Tour de France Stage 6: Pogacar wins at Col de Cauterets-Cambasque, Vingegaard becomes the new leader

First arrival at the summit passing through the Col du Tourmalet, what could be better? The riders started from Tarbes to reach the Col de Cauterets-Cambasque, a distance of 144.9 km separates the start from the finish. 

This 6th stage perked up right from the start, but it was at 50 km that the first attack by Jonas Vingegaard was seen, Pogacar stayed in the wheels. The Slovenian attacked the Dane in the final meters of the last climb and secured victory. The Dane is 25 seconds ahead of Pogacar in the general classification.

A spectacular start

Like yesterday, we witnessed a very lively start to the stage with many riders attempting to break away. Wout Van Aert and Julian Alaphilippe launched the attacks right from the first kilometer. They were joined by 18 other riders at several kilometers apart. A group of 20 riders formed, including Mathieu Van Der Poel, Wout Van Aert, Julian Alaphilippe, and Neilson Powless. 

At the top of the Capvern-les-Bains climb, it was the American who crossed in the lead, using this to come within 8 points of the Tour’s best climber, Felix Gall. Bryan Coquard was the first to pass at the intermediate sprint, ahead of Wout Van Aert. 

Powless leads at the Col d’Aspin

The American rider crossed in the lead at the Col d’Aspin ahead of Guerreiro. He is temporarily at the top of the mountains classification, with a two-point lead over Gala, who, as a reminder, is not in the breakaway.  

At the Tourmalet, Julian Alaphilippe attacked, closely followed by Shaw, but they were quickly caught by the leading group. With 4 km to the summit of the Tourmalet, it was Alaphilippe’s turn to drop back. 

An attack 50 km from the finish

In the peloton, Kelderman made all the riders, including Hindley the yellow jersey, fall in line. Pogacar and Vingegaard are the only ones able to follow him. Later in the ascent, the Dane attacked Pogacar, but the white jersey stayed with the wheels, and they rejoined Wout Van Aert, who was still at the front during the descent. Just before that, Tobias Halland led at the Tourmalet and earned the 20 points awarded to the winner. 

An explosive finish

At the foot of the final climb, Wout Van Aert led the leading group, with the tireless Vingegaard and Pogacar behind him. 1.5 km from the finish, Tadej Pogacar attacked Jonas Vingegaard, the Dane couldn’t stay with the wheels and lost 30 seconds with bonus seconds on his main rival. David Gaudu finished 3’45 behind the leader. Jonas Vingegaard is the new yellow jerseys of the Tour de France, with a 25-second lead over Tadej Pogacar. 

Also read: Tour de France Stage 5: Hindley wins and wears the yellow jersey