It was a display of sheer dominance: Pogačar attacked on the Tourmalet, dropped Vingegaard, and rode 43 kilometres alone to the finish at Cirque de Gavarnie. The Slovenian claimed the yellow jersey on Stage 6 of the Tour de France and now leads the general classification by a seemingly insurmountable 2:42.
He put 2:38 into two-time Tour winner Vingegaard by the finish. French President Emmanuel Macron, watching from Tour director Christian Prudhomme’s lead car, witnessed a historic Pyrenean duel.
The move was set up by UAE teammate Isaac Del Toro, who launched a fierce attack five kilometres from the Tourmalet summit—only Pogačar could follow. At the mountain classification point, the defending champion already held a 30-second gap over Vingegaard.
Florian Lipowitz, last year’s third-place finisher and Germany’s hope, crossed the line sixth, nearly three minutes down. His Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe teammate Remco Evenepoel finished fourth. Overall leader Torstein Træen (Uno-X Mobility) crashed far back and fought his way to the finish.
The peloton covered the first 86 flat kilometres at an average of 45 km/h. Then Nils Politt took UAE to the front on the Col d’Aspin, making it clear: a breakaway win was off the table. The 17.1 km Tourmalet, averaging 7.3% from Sainte-Marie de Campan—first climbed in 1910 and 91 times since—took its toll. After the summit, the 18.7 km final climb to Cirque de Gavarnie saw Pogačar extend his lead.
