Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) made a huge effort on the final climb of the Marie Blanc pass on Wednesday, winning stage 5 of the Tour de France solo and moving into the race lead. It only took him one day to fulfill his "childhood dream," but he had no regrets.

After 144.9 km in the Pyrenees, Hindley clung on to third place overall as he reached the finish line in Hautelet-Cambasque. He was 2:39 behind Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates), currently second in GC, and 2:15 behind Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma), who took the yellow jersey. Hindley's run was brave and he scrambled up the last 16 km of the climb to keep his podium position.

"What can I say, it was an epic day rolling around on the mythical climb in the yellow jersey. Honestly, I got my ass beat, but I really enjoyed it," Hindley told Eurosport/GCN at the finish. 'I wanted to do my own race and if I could stay with the two favourites I wanted to do my best. I want to do my own race.

The Beulah-Hansgrohe team put the star Australian climber on the peloton for the first half of Thursday's race at a measured pace. On the final climb, Tourmalet, Jumbo Visma led the yellow jersey pack. Jumbo's Wilco Kelderman, Sepp Kuss, and Vingegaard sparked the pace on the big climb with 4km to go.

"I wanted to race my own race. Of course I tried to stay with the two big guys and did my best, but it wasn't enough. Basically, when we lost contact in Tourmalet, that was the end of the day," Hindley said of his contact with Pogachar and Vingegaard.

"It was pretty hard. Jumbo, they were trying to set something up in Tourmalet. They started running a solid tempo at the bottom. And then five kilometers or something from the top, they went really hard. I couldn't stand it.

"Emu [Emmanuel Buchmann] in particular gave it his all in the last part of the race.

The 2022 Giro d'Italia winner was in chase mode with the German national champion on the descent of Tourmalet. But with 10 km to go, Jumbo's Wout van Aert chased down Wingegaard, leaving only Pogacar and Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar).

"It was super cool. It's like a childhood dream [to wear the yellow jersey]. To win a stage in the Tour, get the yellow jersey, and wear it the next day. I still can't believe it," Hindley said on the team bus after the stage.

"I knew it was going to be an epic day. I saw it before the race and knew what to expect. It's a shame I couldn't stay with those two in the end. They are really on a different level. I did my best. It was pretty hard to lose the jersey today, but I was very happy."

The Tour de France is only in its first week, and Hindley noted that there is still a long way to go. With a stage win and a day of yellow, he already has enough memories for a Grand Tour.

"A lot of riders came up to me and congratulated me. Also, the Aussie flags on the roadside mean so much.