With another imperious display, Tadej Pogačar won stage 6 of the 2026 Tour de France and retook the Yellow Jersey as the leader of the general classification. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG went on a solo conquest on the Col du Tourmalet, before riding to the day’s honours at Gavarnie-Gèdre.
The victory marked Pogačar’s 23rd stage success at the Tour de France in seven editions, coming just three days after he won the stage to Les Angles.
On the first day in the mountains of this year’s Tour, it was the Slovenian’s opportunity to impose his superiority over his rivals for the overall crown. Setting his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates to work from the early knockings, Pogačar was keen to lay down the law from kilometre 0. The harder the race, the better his chances of dislodging his opponents from the wheel.
So it proved for the four-time Tour de France champion, who used the Col du Tourmalet as his launchpad. One by one, the Emirati squad’s mountain train peeled off, with both Brandon McNulty and Adam Yates having done their work in setting a hard pace. Once the latter had spent his bullets, it was over to Isaac del Toro, the stage 2 winner, to launch.
The Mexican needed no encouragement and immediately jumped out of the saddle. Within a few pedal strokes, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and more had been forced to relent. Del Toro and Pogačar were quickly alone at the head of the bike race, and after riding in unison for a kilometre, Pogačar went off alone.
With 43km to ride, the 27-year-old took flight. Up the final 4km of the Col du Tourmalet, he stretched out a healthy gap, and on the descent, he pummelled home his advantage with a brave ride.
At the foot of the 18km climb to the finish line, Pogačar held an advantage of well over a minute, and by the summit, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider had two minutes and 38 seconds over his nearest competitor, Vingegaard. It had been an imposing effort from the Slovenian, with the Yellow Jersey his reward.
Meanwhile, as those behind Pogačar and Vingegaard scrambled to rally themselves, Del Toro stuck to the task of following the wheels and finishing strongly. At the line, the Mexican won the sprint of a small group to take third place on the day, and move himself up to third overall.
As for Pogačar, his lead in the general classification over the second-placed Vingegaard stands at two minutes and 42 seconds. The 27-year-old ranked the day’s victory as one of the finest of his remarkable career.
Pogačar: “I think this is top five [of my Tour de France stage wins]. I got flashbacks to Tourmalet in 2023, after I had broken my hand in Liège. I got a lot of flashbacks, it was a similar finish. It was a really incredible victory and one of my favourite wins so far. Yesterday on the bus, when we were coming back from the stage, we had very big hype already talking about today’s stage.
“This morning I woke up at 7am and my mind was going crazy, I was so excited about today’s stage. I knew all the guys were really hyped so I knew it could be a good day. We committed, we had nothing to lose – if we explode, we explode. We did it and I am super proud of everybody today.”
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