Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) landed a devastating blow on stage 6 of the Tour de France, leaving the field behind on the Col du Tourmalet and soloing to the stage victory and the yellow jersey.
After riding solo in pursuit of the lone leader for more than 40 km, Pogačar's archrival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) arrived 2:38 down atop the Gavarnie-Gèdre finishing climb. Less than 20 seconds later, Pogačar's teammate Isaac del Toro rolled over the line ahead of a larger group of big names.
Pogačar's long-range attack in the Pyrenees propelled him into yellow on what was a particularly rough day for overnight leader Torstein Træen (Uno-X Mobility). After the Norwegian was dropped early on the Tourmalet, he fell hard on the descent off the back of the climb and had to be assessed for a possible concussion. Although he did get back on the bike, any hope of maintaining yellow was long gone.
[race_result id=17 stage_id=89781 count=5 gc=0 year=2026]
[race_result id=17 stage_id=89781 count=5 gc=5 year=2026]
How it happened
- Although the peloton would ride into cooler temperatures high up in the Pyrenees, things got underway in blistering heat yet again on the 186 km stage 6 as the peloton rolled out from Pau. Almost immediately, Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike), Huub Artz (Lotto-Intermarché), and green jersey Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) formed the early break, which was given a bit of breathing room on mostly flat roads.
- Pedersen took maximum points at the intermediate sprint 59 km into the stage. Not long after that, the escapees were reeled in, spurring new attacks. Ben O'Connor (Jayco-AlUla) tried and tried again to get up the road on the Côte de Mauvezin, ultimately leading the way over the top of the climb. He was alone out front with a gap of around a minute as the Col d'Aspin loomed.
- With Nils Politt pushing the pace for UAE in the peloton, O'Connor was caught on the Col d'Aspin. Near the top, Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-Quick Step) jumped away to get mountain points at the summit. They were back in the bunch shortly thereafter.
- From there, the peloton descended to the foot of the mighty Tourmalet, where UAE upped the tempo with Tim Wellens now pushing a torrid pace. As UAE cycled through domestiques at the front, the peloton rapidly thinned out behind, with Træen an early casualty with 11 km still to climb. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) was another big name dropped well before the top, 8 km from the summit.
- There were some 15 riders left in the group when Brandon McNulty, after a massive pull, gave way to Adam Yates. Yates did not spend long out front before Del Toro took over, shredding what was left of the field.
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