Tour de France: Tadej Pogacar strikes back and wins stage 6 distancing Vingegaard, after duo demolish race with long-distance attack
Cycling
The Tour de France keeps on delivering! Stage 6 has seen an all-out long-distance attack from Jumbo-Visma and Jonas Vingegaard, but it was Tadej Pogacar who won the stage for UAE Team Emirates and clawed back time on his rival.
Another explosive start to stage 6, despite the mostly flat roads at the beginning of the day the attacks were aplenty and a strong group formed the day's breakaway, with 20 riders this time around. These included the likes of Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Julian Alaphilippe and many others, lots of rouleurs and domestiques involved in the move.
This time around the group collaborated well and without attacks, with BORA - hansgrohe controlling the gap at around 3 minutes. Jumbo-Visma set a strong pace at the Col d'Aspin briefly with the peloton shedding some numbers, but the action would wait until the Col du Tourmalet.
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Bryan Coquard took more points for the green jersey classification where he sit second at the start of the day, but then dropped in the first main climb, as did a few other riders in the group. At the Col du Tourmalet Julian Alaphilippe and Neilson Powless attempted to escape early on, however they were to be brought back by Wout van Aert who had a clear mission of getting through the climb in front.
Van Aert, Tobias Johannessen, Ruben Guerreiro, James Shaw and Michal Kwiatkowski crossed the climb in the leading group, but only with a small gap to the chasers. Those were Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar. With just over 50 kilometers to go Jumbo-Visma took the head of the peloton with Wilco Kelderman splitting it to a group of five, with only Pogacar and race leader Jai Hindley matching the Dutch team's trio.
Sepp Kuss then paced, and with 48 kilometers to go Jonas Vingegaard attacked. This time however Pogacar matched the move, and did not collaborate afterwards. The duo bridged across to van Aert, and they all joined the head of the race as most of the remaining GC contenders sat behind, safety in numbers, although the gap grew all the way into two minutes at the summit of the climb, and 2:30 minutes to the base of Cauterets - with Emanuel Buchmann doing most of the chasing in the peloton.
The status quo remained until the steepest section of the final climb started. With just under 5 kilometers to go Vingegaard attacked once again, followed by Pogacar, and Michal Kwiatkowski who bridged across shortly after. However it would be between the two, and with 2.7 kilometers to go Pogacar attacked explosively, dropping his rival convincingly.
He expanded the gap into the finish, taking his first stage win of this year's race and putting in 24 seconds on the road - plus four in bonus seconds on Vingegaard. Tobias Johannessen rode to third on the day from the breakaway's survivors.
Behind Carlos Rodríguez attacked in the hardest section of the climb joined by Jai Hindley, later on by Simon Yates. The trio rode across the finish line 2:39 minutes, marking the fight for the podium, whilst the Australian had to let go of the yellow jersey.
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Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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