05 July 2023

Hindley Wins Stage and Grabs Yellow Jersey!

I completely missed today's Tour de France action.  My younger daughter and I spent a good bit of today touring nearby University of Virginia.  I had to watch highlights of Stage 5 after we got back.  A lot happened today!

Jai Hindley took today's stage by more than half a minute on the rest of the competition.  In doing so, Hindley now has possession of the yellow jersey, holding a 47-second lead over last year's winner, Jonas Vingegaard.  Two-time winner Tadej Pogačar now sits in sixth place, 01' 40" behind Hindley.
I think Australia will be celebrating tonight!

My daughter told me the winning time while we were driving to Charlottesville.  It seems we were a bit slow today.
  • Stage 05:  3h 57' 07" (actual), 4h 08' 08" (prediction), 11' 01" slow (4.65% error)
We fared better today than we did on the two previous stages, but my goal is to get under 3%.  Hindley's average speed is given below.
  • Stage 05:  11.44 m/s (41.17 kph or 25.58 mph)
Yet another indication of how slow yesterday's stage was is that today's average speed is almost exactly what the winner averaged yesterday -- on a flat stage!

Tomorrow's 144.9-km (90.04-mi) mountain stage begins in the French commune of Tarbes.  Riders will loop to the southeast before finishing a bit southwest of Tarbes at the commune of Cauterets, which is close to the Spanish border.  The middle of the stage will take cyclists to the 1490-m (4888-ft) peak of Col d'Aspin on a category-1 climb.  The main player in tomorrow's stage will be the hors catégorie climb to the 2115-m (6939-ft) peak of Col du Tourmalet.  As if all that wasn't enough, riders will face a category-1 climb to the finish line.  What a grueling stage!  Our prediction is given below.
  • Stage 06:  3h 46' 03" (prediction)
I hope we can sneak under 3% error tomorrow!

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