Pogačar reclaims yellow jersey with emphatic Pyrenees stage win

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6 days · 11 summary articles
Tadej Pogačar reclaimed the yellow jersey in emphatic fashion on Thursday, delivering a masterclass in the Pyrenees to stamp his authority on the 113th Tour de France and move within touching distance of a fifth overall victory. The 27-year-old Slovenian from UAE Team Emirates-XRG shattered the field on the Col du Tourmalet, the legendary climb that has defined generations of champions, before accelerating away in the final climb to Gavarnie-Gèdre to win the sixth stage by more than two and a half minutes over Jonas Vingegaard. The margin extended to 2:42 in the general classification, with Pogačar’s closest rivals now separated by more than three minutes.
The stage began with Norwegian Torstein Træen wearing yellow after his surprise rise to the top of the standings following a strong opening week. But the drama unfolded on the descent from the Tourmalet, where Træen crashed heavily after colliding with teammate Anders Halland Johannessen, losing the jersey and forcing him to abandon his brief tenure in cycling’s most coveted garment. “It was a day, that’s for sure,” Træen told TV 2 after the stage, acknowledging the cruel twist of fate that ended his yellow dream just days after he became only the third Norwegian to lead the Tour de France.
Pogačar, however, was unstoppable. He attacked 45 kilometres from the finish on the Tourmalet, building a lead that stretched to nearly three minutes by the summit before descending at terrifying speed—30 seconds faster uphill and 40 seconds downhill than Vingegaard, according to timing data. The Slovenian’s superiority was total: he won the stage, reclaimed the yellow jersey, and extended his lead over Vingegaard, his closest rival, to 2:42. “I woke up at seven this morning and my head was already racing,” Pogačar said after the stage. “I was really looking forward to today. It was an incredible victory.”
The performance was all the more remarkable given Pogačar’s history with the Tourmalet. He suffered a hand fracture on the same climb in 2024, a setback that still lingers in his mind. “I had some flashbacks,” he admitted. “But I just wanted to ride hard.” His teammate Isaac del Toro completed the podium in third place, while German climber Florian Lipowitz, who briefly distanced Remco Evenepoel in the final kilometres, finished sixth at 2:57 behind Pogačar.
UAE Team Emirates’ dominance was underscored by their second consecutive stage win, following Pogačar’s victory on the Pyrenean stage last Sunday. Sport director Matxin Joxean Fernández had predicted Vingegaard would attack on the Tourmalet, but Pogačar’s response left no room for doubt. “Today was about showing who is the strongest,” Pogačar said. “And I think we did that.”
The stage’s 186.2 kilometres and 4,100 metres of elevation had promised fireworks, and the Tourmalet delivered. The climb, first scaled in the 1910 Tour by Octave Lapize, has long been a crucible of champions, and Pogačar’s performance elevated him to mythic status. As French president Emmanuel Macron watched part of the stage alongside Tour director Christian Prudhomme, the magnitude of Pogačar’s achievement became clear: he is not just leading the race, but redefining what is possible in modern cycling.
With the Alps still to come, the question is no longer whether Pogačar will win a fifth Tour, but by how much. His rivals, including Vingegaard and a resurgent del Toro, are now over three minutes behind, a gap that would require a near-miraculous recovery in the final week. As Pogačar raised his arms on the finish line in Gavarnie-Gèdre, the message was clear: the Tour de France 2026 belongs to him.
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