Tour de France 2026: Pogacar reclaims yellow in race over Aspin and Tourmalet

fotobureau Cor VosTadej Pogacar attacks with 5 kilometres remaining on the Col du Tourmalet. Jonas Vingegaard reaches the summit 30 seconds later, but loses further ground on the descent and the final climb, eventually finishing 2 minutes and 40 seconds down. The world champion thus reclaims the yellow jersey, while Vingegaard moves up to second overall. Remco Evenepoel finishes in the next group and now sits third overall. (Slideshow route/profile)

Stage 6 Results – 2026 Tour de France

1. Tadej Pogacar (slo)
2. Jonas Vingegaard (den) + 2:40
3. Isaac del Toro (Mex) + 2:57
4. Remco Evenepoel (bel) s.t.
5. Paul Seixas (fra) s.t.
6. Florian Lipowitz (ger) s.t.
7. Juan Ayuso (spa) s.t.
8. Mattias Skjelmose (den) s.t.
9. Lenny Martinez (fra) + 3:02
10. Sepp Kuss (usa) + 3:06

14. Ilan Van Wilder (bel) + 8:18
18. Tobias Halland Johannessen (nor) + 8:21
23. Richard Carapaz (ecu) + 8:51
29. Thymen Arensman (nld) + 16:50
31. Sean Quinn (usa) s.t.
51. Torstein Træen (nor) 29:55

GC after stage 6

1. Tadej Pogacar (slo)
2. Jonas Vingegaard (den) + 2:42
3. Isaac del Toro (Mex) + 3:27
4. Remco Evenepoel (bel) + 3:30
5. Juan Ayuso (spa) + 3:34
6. Paul Seixas (fra) + 3:55
7. Florian Lipowitz (ger) + 4:00
8. Lenny Martinez (fra) + 4:21
9. Mattias Skjelmose (den) + 4:57
10. Egan Bernal (col) + 9:12

Race report
Victor Campenaerts makes an early move, with Huub Artz quickly bridging across before Mads Pedersen closes the gap also.

The trio stretch their advantage to 1 minute and a half before, after 35 kilometres, Artz eases off and drops back. The other two still have a 30-second cushion on the Côte de Loucrup, allowing Pedersen to claim the maximum points at the intermediate sprint shortly afterwards.

With 122 kilometres remaining, the peloton is back as one, before Ben O'Connor, Tobias Foss, Jan Tratnik, Guillaume Martin and Damiano Caruso slip away in the run-up to the Côte de Mauvezin.

The peloton regroups on the climb, before Xabier Mikel Azparren attacks and Ben O'Connor bridges across to join him. The Basque rider cannot hold the pace, leaving the Australian to press on alone. He tackles the Col d'Aspin 1 minute ahead of the peloton, but he is reeled in with 5 kilometres to climb.

As Valentin Paret-Peintre attacks with just over 2 kilometres of climbing remaining, Sean Quinn, second overall, is unable to stay with the group. The move never really sticks, and Lenny Martinez reels him in just below the summit before taking the mountain points.

Quinn fights his way back on the descent, only to lose contact again almost immediately on the slopes of the Col du Tourmalet. By then, the peloton is back together.

As the climb wears on, the leading group is rapidly whittled down. Well before the final 10 kilometres of the Tourmalet, yellow jersey holder Torstein Træen, Thymen Arensman and Matteo Jorgenson have all been dropped.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG have been setting the pace ever since the Aspin, and when Isaac del Toro takes over at the front inside the final 5 kilometres, only Jonas Vingegaard, Paul Seixas and, of course, Tadej Pogacar himself are able to follow. But only briefly. Soon it is just the two UAE riders out front, and a few hundred metres later Pogacar rides away on his own.

Vingegaard catches Del Toro before riding straight past him. All the while, he keeps a close eye on Pogacar, but the gap gradually begins to widen again as they near the summit.

The world champion crests the summit 30 seconds ahead of Vingegaard and more than 1 minute clear of Seixas, Lipowitz and Del Toro.

On the descent, he extends his lead over all the chasers, while Remco Evenepoel, Juan Ayuso, Mattias Skjelmose and Lenny Martinez bridge across to the Seixas group.

Pogacar pulls further clear on the final climb, while Vingegaard only just manages to keep the chasers at bay. The Slovenian reclaims the yellow jersey, with Vingegaard a distant second overall. Moments later, Del Toro outsprints Evenepoel for third place and, thanks to the bonus seconds, leapfrogs the Belgian in the general classification.

Another interesting read: route 6th stage 2026 Tour de France.