It was a very hard race on a stage that many expected to be one for the breakaway as the longest stage of this year’s Tour de France. It also came after a tough cobbled stage that had seen many nursing injuries and tired legs.
The incumbent yellow jersey Wout van Aert was on a mission to make the breakaway, and went clear with Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo) and Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech) after 70 kilometres of skirmishing to make the move. Such was van Aert’s relentless pace, he burned away his breakaway companions on the flat without attacking, and with 30 kilometres left it was just the Belgian star out on his own with a peloton intent on closing him down.
They accomplished that on the first of two sharp climbs to conclude the stage, and then the race for the stage win heated up on the next climb as Alexi Vuillermoz (TotalEnergies) went clear with an attack on the steepest section. At that point, Pogačar stretched his legs as well to thin out the group and it was just the strong climbers that were able to follow.
Vuillermoz was swept up on the hill to the finish as UAE Team Emirates took up the pace-making for Pogačar, with Australian Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco) the highest-credentialled sprinter left in the group.
Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) started the sprint, but once Pogačar started his own, it was clear that the two-time Tour de France champion was in a class of his own despite a battling performance from Matthews that saw him ride to second on the day. Pogačar also moved into the yellow jersey with the victory, holding it by four seconds over Neilson Powless (EF Education-Easypost) with Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) third at 31 seconds in arrears.
“Every time I win it’s even better,” said an exultant Pogačar. “I was feeling good and the team did an incredible job putting me in the perfect position.
“It was not a pure sprint, we rode the last two climbs really hard, it was above our thresholds. I guess I had the strong legs to push at the end.”
Pogačar paid special mention to the pace of the race, the expected fastest speed according to race organisers was 44 kilometres per hour, but the big battle for the initial breakaway and the relentless pace of van Aert meant the riders finished with an eye-bogglingly fast average of 49.38 km/hr.
“Today was hard from the start,” said Pogačar. “The first two hours, it was so crazy, the strongest guy went in the breakaway. A lot of the guys pulling in the peloton, all of my team as well. I was thinking he would come to the finish, but in the end the peloton was stronger.”
The Tour de France continues with Stage 7, the first mountain stage of the race, finishing atop the Planche des Belles Filles. The race broadcast starts at 8.55pm AEST on the SBS ŠKODA Tour Tracker, with the SBS television coverage starting at 9.30pm AEST.
