PARIS — Reigning champion Tadej Pogacar stamped his authority on the Tour de France, winning the mountainous sixth stage and reclaiming the race leader’s yellow jersey.
Pogacar now leads by 2min 42sec from his main rival Jonas Vingegaard, who finished second on the 186km Pyrenean stage from Pau to Gavarnie-Gedre to move up to second overall.
“Today I woke up at seven in the morning already and my mind was going crazy so I was really excited,” said Pogacar, who broke the record for the fastest time up the Tourmalet on the way to his 23rd Tour stage victory.
“All the guys (his teammates) were really hyped so I knew it would be a good day,” he said according to AFP.
“We just committed; we were going like nothing to lose. If we explode, they explode but, in the end, we succeeded and I’m super proud.”
Pogacar’s teammate Isaac Del Toro beat Remco Evenepoel in the sprint for third to leapfrog the Olympic champion in the standings for third overall at 3:27.
Norwegian Torstein Traeen had started the day in yellow but he lost contact with the lead group before the halfway point of the punishing Tourmalet climb with around 50 kilometres still to ride, and from then on it was clear that his grip on the jersey was gone.
To make matters worse he crashed on the descent – his second spill in as many days.
