Tadej Pogacar takes Tour de France yellow jersey after stage 6 victory

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Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) wins in Longwy ahead of Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) (Image credit: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT AFP via Getty Images†

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Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) won the sixth stage of the Tour de France in an uphill sprint at Longwy on a day that will be long remembered for the sustained but doomed attack of yellow jersey Wout van Aert at the head of the race.

The Jumbo-Visma man eventually donated his yellow jersey to Pogačar, but only after he had been on the attack at the front of the game for most of the day. Van Aert repeatedly split the field in the first kilometres, and he was the last survivor of the day break before finally being caught and dropped by the pack with 11km to go.

Pogačar later shattered the leading group with his own acceleration on the Côte de Pulventeux with 5.5km to go, and his team from UAE Team Emirates put the late attacker Alexis Vuillermoz (TotalEnergies) back on the last approach of the line.

Rafal Majka and Brandon McNulty led the breakaway on the 2km trail to the finish and although Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) opened the sprint from distance, Pogačar delivered an emphatic response and won the stage over Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco) and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ).

The 10-second time bonus for the stage win was enough to lift Pogačar ahead of Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) in the overall standings and into the yellow jersey. He leads the American by 4 seconds, while Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) is now third at 31 seconds.

Van Aert was the main aggressor during a blazing-fast opening phase, attacking incessantly as the peloton repeatedly split and reformed at the back, covering some 52.5km in the first hour of the race.

He eventually cleared his way with 148km to go, leaving Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo) and Jakob Fuglsang (Israel Premier Tech) with him, and the pack seemed to accept that there was little point in arguing with the maillot jaune when he was in this mood.

His offensive had faint echoes of his rival Mathieu van der Poel’s defense of yellow on the road to Le Creusot at last year’s Tour, although it was perhaps more reminiscent of Eddy Merckx’s aggression on the road to Marseille in 1971.

That afternoon, however, Merckx’s boundless energy was focused on the clear goal of reclaiming the yellow jersey from Luis Ocaña. Van Aert, on the other hand, was already in the lead in the general classification and he is part of a two-rider team that is aiming for the overall victory. His attack made little strategic sense, but racing against all logic made for a harrowing look.

Even a slipping chain on the Côte des Mazures and a later bike change could not discourage Van Aert, who built up a maximum lead of just under four minutes. He later took all the points in the intermediate sprint, but it was clear that his eyes were on a major performance rather than managing his significant green jersey lead.

Bora-Hansgrohe, Alpecin-Deceuninck and EF Education-EasyPost led the chase together, and at the front Fulgsang sat up straight with 65km to go, but Van Aert and Simmons maintained a two-minute buffer as they entered the final 50km. The pace in the pack then picked up with German champion Nils Politt being particularly effective, but Van Aert refused to be discouraged and passed Simmons with 30km to go.

The terrain got rougher from here, but Van Aert still maintained a 30 second lead deep into the final, even as Ineos Grenadiers gave chase en masse. It was finally recaptured just after the category 4 Côte de Montigny-sur-Chiers with 11km to go, and the win of the day would fall to Pogačar.

More to follow…

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Tadej Pogacar takes Tour de France yellow jersey after stage...