Not just a Tourmalet KOM: Pogačar dominated every part of Tour de France stage 6

With an astonishing performance on and beyond the Col du Tourmalet, Tadej Pogačar has taken firm control of the Tour de France remarkably early in the race. The Slovenian from UAE Team Emirates-XRG lit up the Pyrenees and now sits comfortably in the yellow jersey. But just how exceptional was his performance? A look at the Strava data shows that Pogačar excelled in virtually every aspect of the stage.

Pogačar had UAE Team Emirates-XRG control the pace on the Col d’Aspin and during the opening section of the Col du Tourmalet. The speed was already high on the first of those climbs, although not quite high enough to erase Riccardo Riccò’s record of 29 minutes and 18 seconds. The peloton completed the climb in 29 minutes and 35 seconds, while Lenny Martinez, riding slightly ahead, recorded a time of 29 minutes and 22 seconds.

Things became truly remarkable on the Tourmalet. Starting from Sainte-Marie-de-Campan, Tim Wellens, Felix Großschartner, Brandon McNulty and Adam Yates all produced huge turns on the front before Isaac del Toro launched his team leader. Pogačar immediately left everyone behind and reached the summit 30 seconds ahead of rival Jonas Vingegaard. His time for the climb was 43 minutes and eight seconds, according to Pogačar’s Strava upload.

It is difficult to put Pogačar’s speed into perspective. The seven fastest times on the relevant Strava segment were all recorded during Thursday’s Tour stage. Tobias Halland Johannessen lost almost four minutes to Pogačar on the Tourmalet, yet he still rode faster than the previous KOM holder, Romain Bardet, who completed the climb in 47 minutes and four seconds in 2023.

Pogačar covered the 17.2-kilometer climb, which has an average gradient of 7.3 percent, at an average speed of 23.5 kilometers per hour. That alone underlines the extraordinary pace set by the world champion and his UAE teammates. According to calculations by Domestique, Pogačar produced an estimated 6.4 watts per kilogram for almost 45 minutes on the Tourmalet. He then increased the intensity during the final 15 minutes, when his estimated output rose to approximately 7.2 watts per kilogram.

As impressive as the climbing record was, Pogačar may have produced an even more striking performance on the descent. A 30-second advantage at the summit is far from decisive, particularly on such a long and technical descent. By the bottom, however, Pogačar had more than doubled his advantage.

That was not because Vingegaard descended particularly slowly. Pogačar simply attacked the descent at an exceptional pace and recorded the fastest Strava time on the segment between the summit of the Tourmalet and Barèges. Pogačar completed that section in 12 minutes and 21 seconds, averaging 72.2 kilometers per hour. He was three seconds faster than Remco Evenepoel, another accomplished descender, and 23 seconds quicker than both Paul Seixas and Tom Pidcock.

It was therefore hardly surprising that Pogačar was also comfortably the fastest rider on the subsequent climb toward Gavarnie-Gèdre. He completed the 17.03-kilometer section in 28 minutes and 22 seconds, at an average speed of 36 kilometers per hour. That was one minute and 16 seconds faster than the group containing Seixas and Evenepoel. With Pogačar gaining substantial time on the climb, the descent and the road toward the finish, it is becoming increasingly difficult to see how anybody else can win this Tour de France.

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]