Former Giro d’Italia champion Jai Hindley seized the Tour de France’s yellow jersey on Wednesday after claiming the first mountain stage of this year’s race during an eventful ride in the Pyrenees.

Hindley was part of an early breakaway and became the first Australian leader of the race since Rohan Dennis back in 2015.

On his Tour de France debut, Hindley won the 162.7km fifth stage which also included a daunting 15.2-kilometre grind up Col de Soudet.

Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard showed his great form in the last climb of the day when he dropped two-time winneR Tadej Pogacar with a sharp attack.

Vingegaard moved into second place in the general classification, 47 seconds behind Hindley. Pogacar was sixth overall, 1 minute, 40 seconds back. Previous leader Adam Yates, a teammate of Pogacar, dropped to fifth.

Hindley, who rides for the Bora-Hansgrohe team, was part of a 36-man group that managed to escape from the pack early on.

Following several moves from other contenders including Wout van Aert and Julian Alaphilippe, Hindley attacked 4 km before the Marie-Blanque summit.