Tadej Pogačar slays the Tourmalet and shatters the Tour de France on stage 6
CyclingThursday, 09 July 2026 at 17:21
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Follow us on GoogleMen's Tour de France GC contenders, assemble! It’s time for the very first mountain stage of the Tour de France, and we’ll be tackling the legendary Tourmalet right off the bat. Will we see the first real shifts in the general classification right away? Follows the IDL Pro Cycling LIVE BLOG (below) to make sure you don’t miss a thing all day long!
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Thanks to UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Tadej Pogacar’s team, the general classification contenders had to be on their toes right from the start. After a 'rest day' on Wednesday—when Olav Kooij won the sprint in Pau—the big names will be able to let loose again. Stage six will provide them with the ideal terrain for that.
The opening stage will be relatively flat, but then the first challenges of the day will arise. The riders will take on a Col d’Aspin-Col du Tourmalet double effort, before finishing on a new climb for the Tour de France: the climb to Gavarnie-Gèdre. Will Pogačar test the competition right away, or do Jonas Vingegaard and Visma | Lease a Bike have plans of their own?
The latter soon proved true. Victor Campenaerts was the first attacker. The Belgian from Visma | Lease a Bike was later joined by Dutchman Huub Artz (Lotto-Intermarché) and green jersey wearer Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek). They rode hard: the attacks behind them came to nothing. Thus, we unexpectedly had a small breakaway group after the opening phase.
Fighting for the intermediate sprint and the breakaway
Artz was subsequently taken to the jury car because his position on the bike was deemed illegal. He argued at length with the jury, but eventually, frustrated, he dropped out of the leading group. This left Campenaerts and Pedersen to continue alone. They fought to stay ahead of the peloton, but the pace was high. On the first climb of the day, this caused chaos.
We suddenly saw Pogacar join the group, and later Isaac Del Toro, Jonas Vingegaard, and Paul Seixas also appeared at the front. It was more of a precaution, but it narrowed the gap to the leaders. Pedersen made it to the intermediate sprint and took the full prize, but after that, the Dane ran out of steam. Campenaerts was also swallowed up later, meaning we had to start all over again.
Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) was very active and went off on his own for a while. But UAE Team Emirates-XRG was in control, and so it seemed a bit of a lost cause: the real work was yet to begin. On the Aspin, he was caught by the efforts of Nils Politt and Tim Wellens. Men like Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar), Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), and number two Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost) had to drop back.
French battle for the polka dots, on to the Tourmalet
Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) reportedly jumped away in search of mountain points, but he was joined by Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious). The two Frenchmen battled it out, and it was Martinez who ultimately narrowly took the full haul. On the descent, they were caught by the thinned-out peloton, which started the climb of the Col du Tourmalet at the front.
Set by the pace of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, the field was immediately thinned out even further. We saw Thymen Arensman (Netcompany INEOS) drop, but the yellow jersey wearer Traeen also had to drop early. In no time, only a small group of favorites remained, with a dominant UAE at the front.
And about five kilometers from the summit, Del Toro accelerated. He went so fast that only Pogacar could follow, who then accelerated himself. Vingegaard rode at his own pace and slowly pulled away from, among others, Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), whose teammate Remco Evenepoel was struggling. Pogacar reached the top with a 30-second lead over Vingegaard, and a minute over Seixas, Lipowitz, and Del Toro: a battlefield!
Traeen literally drops out of the yellow jersey
Pogacar then threw himself into the descent and significantly extended his lead over his Danish rival. Behind the two, the pursuers gathered, and they slowly but surely closed in on Vingegaard. Yellow jersey wearer Traeen crossed the summit nearly eight minutes behind: he was certain he would lose the yellow jersey. But it got worse, as he fell on the descent and was only able to continue minutes later, in pain. A nightmare.
Meanwhile, Pogacar only extended his lead. The gap to Vingegaard became 1.30 minutes, 1.45... He lost more and more ground. Behind him, there was enough power to catch him, but the podium contenders gave each other little quarter. Evenepoel worried about this, but it yielded him little time gain.
At the front, the world champion was completely unleashed. The four-time Tour winner took a small lead in the overall victory, crossing the finish line 2:30 minutes ahead of Vingegaard. The Dane finished second, more than 2:30 minutes behind. Thirty seconds behind, Del Toro took the final bonus seconds, ahead of Evenepoel.
2026 Tour de France stage 6 Results
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David Bavin-HobbsChief Editor
David has been working in the sports & cycling industry for 16 years. Covering racing, business and technology, he has worked in communications for cycling companies, teams, and as a journalist. His proudest achievement is winning the first bike race he ever entered. He hasn't won a race since.
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Latest Comments
- - How many times has Pog actually worn yellow now? The article hints he’s lost count—anyone got the exact stat?robert6506-07-2026
- - Unreal start to the Tour: two punches in three days. If he’s taking yellow this early, the real game is load management before the first true summit finish.davidm06-07-2026
- - Grandissimo Tadej! Maillot jaune meritato, squadra perfetta oggi.sprocketspiny06-07-2026
- - Not sure I buy the “nothing really tough” description. 3,850m of climbing in that heat is brutal, even if the gradients aren’t HC. Felt a bit dismissive.cadencekingm06-07-2026
- - Pogacar’s humour about the gels was gold. Also, nice to see him credit Del Toro. That Barcelona gesture coming back today was a proper team arc.michael5406-07-2026
- - Quick question: when they say “break got a free pass” by Visma, does that mean Visma just stopped chasing completely? Or is it more like they eased but still controlled the gap?velodromevirtuoso106-07-2026
- - Sorry, but the piece glosses over how Vermeersch shredded the gap. That was the hinge of the stage. Give him more credit than a single line.raceready706-07-2026
- - Two seconds on a 200m kick says it all. Vingegaard looked glued, but not enough punch yet. Heat management + gels every 30 minutes clearly dialed.andrewf06-07-2026
- - What a statement from Pog! Del Toro’s launch was textbook. You could see UAE-XRG had zero interest in gifting the break any hope today.jennifer1906-07-2026
- - ¿Habrá abanicos con ese viento noroeste? Si se parte el pelotón en los llanos antes de Quillan, adiós a muchos sprinters.patriciaw06-07-2026
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