The stage started in scorching heat and was marked by several unsuccessful attempts to break away early.
GAVARNIE-GEDRE, France (AP) — Tadej Pogacar made a remarkable solo ride up the iconic Col du Tourmalet on Thursday to claim a 23rd Tour de France stage victory, regain control of the race and demoralize his rivals after just six days of racing.
Pogacar, who wore the yellow jersey for the first time after winning in Les Angles earlier this week, made the most of the first major mountain stage of this year’s Tour in the Pyrenees to stamp his authority, sending a clear message to his rivals that he remains in a class of his own.
The two-time world champion rode the final 43 kilometers (about 27 miles) alone, crossed the finish line of Stage 6 2 minutes, 38 seconds ahead of his main challenger, Jonas Vingegaard, and reclaimed the coveted jersey.
“I’d say this goes into my top five Tour de France wins,” Pogacar said. “This is an incredible win, and one of the sweetest for sure. I wasn’t counting seconds or minutes, I just wanted to go full throttle to the end.”
Pogacar’s teammate Isaac del Toro was third, 2:57 off the pace, ahead of Remco Evenepoel and Paul Seixas. Overall, Vingegaard is 2:42 behind Pogacar, with del Toro in third.
With his latest show of strength, the Emirates-XRG leader of the United Arab Emirates took a big step towards a record fifth Tour victory. Only Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault have won five Tours.
Scorching heat and iconic climbs
The stage started in scorching heat and was marked by several unsuccessful attempts to break away early. Pogacar’s teammates, along with Vingegaard’s on Visma-Lease a Bike, set a fast pace even before the biggest climbs of the day.
The final stage in the Pyrenees took the riders through two iconic climbs, the Col d’Aspin and the Tourmalet.
Once Ben O’Connor managed to get away, he was allowed some leeway because he wasn’t a threat in the general classification. He was initially at the foot of Aspin and was caught with about 5 kilometers of the climb left.
The riders then faced the grueling 17.1 kilometer climb of the Tourmalet, the first HC climb of the Tour 2026 – which stands for Hors Catégorie (beyond classification) because it is the most difficult level.
Overnight leader Torstein Træen crashed before del Toro accelerated with his leader on the wheel around 4.5 kilometers from the summit. Træen later crashed on the descent and was assessed by the race medical team before resuming his efforts.
Pogacar then went solo, with Vingegaard digging deep to limit his losses. Pogacar reached the top first and Vingegaard tried to make up his 30 second deficit on the downhill. But, placed in an aerodynamic position, his rival took the same risks and was even faster.
Pogacar had a lead of more than a minute as he faced the final climb to the finish line in the town of Gavarnie-Gedre. He never looked back and the gap continued to grow.
“I woke up at 7 this morning and my mind was going crazy,” Pogacar said. “I was really excited about today. I knew it was going to be a good day.”
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