Pogačar lays down marker with commanding win in the Pyrenees on stage 6 – Tour de France

Tour de France 2026

Stage 6

With one powerful surge on the Col du Tourmalet, Tadej Pogačar dashed all hopes that the 2026 Tour de France would ever be a close battle with Jonas Vingegaard.

Isaac del Toro launched his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Pogačar 5km from the summit of the Tourmalet, and Vingegaard couldn’t match the pace. As the World Champion’s stripes disappeared into the distance, the two-time Tour champion had to fight on alone as debutant Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) also struggled to respond.

After 43 kilometres solo, Pogačar emerged victorious at the finish in Gavarnie-Gèdre, having gained 2:38 on his Danish rival and donned the race leader’s yellow jersey for the 56th time in his career.

Pogačar leads the Tour de France after six stages by 2:42 over Vingegaard, with Del Toro third at 3:27.

“It’s one of the sweetest for sure,” Pogačar said when asked how his stage win ranked out of his 123 career victories.

The first major mountain stage had the whole UAE Team Emirates squad bristling with anticipation, and even Pogačar was feeling butterflies before the stage.

“Today I woke up like seven in the morning and already my mind was going crazy, so I was really, really excited for today.

“All the guys were really hyped, so I knew it will be good day, and we would just commit. We we were going like [we had] nothing to lose. If we explode, we explode. But in the end, we succeeded, and I’m super proud of everybody. Today was crazy teamwork.”

It was another masterclass by the World Champion, not only on the climbs but on the technical descent from the Tourmalet, where Pogačar gained 40 seconds of his final advantage.

A downcast Vingegaard barely held off a chasing group of eight riders led by Del Toro ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), admitting he was not on his best day.

“It was a very tough day,” Vingegaard said. “It was not the day I wanted, obviously, but that’s how it is sometimes. They put in a big attack on the on the Tourmalet, and I couldn’t follow, and I had to settle within my my own pace. Over the top I was not that far, but on a downhill like this, it’s not really suited to me.

“It was not my best day, but that’s how it is. Obviously I’m disappointed. I have to be, but yeah, sometimes that’s life, and I cannot change it. I still believe in myself. I still believe my legs will get better throughout the race, so the fight is not over.”

The rider who had worn the maillot jaune since a successful breakaway on Tuesday’s stage 4, Torstein Træen (Uno-X Mobility), was dropped and rode over eight minutes behind the World Champion before he crashed on the descent from the Tourmalet and ended up 20 minutes behind.

“I didn’t think I would take the yellow jersey today because Torstein Træen – I heard now that he crashed really bad [on the descent] from Tourmalet,” Pogačar said. “It’s quite a shit downhill – really dangerous if you miss a corner, and I hope he’s OK. I would maybe prefer if he could keep the jersey today. So I hope he recovers fast, and that he can continue racing.”

Stage 6 of the Tour de France brought the peloton over two major mountains in the Pyrenees during the 186.2km stage from Pau to Gavarnie-Gèdre, but before the daunting ascents of the Col d’Aspin and Col du Tourmalet, the battle for the green points jersey took centre stage.

Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) opened the hostilities with an attack from the drop of the flag at kilometre zero, and he was joined by Huub Artz (Lotto Intermarché) and green jersey holder Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), who was looking at the 25 points available at the intermediate sprint in Pouzac at kilometre 59.1.

The breakaway suffered a serious blow when officials pulled alongside Artz and admonished him about his position on the bike and sat up to go back to the peloton, as the escapees had just over one minute’s lead.

Pedersen and Campenaerts lost some ground on the bunch but stayed away for the intermediate sprint, where Pedersen claimed the points and promptly sat up, and both were soon caught.

More attacks followed, with Ben O’Connor (Jayco-AlUla) jumping after Xabier Azparren (Pinarello Q36.5) on the Côte de Mauvezin. When the Spaniard lost contact, O’Connor kept on going but was caught on the Col d’Aspin.

A mechanical for Juan Ayuso caused some panic for Lidl-Trek but he made it back into the peloton before the top of the Aspin.

Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep) made a move for the mountain points but Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), who had bridged across, attacked and snatched them instead before the pair began the descent toward the Col du Tourmalet with a lead of 12 seconds – a margin that quickly evaporated before the two were caught.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG continued their ominous tempo on the Tourmalet, causing all sorts of suffering at the back, with yellow jersey Torstein Træen (Uno-X Mobility) becoming detached 10 kilometres from the summit.

Soon, Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) was climbing onto the struggle bus, which was getting quite full as the leading group was already down to just 17 riders.

Without an apparent surge in pace, just a constant turning of the screws by Pogačar’s team, Paul Seixas’ lieutenant Nicolas Prodhomme was distanced alongside EF Education-EasyPost’s GC leader Richard Carapaz. Adam Yates lifted the tempo ever so slightly, further thinning the group before handing off the lead to Isaac del Toro.

Emerging from an avalanche tunnel with 5km to the summit, Del Toro put in such a brutal surge that only Pogačar could follow.

The less explosive Vingegaard was caught out, and very quickly was forced to chase alone as Seixas struggled to respond. Even worse off was Evenepoel, who was trailing his teammate Lipowitz.

As Vingegaard continued to bleed around five seconds per kilometre, Seixas settled in with Del Toro and Lipowitz over a minute down on the World Champion. Evenpoel was 20 seconds behind him with Ayuso, Martinez, Skelmose and Kuss.

At the crest of the Tourmalet, where Pogačar sailed away with the €5,000 prize for the Souvenir Jacques Goddet, the gap to Vingegaard was 31 seconds, with Seixas, Lipowitz and Del Toro at 1:25 and Evenepoel’s group at 1:48. The Belgian later managed to join his teammate thanks to a furious descent, and continued to push on the front.

Things went from bad to worse for outgoing yellow jersey Træen, who ran into his teammate’s wheel in a bend and crashed as he was over eight minutes down on Pogačar. However, after a lengthy assessment by medics, he was back underway.

After a blistering descent, Pogačar started the final climb with 1:10 on Vingegaard and 1:48 on the Evenepoel-Seixas group. He only added to that en route to the line.

Most riders must be thinking ‘hip hip hooray’ as they leave the Pyrenees behind. At the end of a 175.1-kilometre race from Hagetmau to Bordeaux, the sprinters are expected to shine in tomorrow’s stage 7. After all, Bordeaux is a city made for bunch sprints.

It’s a first for Hagetmau. No Tour de France stage has ever begun or finished in the town on the Voie du Vézelay pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostella.

At the other end of the spectrum is Bordeaux. The capital of the Gironde has hosted a Tour stage finish 133 times. It’s safe to bet on a sprinter, with past winners including Jasper Philipsen (2023), Marc Cavendish (2010), Tom Steels (1999), Erik Zabel (1997), and Frédérique Moncassin (1996).

A painful story in 2023 ended happily in 2024. Marc Cavendish was relentlessly chasing the record for most Tour stage wins. In Bordeaux 2023, he came close to dethroning Eddy Merckx with a 35th stage victory, only for Jasper Philipsen to block him. Ouch! Cavendish’s next chance in 2023 never came, as he crashed heavily the following day and was forced to abandon in tears.

Yet the ManX Missile decided to stay in the peloton for one more year, and Tour history eventually smiled upon him. In Saint-Vulbas 2024, he finally claimed the record. That second-place finish in Bordeaux 2023 had kept his belief alive.

As mentioned, a sprint finish in Bordeaux seems all but guaranteed. There is only one climb along the way: the Côte de Béguey, 1.6 kilometres at 4.2%, with the summit just under 40 kilometres from the finish.

Stage 6 result:

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 4:32:07
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:38
3. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:57
4. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Redu Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
5. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM
6. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
7. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek
8. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, all at same time
9. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +3:02
10. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +3:06

General Classification:

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 21:11:57
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:42
3. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +3:27
4. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Redu Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +3:30
5. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +3:34
6. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +3:55
7. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +4:00
8. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +4:21
9. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek,+4:57
10. Mathias Vacek (Cze) Lidl-Trek, +7:10