Tadej Pogacar, the reigning champion, has restored his leadership in the Tour de France by winning the mountainous sixth stage on Thursday. Thanks to this victory, Pogacar now leads his main rival Jonas Vingegaard by 2 minutes and 42 seconds.
Race details and champion's statements
Pogacar demonstrated his superiority in the Tour de France by winning the challenging sixth stage and regaining the race lead. He increased the gap to Jonas Vingegaard, who finished second on the 186-kilometer Pyrenean stage from Pau to Gaillac-Gaudran, moving up to second overall place.
Pogacar shared his impressions, noting that he woke up early in the morning feeling intense excitement. He also announced that he broke the record for the fastest climb time on Tourmalet, securing his 23rd Tour de France victory.
He mentioned that his teammates were very enthusiastic, and the team decided to go without any restrictions. Pogacar expressed pride in the success, saying: 'We just decided, we went as if we had nothing to lose. If we explode, they will explode, but in the end we succeeded, and I am very proud.'
Results of other participants
Pogacar's teammate, Isaac Del Toro, overtook Remco Evenepoel in the sprint for third place, moving up to third in the general classification with a margin of 3:27. Norwegian Torstein Thraen, who started the day in the yellow jersey, lost contact with the leading group before the middle of the grueling Tourmalet climb, when about 50 kilometers remained. It then became clear that he had lost control of the jersey. The situation was worsened by Thraen's crash on the descent—it was his second fall in several days.
Team strategy and attack
The UAE Emirates-XRG team increased the pace on the two Pyrenean giants, Col d'Aspins and Col du Tourmalet, on another hot day in southwestern France, where the temperature reached 40 degrees Celsius again. The world champion launched an attack approximately 4 kilometers from the summit of Tourmalet and quickly distanced himself from his rivals. At the summit, Pogacar led Vingegaard by 30 seconds, while Paul Seixas, Florian Lipovic, and Del Toro were a minute behind. Other contenders, Evenepoel and Juan Ayuso, were in a small group 20 seconds behind.
On the descent and the subsequent long but gradual climb to the finish, Pogacar gradually increased his gap, effectively leaving his rivals with no hope of contesting the overall victory this year. Vingegaard fought to minimize losses, while the two chasing groups merged but could not cooperate effectively.
Stage developments
After a fast start and intense battle to get into the day's breakaway, Australian Ben O'Connor managed to go solo with just over 100 kilometers to the finish. However, his solo effort did not last long, as UAE managed to catch him. On Col d'Aspins, the team's pace proved too high for Frenchman Alejandro Baudin, who started the day in the mountain jersey—this jersey eventually ended up on Pogacar's shoulders. Then Americans Sean Quinn and Czech Mathias Vacek, who started the day in second and third place in the standings, were also dropped, but Thraen held on for now.
On Tourmalet, which is 17 km long and the steepest climb in the Tour de France, Thraen was the next to lose contact. This was one of the most difficult climbs in the 'hors-category' category in the Tour de France, and Pogacar's team did what it does best: increased the pace and reduced the number of participants capable of maintaining it. It was only a matter of time before Pogacar attacked, and when he did, it was devastating.
