Tadej Pogačar won stage six of the Tour de France and moved back into the Yellow Jersey after a clear attack in the Pyrenees.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider finished the 186.2km mountain stage from Pau to Gavarnie-Gèdre in 4 hours, 32 minutes and 7 seconds.
Jonas Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike was second, 2 minutes and 38 seconds behind. Pogačar’s teammate Isaac del Toro took third, a further 19 seconds back.
Pogačar had already won at Les Angles earlier in the race. This was another strong move from the Slovenian, rather than a first sign of form.
The decisive moment came on the Col du Tourmalet. UAE Team Emirates-XRG had kept the pressure high from early in the stage, with Brandon McNulty and Adam Yates among those setting the tempo.
When Yates finished his turn, Del Toro attacked. The move split the group and left Pogačar and Del Toro clear at the front.
Pogačar then went alone with 43km still to ride. He built his lead over the final part of the Tourmalet, held it on the descent, then carried it onto the 18km climb to the finish.
By the line, he had taken his 23rd career Tour de France stage win.
“We committed, we had nothing to lose. If we explode, we explode. We did it and I am super proud of everybody today.”
Tadej Pogačar moved back into the Yellow Jersey after a clear attack in the Pyrenees
The result also changed the overall standings. Pogačar now leads the race by 2 minutes and 42 seconds from Vingegaard. Del Toro moved up to third overall, 3 minutes and 27 seconds behind his UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader.
Pogačar said the victory ranked among his best at the Tour.
“I think this is top five,” he said. “I got flashbacks to Tourmalet in 2023, after I had broken my hand in Liège. I got a lot of flashbacks, it was a similar finish. It was a really incredible victory and one of my favourite wins so far.”
He said the team had planned to race hard from the start.
“This morning I woke up at 7am and my mind was going crazy, I was so excited about today’s stage,” Pogačar said. “I knew all the guys were really hyped so I knew it could be a good day. We committed, we had nothing to lose. If we explode, we explode. We did it and I am super proud of everybody today.”
Tour de France stage six result
- Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, 4:32:07
- Jonas Vingegaard, Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:38
- Isaac del Toro, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:57
General classification after stage six
- Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, 21:11:57
- Jonas Vingegaard, Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:42
- Isaac del Toro, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +3:27
Elsewhere, Kevin Vermaerke gave UAE Team Emirates-XRG another podium finish at the Tour of Austria.
The American followed his second place on stage one with third on stage two, which finished on the climb to Großglockner.
Gregor Mühlberger of Austria won the stage in 4:46:29. James Shaw of EF Education-EasyPost was second at 1:10, with Vermaerke third in the same time.
Vermaerke remains second overall, 1:31 behind Mühlberger, with three stages still to race.
“There is still a pretty big gap in the GC but the next two days are still really hard, so we can be aggressive to try and take the race up and try to get a stage win,” Vermaerke said.
