Tour de France 2023 | Peloton already enters the Pyrenees with Adam Yates in yellow on the fifth day | Tour de france

The fifth stage starts at 1.25 pm in Pau, a place with a rich Tour history. A Tour stage has already started or finished in Pau 73 times before. Usually the city looms in the final week, but now it has been chosen early in the round to visit the Pyrenees. It promises to be a wonderful mountain ride. The run-up is flat and contains an intermediate sprint in Lanne-en-Barétous after almost fifty kilometers, but then the real work starts.

The Col de Soudet is the first hors category climb in this Tour. With a length of 15.2 kilometers and an average gradient of 7.2 percent, we will see the first classification men in trouble here. There is no point in hiding anymore on strips of up to 12 percent.

After a descent and the Col d’Ichère (4.2 kilometers at 7 percent), the second and last heavy obstacle of the day follows with the Col de Marie Blanque. At the beginning of the almost eight-kilometer climb, the road does not rise that much, but from the halfway point the percentages no longer drop below double digits. With an average increase of 8.6 percent, this is a tricky final climb. Are the big men going to hurt each other here? Or does it then come together again in the descent towards Laruns and, just like three years ago, it turns into a small group sprint in the stage from Pau to Laruns?

Tadej Pogacar then took the win at the expense of his compatriot Primoz Roglic. There is a good chance that Pogacar will again compete for the win today. The big question is whether he will drive his teammate Adam Yates out of yellow today. In the standings, the Briton defends a lead of six seconds on his teammate Pogacar and also six seconds on his twin brother Simon. Jonas Vingegaard follows seventeen counts behind.

• Ride type: mountain ride
• Distance: 162.7 kilometers
• Start: 1.25 pm in Pau
• Finish: between 17.21 and 17.51 ​​in Laruns

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