroned Pogacar last year and arrived in top form to defend his title. Pogacar, who rides for UAE Team Emirates, was untouchable earlier this year but a crash two months ago that left him with a broken wrist requiring surgery has hampered his preparations for Tour.

“ high mountains have spoken truth,” UAE team principal Mauro Gianetti said. “Vingegaard is at top and Tej has yet to reach his best. It was only fifth st, hopefully we will improve, re is a lot of work to do.”

Pogacar will need to recover quickly since Thursday’s sixth st is even more brutal, featuring three big climbs including a mountain-top finish.