Tadej Pogacar strikes back on Stage 6 as Jonas Vingegaard sneaks into yellow at Tour de France

Discount him at your peril. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) put in a timely reminder of his class with victory in Stage 6 as defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) wrested the yellow jersey from the shoulders of Jai Hindley (Bora-hansgrohe).

Hindley’s brief stint in yellow came to an end on the second day in the Pyrenees after Jumbo-Visma pulverised the pack on the legendary Col du Tourmalet to distance the Australian and fire defending champion Vingegaard towards the race summit.

But the Dane did not have it all his own way as big rival Pogacar recovered from his disappointment on Wednesday to drop Vingegaard on the final climb to Cauterets and solo to the tenth Tour stage win of his career.

Pogacar now trails the new maillot jaune Vingegaard by 25 seconds in the general classification with Bora-hansgrohe’s Hindley the best of the rest at 1:34. Britain’s Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) and Spain’s Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) climbed into the top five but both riders are over three minutes down on Vingegaard and very much operating in a separate sphere.

The majority of the tough 145km stage in the Pyrenees looked to be one-way traffic for Vingegaard and his Jumbo-Visma team, who once again placed super-domestique Wout van Aert into the breakaway before turning the screw on their rivals.

After whittling down the pack on the Col d’Aspin, Jumbo-Visma threw a GC grenade on the Tourmalet as Sepp Kuss set-up Vingegaard around 4km from the summit, with only Pogacar, the white jersey, able to follow.

Vingegaard then joined forces with Van Aert on the long, fast descent after the indefatigable Belgian dropped back from a leading quintet to pave the way for his leader. Eight riders – including the American Neilson Powless of EF Education-EasyPost, who moved back into the polka dot jersey – embarked on the final 16km ascent with a lead of over two minutes on the large Hindley group behind.

Van Aert pulled like a man possessed for half of the climb before Vingegaard darted out of his wheel in pursuit of the yellow jersey and a possible stage win – taking only Pogacar with Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) with him.

But Slovenia’s Pogacar was not keeping to the script, the two-time Tour winner distancing Vingegaard with a rasping acceleration of his own with around 2.5km remaining. Pogacar crossed the line 24 seconds ahead of his rival to move within 25 seconds of Vingegaard’s lead in the standings – pouring water on the flames of those claims of the Tour already being over.

Asked whether the win was a sweet revenge after he conceded over a minute to Vingegaard at Laruns some 24 hours earlier, Pogacar said: “I would not say revenge but it’s sweet to win today and take some time back. I feel a little bit of relief and feel much better now.

“The display Jonas showed yesterday was incredibly. I was thinking, when they were pulling on the Tourmalet, that we can pack our bags and go home. But, luckily, I had good legs today and I could follow quite comfortably on the Tourmalet and then, when it was the right time, I could attack. It was a big relief. It’s going to be a big battle right to the last stage.”

More to follow.

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