02x02 - The Third Man

[bunniefuu]

[tense percussive music playing]

[Jurdie] Okay, guys,

as you know, we're here to talk about

the Tour de France 2023.

Some of you did the Giro,

some did the Vuelta.

But some of you have

never been in the Tour de France before.

I'm mainly thinking of you, Felix.

But the Tour de France

is the Tour de France,

the biggest racers in the world.

[horns blowing, applause echoing faintly]

[Chainel] When you're a French team

with a French sponsor,

and you're in the Tour de France,

you have got to get results.

[Jurdie] So, what is the Tour de France?

It's a colour.

That famous colour yellow.

A colour that every rider

wants to wear once in their life.

It annoys me when I see

any of the other teams win.

Our DNA is the general classification.

And this year, once again,

that will be our goal for Ben.

Ben's Tour will be a success

if he places well in the GC

and puts on

the yellow jersey even for a day.

In the Tour this year, I want to show

I can race at the front again.

[Jurdie] Ben is an aggressive rider

with a strong character,

who sometimes struggles

to control his emotions.

Is he psychologically capable

of taking all that pressure?

That's the question.

[O'Connor] f*ck!

- I'm not taking any media.

- It's important.

I'm not doing anything.

[dramatic percussive theme playing]

[crowd cheering]

[birds chirping]

- [Jurdie] You know the Tour.

- Yeah.

You competed here last year.

The Tour's aggressive.

And that's good 'cause

there'll be a lot of opportunities for us.

We can do things together

and also individually

to help you shine in the GC.

The dream is to finish with the best,

every day in the top five.

Every day in the top five.

It's not impossible.

- I think it's possible.

- Yes.

I was fourth before. f*ck.

Why can I not be this again?

[Jurdie] We want to forget 2022.

We know Ben had a tough Tour de France

and difficulties here last year,

the crash and the injury.

So we formulated a plan with him

to get him in the best mindset

to win the Tour this year.

We know that, for a leader,

the tiny details create victories.

Mm-hmm.

And conversely, our small worries

really move us

further away from our goals.

[laughing] Yeah.

[Jurdie] So I really think

it's important that your mind is calm.

[Jurdie] We're working with Ben so he can

control his emotions when things go wrong.

It's about knowing

the right psychological approach

to get the rider

in the best frame of mind.

Let's go outside and train.

Okay. Let's go?

Yeah, let's go.

[tense rhythmic music playing]

[Barrett] Ben is confident.

He is ready to work.

My job is to get him fully focused

so he's ready to go.

The challenge Ben has is that

he deals with pressure in a different way.

[O'Connor] f*ck this!

f*cking sucks.

Sometimes he just has to have a release

valve, where the emotions just come out.

I'm under no illusion that days

will happen in the Tour de France

where he's pissed at me,

he's pissed at himself

f*cking hate power metres.

I could probably be more patient.

- [O'Connor] All right.

- [Sarah] Ready?

Reckon we'll get this one too?

There we go.

- [Sarah] Yeah! Nailed it! [laughs]

- [O'Connor] Yay.

But having my wife Sarah with me

keeps me, uh, stable.

[O'Connor] This mountain's enormous.

What is it?

- [Barrett] Mont Blanc!

- Is it?

- [Sarah] I thought you'd pick that out.

- [Barrett] Surprised you didn't know that.

Same! I was waiting for you to tell me.

I'm a person that

does this a lot, emotionally.

The last year,

I think I've become a bit smarter

in terms of dumbing down that reactivity.

And I think, uh, that's paid

dividends with some of my results.

[intense music playing]

[Jurdie] Everyone in the peloton knows

that the Dauphiné

is like a mini Tour de France.

It's very important

to shine on the roads of the Dauphiné.

- [banging]

- [horns blowing]

[commentator] Vingegaard wins again.

And Ben O'Connor takes third.

[indistinct chatter]

- Ben!

- Oh, Vincent!

- Well done. That was great. Third?

- Yeah.

That's great. Well done.

Ben is a young rider with real talent.

He, um He's really

proven himself within the team

and our ambitions are very high.

They have to be when

competing in the Tour, don't they?

With Ben, we're hoping for great results

in the general classification.

[crowd applauding]

[announcer] And in 3rd place

in the general classification,

it's the Australian from

the AG2R Citroën team, Ben O'Connor!

[crowd cheering]

So you're feeling good and ready,

leading into the Tour de France this year?

Yeah, no, I can't wait.

Just

I mean, the thing is,

everything's been perfect.

It's just been like tick, tick, tick.

- Yeah.

- So

I feel like we always get rocky starts,

but it's nice.

This actually

feels like everything's going smoothly.

I finished third behind Jonas Vingegaard

two weeks before the tour starts.

Gives you a ton of confidence to think,

"You know what?"

"In July, I'll be there with the best."

[dramatic music playing]

[commentator]This stage

is 100% Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

It's the first mountain stage

of the 2023 Tour de France.

[Cavagna] This is it!

The Pyrenees. We shall see.

Great atmosphere.

[Jurdie] So, guys, the Tour de France

really starts for us from today.

A really important ride. It's vital.

We hope that you can all bring us success.

It's down to you.

[O'Connor] This stage kind of, uh, sets

the precedent for where you hope to be at.

Not many Australians

have ever won the yellow jersey,

so to win a stage in the Tour de France

and wear the yellow jersey,

that would be, uh That would be sick.

But this year,

my rival is here to win the Tour.

[intense music playing]

Doing a mountain stage,

I still feel like I look better than him.

- [man] Exactly.

- [laughing]

My name's Jai Hindley.

I'm a rider for Team Bora-Hansgrohe.

I'm from, er, Perth.

Ben O'Connor is from Perth as well.

I've known him for a long time,

and, you know, one of the best GC

riders in the world at the moment.

But with any Aussie on any team,

I mean, you always want to beat them.

[Chennaoui] Jai Hindley

is an exceptional talent.

And he won the Giro d'Italia last year.

That is no easy feat.

[crowd cheering]

[commentator] On the streets of Verona,

right outside the famous

Roman amphitheatre.

Veni, Vidi, Hindley! He wins

the Giro d'Italia. It has happened.

[Hindley] To win

the Giro last year was massive.

I think it will always be like,

a career highlight for me,

and just for your self-belief it's huge.

[announcer] Hindley!

[crowd roars]

[Hindley] I've ridden two Vueltas,

four Giros, but never the Tour.

Everyone wants

to win the Tour, mate. [laughs]

Period! Like, you know what I mean?

If you come from Australia,

it's not a cycling country.

You go from racing with,

I don't know, maybe 20 guys to like,

racing Vingegaard and Pogačar.

Like, it's a bit of a step up.

For you.

There's a lot of pressure for sure,

but I just try to focus on what I'm doing,

and perform the best I can for the team.

[intense music continues]

[Denk] We have to do something.

We come with the Giro winner Jai,

and we start with big ambitions,

with big goals here.

But on the other hand,

we missed the stage win last year.

It was new for me.

And this should

be really a goal to win a stage.

Of course we were bitterly disappointed

that we didn't win a stage here last year.

It is my ambition, personally,

that one day as a manager and owner

of a team, I will win the Tour de France.

We need luck, but we need also commitment.

And I believe in you. Good luck, guys.

Jai? You know, that could be

a stage that really is good for you.

So how can we try to get there?

By trying to get into

the breakaway on the wheels.

Save energy, think forward, and,

you know, see what happens there.

I think there's no secret about it,

that Jumbo-Visma and UAE

have more money to spend.

But we want to be absolute competitive,

we have to be more clever

and search for our opportunity.

But with Jai, everybody is beatable.

[Niermann] I expect UAE

will have a really hard time

controlling who is going in the break,

and it might be real chaos.

[Vingegaard] Do we want them

to give them a hard time?

- Yes.

- Okay.

[Vingegaard] For me, there's only

one rider to look for and that's Tadej.

We want to try to go

as fast as possible to the finish line

and then hopefully in the end,

to drop him.

[commentator] It's going to be a big day.

Three huge climbs,

racing for 162.7kilometres.

[Chainel] We're at

the start of the Tour de France,

and the time has come for

all the climbers to show off their skills

and try to win the yellow jersey too.

[O'Connor] The mountains

are always where I perform,

but Jai's one of the best

climbers in the world.

The level is super high,

but I think today could be my day.

[crowd yelling]

[announcer in French] Three, two, one

And they're off!

[commentator in English] And we're off

for the fifth stage of the Tour de France

between Pau and Laruns.

[dramatic music playing]

Many teams want

to get involved in the action.

It's the start of the day stage,

at 24 minutes past 1:00.

Stage five of the Tour de France

between Pau and Laruns.

Today we've had non-stop attacks.

[Vingegaard] The pace

was really, really fast.

You could feel that

everyone is more, uh, motivated,

and really wants to do something extra.

[commentator] It looks like this is it.

The breakaway is forming.

The breakaway was on a mission.

It was 30 riders.

Really, really strong riders.

And on this terrain,

really hard to follow.

[crowd cheering]

[commentator]

And Ben O'Connor accelerates.

To make the breakaway,

you have to be

willing to sacrifice yourself.

And to go head-to-head

with Jai for the same spot,

I'm always going to be

more motivated to win.

[music continues]

Come on, Jai.

[Hindley] In a race, you're always

a bit of a different character.

You have to be competitive.

You have to be cutthroat,

savage, to make the break.

[commentator] Jai Hindley

joins the leading group.

[Hindley] I love that sh*t.

Maybe it's the Aussie in me.

[crowd cheering on TV]

[commentator] Ben O'Connor

doesn't make the breakaway.

I found myself kind of struggling,

but I just wanted to continue on

with confidence and hope.

[man] I'm interested to see what happens

with Ben. The team may go stage hunting.

Two minutes 40 ahead of the peloton.

[commentator] At the front of t he race,

there are about 37 riders

in the leading group.

The AG2R Citroën team

sets the tempo at the front.

[Jurdie] Ben wasn't there that day.

He didn't make the breakaway.

But it was time to show that

the AG2R Citroën colours

were on the roads of the Tour de France,

and that we didn't come here

to go strawberry picking.

The team strategy is pretty simple.

It's to get a rider in the breakaway.

And then we believe there's

a real possibility to win the stage.

Let's continue like this. It's going well.

Good energy, teamwork,

you're working as a collective.

[commentator]Three AG2R Citroën

team riders are at the front.

Middle!

Jai, you just have to sit on the wheel.

Unintentionally, Ben O'Connor's team

were, like, supporting Jai.

But it also says, like,

they're not really afraid of us. No?

[Gasparotto] They're doing their own race.

[Aldag] Yeah.

[bell ringing]

[Chennaoui] The easiest place to be,

in a bike race,

is on someone else's wheel.

If you're out front,

you're putting in so much extra effort.

You're riding into the wind

while the person behind you is getting

all of that shelter, all that protection.

You're saving some

30 to 40% of your energy

just by riding on someone else's wheel.

[Hindley] AG2R started riding

a super hard tempo.

I just stayed behind. Didn't waste energy.

I knew that I needed

to be as fresh as possible.

[crowd cheering]

[commentator]

Behind the yellow jersey group,

led by UAE team Emir ates,

Pogačar and Yates ride at the front.

Vingegaard is there too.

[fan] Hey, hey!

[commentator] Ben O'Connor

is no longer there.

He's struggling

at the back of the peloton.

[O'Connor] I felt terrible.

I didn't feel anything like myself.

I didn't feel like I was able

to reach any of my capacity.

I couldn't go deep enough

where you'd have this burn in your legs,

this deep burn, where it feels

like you're doing muscle damage.

[fan] Go!

It was too much.

And yeah, that was it.

[melancholy music playing]

[commentator] So, at the front

of the race then. And now the attack goes.

[commentator] Jai Hindley

has all of Australia hooked.

It's all out now. It's all out.

[dramatic percussive tone]

[commentator] And now,

Jai Hindley's attacking.

The Australian may be going

for the yellow jersey.

f*cking good job.

[commentator] Now, every second

counts for Jai Hindley.

[Hindley] I was just going all out

and wasn't looking back.

I was just committed.

[cowbell ringing]

[Hindley] But I was pretty much dying.

[loud cheering]

Come on, Jai! Come on!

I think there was extra motivation,

not just in Jai, though,

but throughout the whole team.

[commentator] Will he

be able to keep up this pace?

There is now a 90-second gap

from the group of favourites.

A group with just three riders left,

Sepp Kuss, Jonas Vingegaard,

and Tadej Pogačar.

Quite some riders still in front.

Jonas, you know what to do. Come on.

[commentator] Attack of Jonas Vingegaard!

He leaves everybody behind,

and Tadej Pogačar is unable

to match the Dane's acceleration.

[Vingegaard] We sensed

some kind of weakness there.

And then we tried to go as hard

as possible to the top of the climb.

[music continues]

[crowd cheering]

We were like "f*ck! What was that?"

Jonas was flying that day.

I tried to follow,

but it was just a little bit too much.

We just tried to limit the losses.

[commentator] Jonas Vingegaard

accelerates again

at the summit of the Col de Marie-Blanque.

He's flying.

Jonas, a lot of people

in last gear have to climb.

You're flying again.

[commentator] Every second counts

for Hindley at the top of this mountain.

[commentator 2] Now you have

this real game of cat and mouse.

[Vingegaard] On the top of the climb,

I just wanted to go

as fast as possible to the finish line.

Come on, Jai. 51 seconds,

five-one seconds at five kilometres.

Come on, Jai. You bring that home.

You want to support your rider.

You know, calm him down.

Kind of push him, but just

make sure that he doesn't overdo it.

Because if you think about it,

everything you train for,

everything you eat,

everything you do

is for that yellow jersey.

[commentator 3] Jai Hindley

is flying down the hill.

[commentator 1] The tiniest error

at the front could now lose him the race.

[Aldag] Come on,

40 seconds. 40 seconds, Jai.

Absolutely everything.

You have to dive deep.

It's like a f*cking final of your life.

Come on.

It has to have a good ending.

You have to bring it home. Come on.

You have to push like crazy.

In my mind, I didn't want

to play any games or anything.

I wasn't really thinking about

Vingegaard chasing me down.

When you're battling for the win,

your instincts take over,

and you know what you're doing,

but you have, like, no control over it.

Your body's just on autopilot.

[commentator] Vingegaard is closing in,

43 seconds behind.

[Vingegaard] You have to

push yourself over the limit.

It's more a fight with yourself.

f*cking legend, Jonas.

You're a f*cking legend. Really strong.

Head down, stay an arrow and concentrate

on your power output. Come on, mate.

All out there.

All out until the finish. Come on.

[commentator]

Jonas Vingegaard can't do it.

Vingegaard is on

his limit chasing Hindley.

At 27, the rider from Perth,

in his Tour de France debut,

wins in Laruns

at the end of this fifth stage.

And Jai Hindley

will become the eighth Australian

to wear the yellow jersey

in the Tour de France.

He won the stage!

- Yeah!

- [all laughing]

And you know what?

We have the yellow jersey.

- Eh

- [laughing] Oh!

- That's another problem for tomorrow.

- Yeah, true.

[commentator] Jai Hindley was

the strongest and the smartest today.

What a day for Bora-Hansgrohe.

[Denk] It was sensational.

It is just a yellow jersey.

But at the same time,

it is the most iconic thing in our sport.

It was such

an emotional moment for me. Really.

[man] f*ck yeah!

[Hindley] It's not every day you get to

to win a stage of the Tour de France.

Just like a surreal experience.

And also, to take the jersey

in your debut tour, it's, like,

an incredible feeling.

Like, really incredible.

I still don't believe it now.

[commentator] Vingegaard comes in fifth,

34 seconds behind Jai Hindley.

I think you took one minute

and five seconds on Pogačar.

You took one minute

and five seconds on Pogačar.

[commentator] And here

comes the next group,

led by another Australian, Ben O'Connor.

Well done, guys.

Ben is also in the general classification

with Clément and everyone else.

A great stage, guys. Great stage.

Good job.

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

YELLOW JERSEY

[commentator] Jai Hindley claims

the yellow jersey of the Tour de France.

Jonas Vingegaard is just behind.

Ben O'Connor comes in

over three minutes behind.

On one hand, Jai Hindley sent a clear

message to the favourites with this win.

But on the other,

we're beginning to wonder

if Ben O'Connor

can get the top five again.

Jai won. You know Jai won the stage?

- I did hear. Has he got the yellow jersey?

- Yeah.

He was incredible, he was. Yeah.

So what happened was Aurélien and Clément

were putting full gas in the breakaway.

Yeah, but, wasn't

Jai was right behind. Perfect day for Jai.

- Yeah, but Jai should be riding.

- Jai didn't do anything.

[dramatic percussive tone]

When I heard that we helped Jai,

I was actually just angry in general.

Every second counts.

And the fact that Jai

didn't have to do any work

at all in the stage,

he just sat on the wheels,

felt, uh

Felt a little rough.

[announcer]

Ladies and gentleman, Jai Hindley!

[commentator] The first

Tour de France for Jai Hindley,

and the Australian

makes his mark from the fifth stage

and takes the yellow jersey.

[cheering fades]

[Lavenu] At the end of the day,

it's not good for us.

I'm happy for him. That's what happened?

[Lavenu] But we're not happy, are we?

It's not a problem. We're just

talking it through. No drama, y'know?

Come on. There's no problem

Just gimme a minute.

Okay. Carry on.

I'm interested to see this replay.

All good?

Ben and Jai Hindley, they lock horns.

There's a rivalry. And I think

that ups the pressure for Ben, y'know?

I know.

Well, I'm trying to explain why

the pressure's mounting on Ben, you see?

[Lavenu] But it's the Tour de France,

it's not an inter-Australia race,

you know?

[Jurdie] I know,

I'm just saying it's tricky for him.

[Lavenu] Ben is the first

to be disappointed when things go badly.

Ben is emotional, highly-strung,

and he is nervy,

like sport heroes often are.

Like, racehorses,

they're not calm, are they?

[O'Connor] I just want to know

what happened in general.

Why did Jai

not have to ride at any moment?

- Like, we just gifted Jai.

- Yeah, but it

- Jai's one of the best in the world.

- But

- Because I feel betrayed now, a little.

- No, it's

Not betrayed, but still undercut.

[Lavenu] Yeah, but it's

[Jurdie] Wait, Ben. Stop. Take a breath.

I understand champions' egos,

and they're important.

You have to have a strong personality.

I get that Ben's disappointed, thinking,

"f*ck, why does Jurdie

make us riding as a team today?"

"One of the favourites for

the general classification was out ahead,

taking seconds off me."

"Why weren't we challenging him there?"

"We could've gained on Hindley

and then things

could've turned out differently."

The rider's vision is blinkered,

but we see the bigger picture,

we have to

manage things for the whole team.

[O'Connor] I'm a little annoyed.

I'm annoyed.

Jai won the Giro.

He's here for the GC.

So why are we helping him?

[Jurdie] I know

it's a bitter pill to swallow, Ben.

[O'Connor] It is, it is. It's just

[Jurdie] I know it is.

It's so f*cking frustrating when you see

another guy win

- who you know you can fight with.

- [Barrett] But that's how it is.

He was gifted.

[Barrett] No, he wasn't gifted.

But like you said

- He didn't pull a turn.

- I know.

[Jurdie] For me,

it's not a really big deal.

The priority was for your legs to be good

today, and not to worry about Hindley

Although Felix shouldn't have

ridden with Hindley, I know.

Just don't stress

about that, Ben, you know

Focus on tomorrow. No, no. No.

- No, I get it.

- Don't stress.

- It's important to talk things through.

- It's a big error.

No, it's not a big error.

It's no big deal.

It's a small error, it really is.

- Yeah, I mean, I wasn't good enough.

- It's It's a small error.

[Barrett] It is a small error. It's not

like they f*cking pulled the jersey off.

- No, I know. And I still lost time.

- [Barrett] Yeah.

And it's sh*t and f*cking annoying.

And I'm not super happy.

- [Barrett] You're improving.

- I'm improving.

- I'm still not good enough.

- [Barrett] But it comes.

It will, but it's annoying.

It's a slow process.

[Barrett] It's a slow process.

We're on day five.

[Jurdie] Okay, okay. And now, the smile.

[Jurdie] Okay. Go on, rest up, Ben.

We're pretty far behind on the clock,

so there's frustration,

but we know what Ben's character.

In terms of strategy, we know that

with just a few hours to go

before the start of Stage 6,

it's clear that our goal with Ben is to

stay focused on general classification.

So we're not that far into the Tour

and now we got Stage 6 coming up.

So what I'm saying

is that, yes, there's concern

and there's frustration,

but I'm positive and there's a possibility

that we're still contenders for the GC.

[percussive dramatic tone playing]

He's doing okay.

Good ride.

- [Vingegaard] Yeah.

- You looked strong.

- I felt strong.

- Nice.

So it was a good day.

[Niermann] One acceleration, you took

a lot of confidence from Pogačar.

Today, we really saw that when he's tired

- He doesn't have the same pace.

- He doesn't have the same acceleration.

Would've been nice if you'd won the stage.

- Yeah, yeah.

- But that was perfect.

[Niermann] I think they

will have quite a hard time.

And yeah, you should really be confident.

I think you are the strongest.

We didn't win the stage,

but it was a very good day for us.

Pogačar had a lesser day.

The gap is a very nice margin, but,

of course, Jai, we see him

as a threat for the GC battle.

He's in the yellow jersey.

He's a marked man.

We don't let him go again.

- Good.

- Yeah.

- See you at dinner.

- Yes.

[commentator]Yesterday's stage

was a treat.

Jai Hindley is now

the leader of the Tour de France.

[man] Morning, boys.

- Jai, hello.

- Good morning.

[tense rhythmic music playing]

- Is that good?

- [Meeus] Why does he have more than me?

He has the yellow jersey!

[all laughing]

[Hindley] You're leading

the biggest bike race in the world.

So, all eyes are on you,

and all the attention is on you.

All the media, all the spotlights,

everything, it's just like crazy.

But at the same time, really cool.

Extra small.

Yeah, that's

It's not going to fit.

Too many cornflakes, mate.

I want to stay in the jersey

for as long as possible.

Really f*cking cool.

[Jurdie] Yesterday's mistakes

were small errors,

but you need to know

what they are so that you all learn.

[O'Connor] I'm feeling

like semi-confident.

The day before wasn't really good.

But at the same time,

I can see myself doing what Jai can do.

You can feel jealous.

He got the yellow jersey

and the stage win.

But it's important

to look at why he was better.

I know exactly what I need to do.

I still live with that hope.

I can fight with the best.

[Hauptman] We spent a lot of energy,

so we need to be really careful.

Uh, especially on this stage.

[Chainel] Things started badly

for Tadej Pogačar.

He took a big uppercut.

But he's a wounded animal,

and he will seize every opportunity

to try and make up for lost time.

Be focused and, uh,

don't spend any energy. This is our goal.

[Pogačar] I'm really

motivated thinking how to

how to improve, how can I do better,

and how not to have a bad day.

I want to come back. I want to win.

I want to take the yellow jersey.

[Niermann] It will be very hard stage.

Pogačar was on his knees yesterday.

And, yeah.

If we can do

what we were just talking about,

we will get Pogačar in the zone

where we believe that

he is tired and cannot respond anymore.

Our goal is not to have,

again, Hindley in the break

because that is

not a good situation for us.

Pogačar is the biggest opponent,

but Jai Hindley is a very good rider.

So we have a plan of making the race hard.

- Yes?

- Yes.

Great. Come on. Come on.

[commentator] Let's take a look at

what is on the menu for the riders today.

In reality,

it's a lot worse than it looks.

[announcer in French]

Five, four, three, two, one

And they're off!

[crowd cheering]

[commentator in English]

Stage 6 is underway.

Is Jai Hindley the third man

of the Tour de France?

Could he win the race?

I knew it wasn't going to be easy,

but I was keen to fight for the jersey,

and hold onto it for as long as I could.

[Aldag] We want to be in the front.

We kind of, like, try to

shut down as good as we can,

show a strong presence as a team,

and just make sure we stay in control.

That's it. Good job. Good job, Ben, yeah.

We eat, we drink, we eat, we drink.

[O'Connor] I actually felt

really, uh, really good.

I was thinking, "Things will turn,

and it'll come your way."

"Just fight it out."

[commentator] After yesterday's fireworks,

it's time for Jai Hindley

to defend the yellow jersey.

And he can count on

the whole Bora-Hansgrohe team.

I was in a pretty good spot, but I didn't

know how Jumbo was gonna play it.

And after the bottle point,

we take over and we ride tempo.

[Niermann] I set a hard tempo

because that's good for us.

That's what we want to do.

We wanted to have a hard race.

[tense music playing]

[Chainel] The Tourmalet is very long.

It's very rugged.

And above all, it's the stuff of legend.

There are so many kilometres

on which to spring an attack

and, for a lot of riders, it's scary.

[commentator]

The Tourmalet ascent is never easy.

Even going slow, it's hellish.

[commentator 3] Team Jumbo-Visma

are now setting the pace

- [commentator 1] Yeah.

- at the front of the peloton.

[Aldag] We just follow, follow, follow.

We just have to be glued to their wheel.

[Hindley] The Tourmalet,

it's just like a monster.

A real mental grind,

and a real physical battle.

Come on, Ben.

You gotta keep going. Go. Go.

[O'Connor] It was simple.

It was just purely stay with the

with the yellow jersey

as long as possible.

But at the same time,

I knew Jumbo were going

to make the race very, very hard.

Now, we really put the hammer down.

[commentator] It's havoc right now

and we haven't even reached the summit.

The pace has suddenly lit up.

Jumbo-Visma have made the acceleration.

The light has been put on.

[O'Connor] On Tourmalet, I felt terrible.

As simple as that.

I was done.

[commentator 3]

And Ben O'Connor is dista nced.

O'Connor has already dropped.

O'Connor has already dropped.

GC is over. I just completely exploded.

[laughing]

[in Dutch] It's the same

for them all. Kaput, huh?

[in English] Everybody is on their knees.

Everybody is on their knees. Come on!

[commentator] It's impressive

to see the damage being done.

Our primary goal

was to defend the yellow jersey,

but in the end, for the last

three kilometres over the Tourmalet,

the sheer speed was so high

[commentator] And the yellow jersey

is distanced!

Hindley is dropping. Hindley is dropping.

Only Pogačar with you, guys.

[on radio] dropped the yellow jersey,

the yellow jersey, Jai Hindley.

[crowd cheering]

[Hindley] I was, uh, pretty uncomfortable.

It's just like dying on the wheels.

If I had stayed on,

then I would have completely exploded.

I could still save it a bit, but I

Yeah, it, like, k*lled me, basically.

[dramatic percussive tone]

- [cheering]

- [horns honking]

[commentator]The pace is

absolutely electric on the Tourmalet.

Now you really put Pogačar on the limit.

Eh? You really put Pogačar on the limit.

THE MOUNTAIN, IT WINS YOU OVER!

[commentator] It's what we've been

waiting for. Vingegaard's attack!

And Tadej Pogačar reacts.

He's hanging on for now.

It's the head-to-head we were waiting for.

[Pogačar] Jumbo thought

that I'm not in good shape,

so they tried to really crack me.

Nail me to the ground.

But I didn't want

to give up on that stage.

[commentator] Pogačar is on

the Danish rider's wheel,

but for how long?

If you can't drop him here,

you still have the last climb.

But he will be on,

absolute on his limit now.

[commentator]Pogačar doesn't look

like he's having a great day.

Willpower, Tadej, and concentrate.

[music intensifies]

[Niermann] Everybody in the hurt box now.

They're dropping behind.

[Vingegaard] The day before,

I was able to drop him.

And we were thinking

that hopefully we could do it again.

Just try to go

as hard as possible to the top.

[commentator] There we go,

there's the attack.

This is the move. Jonas Vingegaard jumps.

And Pogačar, this time reacts

and just sits and squeezes on the pedals.

[man on radio] Pogačar is not budging.

Pogačar is not budging.

Pogačar is suffering, Jonas.

Pogačar is suffering.

[commentator]

Pogačar is fighting back for now,

but how much longer can he keep going?

[police siren wailing]

Pogačar attacks, Vingegaard surprised!

[commentator] Pogačar rips it now

up this mountain.

Come on, come on, come on, come on.

[commentator] Tadej Pogačar shoots

to the finish line like a b*llet.

Like that. Go, go, go.

[crowd cheering]

[commentator] Pogačar is disappearing

in a blaze of smoke.

[Pogačar] Jonas was overconfident,

and he thought that I'm mentally broken,

but I saved my legs for the final climb.

[man on radio] ahead of Vingegaard.

Come on, Jonas. On tempo.

Gotcha, man. Come on. Come on!

[Hauptman] Come on, come on, come on.

He can't see you.

- Every second. You're nearly there.

- He's coming now. He can't see him.

Come on, Jonas, you know it, eh?

All out until the finish.

All out till the finish.

[fans yelling encouragement]

Come on, mate.

To the finish line. Go. Go. Go. Go.

[commentator] A resurgent Tadej Pogačar

has put a blow to the hopes of Vingegaard.

Stage 6, take a bow.

[crowd cheering]

[Hauptman] Bravo, mate.

That's it. That's it. Congratulations.

Go, guys! Go, guys!

Tadej won the stage.

[Chainel] It's one of

Tadej Pogačar's key characteristics.

He's a big personality who never gives up.

Psychologically, he's a machine.

Alone. Good job, guys. Good job.

- Bravo, Tadej.

- [man] Woo-hoo!

Stage 6 was confirmation that I can

fight for the yellow jersey in the Tour.

[commentator] Here comes Jonas Vingegaard.

He's going to take the yellow jersey,

but with a smaller lead than anticipated.

[in Dutch] f*cking hell.

- I think it's going to be half a minute.

- Yes. It sucks.

[on radio] Victory for Tadej Pogačar.

[Vingegaard] I was a bit

disappointed after the stage.

We had a big master plan for that day.

And it didn't turn out as we wanted.

[commentator] Jai Hindley at the finish.

The Tourmalet got the better of him.

[melancholy music playing]

But he's still going to fight for

third place in the general classification.

Come on, Jai. Come on.

The last 50 is slightly uphill.

You bring it to the line.

The seconds count.

[Hindley] I was thinking,

"The jersey's gone,

but I've still got a tour to ride."

And I just wanted to

be fighting for the podium spot.

[commentator]

Jai Hindley attacks to save his honour.

[music swelling]

[whistle blows]

[commentator] Hindley's day

in yellow comes to an end,

but he's still holding on

to third place overall.

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

YELLOW JERSEY

Who won in the end? Vingegaard? Huh?

- Pogačar, he dropped him.

- Yeah?

- f*ck! Ah, man!

- [laughs]

They dropped him.

[Denk] Jai couldn't keep up with the best,

and so, unfortunately, we lost

the yellow jersey again after one day.

[soft music playing]

But Jai has so much talent

and, er, he is so tough

and that's the reason why,

for me, he isn't out of the running yet.

We have a podium finish

in Paris in our sights.

[reporter] How was it out there for you?

Uh, pretty average. [laughs]

Yeah, I don't feel so flash.

So, personally for me,

it was a bit of a sh*t day. Thanks.

[O'Connor] My role as the team leader

really is just to perform.

But, the fact is

I just think that it's just

like physically not there yet.

I don't know what's wrong with me.

It feels like I'm not reaching

the capacity of my muscles.

Yeah.

That's just what they can push.

- It's not

- It's not what you want to be.

[O'Connor] But I always

dreamed to be a leader.

And I know that's what I am at heart.

I'm just hoping that I have

the confidence from the team.

There are still a lot of chances left

in the race to achieve something.

[commentator] Ben O'Connor is distanced.

[O'Connor] f*ck, f*ck, f*ck it!

The sponsors aren't gonna pay, are they?

For a guy to perform like that.

We just didn't expect it.

Bahrain Victorious want

to win to honour Gino.

[in Slovenian] We messed up, didn't we?

At the beginning.

[in English] Because of what

happened to Gino, I felt a fire inside me.

It's really hard to forget

what happened and carry on with the Tour.

[commentator] Pello Bilbao

pens up the sprint.

Come on, now, don't stop. Keep on going.

- [yelling]

- [crowd cheering]

[techno music playing]