Tour de France: Unchained (2023) s02e02 Episode Script
Season 2, Episode 2
[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] Fuck!
- 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. Fuck.
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] Fuck this!
Fucking 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
Fucking 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 shit.
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.
Fucking 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 "Fuck! 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 fucking 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.
Fucking legend, Jonas.
You're a fucking 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] Fuck 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,
"Fuck, 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 fucking 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 fucking pulled the jersey off.
- No, I know. And I still lost time.
- [Barrett] Yeah.
And it's shit and fucking 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 fucking 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, killed 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 bullet.
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] Fucking 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?
- Fuck! 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 shit 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] Fuck, fuck, fuck 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]
[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] Fuck!
- 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. Fuck.
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] Fuck this!
Fucking 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
Fucking 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 shit.
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.
Fucking 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 "Fuck! 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 fucking 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.
Fucking legend, Jonas.
You're a fucking 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] Fuck 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,
"Fuck, 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 fucking 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 fucking pulled the jersey off.
- No, I know. And I still lost time.
- [Barrett] Yeah.
And it's shit and fucking 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 fucking 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, killed 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 bullet.
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] Fucking 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?
- Fuck! 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 shit 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] Fuck, fuck, fuck 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]