TOUR DE FRANCE 2023 – STAGE 5
PAU – LARUNS

39: AUSTRALIA WINS

Jai Hindley records the 39th Australian win at the Tour. The former Australian winner had been Michael Matthews in Mende last year.
Australia has won at least a stage in the last 5 years, something that has been recorded only by Belgium and France.

20’57”: VINGEGAARD FASTER THAN THE POGACAR OF… 2020
Not only was Jonas Vingegaard the fastest on the ascent of Col de Marie Blanque, he also beat the Strava KOM set by Tadej Pogacar when the Slovenian took his maiden Tour de France victory in Laruns, in 2020.
The winner of the Tours 2020 and 2021 covered the ascent in 22’24’’… NTT Data recorded a time of 20’57’’ for the defending champion over the same segment, almost a minute and half faster than his Slovenian rival.

105,2 KPH!: MEINTJES SPEEDS DOWN
The highest speed recorded today by NTT Data belongs to Louis Meintjes: he recorded no less than 105,2 kph!

6: PAIRING THE COLOURS
Jai Hindley joins the list of Australian riders that wore the pink jersey at the Giro d’Italia and the yellow jersey at the Tour.
They are: Robbie McEwen, Bradley McGee, Cadel Evans, Simon Gerrans, Rohan Dennis and Jai Hindley.
Curiously:
– in the 2020 Giro Hindley wore the pink jersey only in the 19 minutes of the final TT stage, to be stripped by Tao Geoghegan Hart for the final win.
– in the 2022 Giro he conquered the pink jersey only at the penultimate stage, and wore it in the race only in the final TT…for 22 minutes!

38/40: SLIPPING BACK
Slovenian Tadej Pogacar was in the top-3 of the General Classification in 38 of the last 40 stages at the Tour, but not in Laruns, as he is standing 6th.
Something unusual in this town, that so far had seen only Slovenian wins (2018 Roglic, 2020 Pogacar).
Instead, Tadej Pogacar, in the town where he took his maiden Tour de France win, suffers a setback, and is not only out of the top-3, but out of the top-5 of the General Classification for the first time since the 4th stage of 2021 (Fougères: a streak of 42 stages in the top-5 followed until yesterday).

6’18”: AUSTRIAN CONNECTIONS

Winner of L’Étape du Tour 2022 and Gran Fondo world champion Stefan Kirchmair never made it to the professional ranks but he’s turned into a fierce KOM hunter. Until today, he had the best time on the Strava segment for the climb up Col de Soudet: 47’04’’.
His time held since 2015… But it didn’t resist the passing of the Tour de France, with his Austrian compatriot Felix Gall leading the charge on the climb. The NTT Data sensors recorded him covering the ascent with a time of 40’46’’, i.e. 6’18’’ faster than Kirchmair!

10: BORA MAKES IT A 10
10th Tour de France win for the Bora team: the first was Peter Sagan in Longwy, 2017.
Hindley is the 6th winner for Bora, after:
• Maciej Bodnar
• Lennard Kamna
• Patrick Konrad
• Nils Politt
• Peter Sagan (only multiple winner for the team, with 6 wins)

2015: AUSTRALIA IN YELLOW
Jai Hindley is the 8th Australian in yellow and the first in this decade: the previous one had been Rohan Dennis in Utrecht, 2015.

69: ITALY’S DROUGHT
2nd stage podium for Giulio Ciccone after another 2nd place, in La Planche des Belles Filles in 2019. Italy’s wins drought, 69 stages long, thus continues.
The last winner for Italy was Vincenzo Nibali, Val-Thorens, 20th stage of the 2019 edition.

64: DOWN TO THE SECOND?
A curious coincidence in the last two Pyrénées stages, Hautacam 2022, Laruns 2023. In both Jonas Vingegaard distanced Tadej Pogacar. But how much? The same gap: 64 seconds last year, 64 seconds this year.