Stage 6 of the 2026 Tour de France saw huge efforts by Mads Pedersen earlier in the day, but it was Tadej Pogacar showing his strength on the Col du Tourmalet to win the stage and take over the yellow jersey. It’s his 23rd stage win in the Tour.
Jonas Vingegaard finished more than 2 minutes back, but many of the GC contenders suffered on the day.
Yesterday’s arrival town of Pau was today’s departure town for a final stage in the Pyrenees, and what a stage! After leaving Pau, the riders face over 4,000 metres of elevation to reach Gavarnie-Gèdre past the iconic ascents up to Col d’Aspin and Col du Tourmalet. At 2,115 metres of altitude, the latter is the second highest summit of the Tour de France 2026, only surpassed by Col du Galibier (2,642 m) on day 20. Today’s challenges promise thrilling action, chasing the polka-dot jersey, the Maillot Jaune, and battling for GC.
Once again, it was blistering hot out there, but temperatures were expected to drop in the mountains, and there is a threat of rain at the finish.
Alex Molenaar did not start today after fracturing a bone in his hand yesterday.
As soon as the flag dropped on the official start, it was Campeanaerts going on the attack with Artz and Pedersen chasing.
Campenaerts, Pedersen and Artz , all known for their ability to push hard on flat sections opened to a lead of 45 seconds by km 14. Alpecin-Premier Tech team were determined not to let Mads Pedersen get away, however, and were strongly pacing the peloton.
By km 34, Artz had had enough and dropped back to the back as Campeanaerts and Pedersen continued as a duo with a lead of 1’20”.
The first climb (Côte de Loucrup, 1.9 km at 7.1%) was in sight for the leaders. Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) bridged to them, while the peloton sat at 1’15”.
Pedersen took the KOM points on the climb, but back in the peloton, Jorgenson attacked followed by Healy, Prodhomme, Simmons and others. Tadej Pogacar also moved up, prompting his rivals to react. The peloton was very stretched.
Evenepoel was chasing behind the bunch with three Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe teammates by his side. Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Matteo Trentin (Tudor) were in the same group.
On to the intermediate sprint, it was Pedersen again taking the top points, but a surging peloton led by Kanter, Philipsen and Girmay were just 15 seconds back. After two huge efforts, Pedersen dropped back. Campeanaerts soldiered on for a bit, but a fresh attack from Ben O’Connor and Ben Healy closed the gap.
At km 69 Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla) attacked again, with Tobias Foss (Netcompany Ineos), Jan Tratnik (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet (Groupama-FDJ United) and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) joining in.
At the Côte de Mauvezin (3km at 6.8%), attacks were popping left and right. Le Berre went with O’Connor reacting, as well as Rubio, V. Paret-Peintre, Gee-West and others. Then Azparren.
Azparren and O’Connor managed to open a 15 second lead towards the summit. O’Connor took the KOM points, then sped on alone and quickly moved out to a 45 second lead.
And then on to the Cat. 1 Col de Aspin.. O’Connor stays solo for a while, but is caught by the UAE Team Emirates train with 5km remaining to the summit.
Valentin Paret-Peintre attacked with just over 2 kilometres to go to the summit. Meanwhile, Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost) and Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) struggled.
Martinez chased as was not only able to close the gap, but overthrow Paret-Peintre at the summit to take the top KOM points.
On the descent, it was UAE Emirates XRG in control, but there was little time to rest as the Col du Tourmalet literally loomed ahead. It’s the first HC climb of the 2026 Tour, and the second highest summit of this edition: 2,115 metres of altitude after a 17.1 km ascent at 7.3%. With 89 appearances, The Col du Tourmalet is the most featured climb in Tour history, ahead of Col d’Aspin (78), Aubisque (75) and Peyresourde (72).
As the road started to properly tilt upward, race leader Torstein Træen (Uno-X Mobility) was fairly quickly dropped. His teammate Anders Johannessen waited for him, but it was still 10.5 km of climbing to the summit.
With 7km to the summit, it was Adam Yates, Brandon McNulty, Isaac del Toro, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates XRG), Davide Piganzoli, Sepp Kuss, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma – Lease a Bike), Florian Lipowitz, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Mattias Skjelmose, Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Egan Bernal (Netcompany Ineos), Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X) making up the front group.
But riders were getting spit off the back. Davide Piganzoli (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Ricahrd Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) were dropped, with McNulty dropping soon after.
4.5km to go and Del Toro and Pogacar set off with Vingegaard and Seixas a few metres behind. Lipowitz was struggling to get back to them as well.
Pogacar soon went solo. Vingegaard, Seixas, Lipowitz and Del Toro were chasing. Into the last kilometer of climbing, he enjoyed a 30 second advantage.
And Pogacar crested the Tourmalet in the lead!
Just over 31km remained to the finish in Gavarnie-Gedra. But it was no easy cruise. The town sits atop a Cat. 2 climb with an averages gradient of 3.7 % over 18.7 km. With Vacek, Træen and Quinn already dropped, the new yellow jersey will most likely go to Pogacar or Vingegaard today.
Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), Remco Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Juan Ayuso, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike), Isaac del Toro (UAE Emriates-XRG) and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) are all riding 1’45” behind Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates-XRG), while Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) enters the final 25 kilometres with a gap of 50” to Pogacar.
Adding injury to insult, Træen crashed on the downhill. The leader of the overall standings touched wheels with his teammate Anders Johannessen. He took some time with race doctors before getting on his bike again.
With 10km to go it was still Pogacar well off the front with +1’40” to Vingegaard and +2’25” to Evenepoel, Seixas, Del Toro and other chasers.
5km to go and Vingegaard sat nearly two minutes back. Pogacar was visibly struggling, but so was everyone else.
2026 Tour de France: Stage 6 Brief Results
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) @ 4h 32′ 07″
- Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) @ 2’38”
- Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) @ 2’57”
- Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull BORA hansgrohe) s.t.
- Paul Seixas (DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM) s.t.
2026 Tour de France: General Classification After Stage 6
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates XRG)
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), +2’42”
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates XRG), +3’27”
- Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), +3’30”
- Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), +3’34”
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