July 9, 2026
With the Grand Départ in Catalunya at the base of Pyrenees, it forced the organizers to hit the major mountain chain early before setting off for other parts of France. Today's sixth stage is a watered down version but contains a few of the great climbs in the area. The riders could more or less roll out of bed and be at the sign-on because the start was just outside of Pau where they finished yesterday. The first half of the stage is fairly routine with only two short climbs and an intermediate sprint in Pouzac in the first 100 kilometers. Nearly all of the 4,000 meters of elevation gain is in the back half and it begins with the 12 km, 6.5% Col d'Aspin. A descent through Payolle into Sainte-Marie-de-Campan takes the race to the foot of the mighty Col du Tourmalet. The road will rise for over 17 km at an average gradient of 7.3% all the way up to 2,100 meters above sea level to the Souvenir Jacques Goddet at the summit. Another 20 km descent will bring the riders to the base of the final climb up to the finish in Gavarnie-Gèdre. It is nearly 19 km long but averages less than 4% so we'll likely see a GC sprint to battle for the stage win.
Race Summary
The flag dropped at KM0 under perfectly clear, blue skies. Victor Campenaerts of Visma-Lease a Bike was the first attacker and he was quickly joined by Huub Artz of Lotto Intermarché. It took a few more kilometers before other riders tried to jump clear and it was Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek who snapped the elastic and bridged up to make it a trio. The three riders dangled off the front of the peloton with Alpecin-Premier Tech chasing behind to bring back Pedersen before the intermediate sprint. The road to Lourdes and Pouzac was incredibly straight along the plains with the foothills of the Pyrenees shimmering in the distant haze.
The gap got to 45 seconds and NSN Cycling came to lend a hand in the chase. In the break through Saint-Pé-de-Biggore, Artz was given a warning by the race commissaire about his position. The Belgian's hands were holding the brake hoods but his forearms were resting on the handlebars. This aggrieved Artz who had multiple conversations with the car before he pulled the pin and went back to the peloton with 152 km to go. Back in the bunch, Uno-X Mobility and UAE-XRG set a controlling pace which discouraged attacking and they road all the way to the bottom of the Côte de Loucroup with 137 km to go and started the climb 1 minute 10 seconds behind.
Netcompany-Ineos attacked at the base of the Côte de Loucroup but it was Matteo Jorgenson of Visma-Lease a Bike that really stretched the race. The GC favorites bubbled up to the front and the gap was just 30 seconds by the top but the elastic had not snapped. Remco Evenepoel of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe had stopped before the climb for a natural break and was caught out by the attacks. Evenepoel had three teammates pulling but was still 30 seconds behind the peloton as Pedersen led Campenaerts through the intermediate sprint with 127 km to go, mission accomplished for the Dane. In the sprint for third, Max Kanter of XDS Astana edged ahead of Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Premier Tech and Biniam Girmay of NSN Cycling.
Just before an uncategorized climb outside of Bagnères-de-Bigorre, Evenepoel latched on to the peloton as attacks started at the front. Both Pedersen and Campenaerts were caught by the peloton who were romping up the climb. The peloton split in half over the top as Visma-Lease a Bike continued to be quite aggressive but nothing stuck and the race was still together by the bottom of the Côte de Mauvezin with 112 km remaining. About 1 km from the top of the Côte de Mauvezin, Ben O'Connor of Jayco AlUla and Xabier Azparren of Pinarello Q36.5 went clear and summited with a 20 second advantage on the peloton. Azparren was then dropped by a determined O'Connor who looked to be on a good day.
UAE-XRG put on a controlling pace in the peloton through the wide valley as O'Connor continued solo out front. With 80 km to go, the Aussie arrived at the bottom of the Col d'Aspin with a 1 minute lead. The crowds had gathered on both sides of the road and were thick for the first 1,500 meters of the climb. The forest opened up to amazing views across the valley with green peaks all around. About halfway up, UAE-XRG increased the pace and hauled O'Connor back with just under 5 km still to climb.
In a bid for the KOM points at the top, Valentin Paret-Peintre of Soudal Quickstep accelerated just outside of 2 km to climb. Tim Wellens had taken over the pace making for UAE-XRG and was making everyone suffer. Paret-Peintre managed to eek out of a few meters of a lead while those at the back, including Sean Quinn of EF-Education EasyPost and Mathias Vacek of Lidl-Trek who were second and third overall, were getting dropped. 500 meters from the top, Paret-Peintre got company from Lenny Martinez of Bahrain Victorious who was also eager to snatch up some KOM points. The two Frenchmen rode side by side until 100 meters from the top when Martinez jumped. Martinez looked to have the sprint but Paret-Peintre made a strong surge. They both threw their bikes at the line but it was impossible to tell from the camera shot who got it. A few kilometers into the descent, the jury concluded that Martinez took the points which put him into the top few positions in that competition.
Wellens piled on the pressure to Sainte-Marie-de-Campan and the base of the Col du Tourmalet with 55 km to go. 11 km from the top of the Col du Tourmalet, only 35 riders were left in the favorites group and the Yellow jersey of Torstein Træen of Uno-X Mobility was getting distanced. Felix Großschartner of UAE-XRG gave way to Brandon McNulty and, one by one, riders were popped off the back. With 6 km to climb, only 14 riders remained but the damage was done 1 km further up the climb. Just out of the last avalanche tunnel, Isaac del Toro took over from Adam Yates and accelerated hard. The group stretched, gap appeared, and only Isaac del Toro and his UAE-XRG teammate, Tadej Pogačar, were left. Pogačar went to the front himself which distanced del Toro who dropped back to the wheel of Jonas Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike.
Vingegaard was a man determined and held Pogačar at 10 seconds for 2 km. Del Toro fell back to the wheel of Florian Lipowitz of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe with Paul Seixas of Decathlon CMA CGM a few seconds further back. 2 km from the top, Vingegaard was showing signs of weakness and with each passing pedal stroke, he was losing time. Pogačar led through loads of people and camper vans to the top of the climb, passed the memorials to Jacques Goddet and Octave Lapize, and over the other side with a 30 second lead to Vingegaard and almost 90 seconds on del Toro, Lipowitz, and Seixas.
Pogačar descended like a rock to the base of the climb to Gavarnie-Gèdre. Through the official climb with 19 km to go, he had built a lead of 1 minute 10 seconds on Vingegaard and nearly 2 minutes on the Seixas group which swelled to eight riders with Remco Evenepoel of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe joining in with Mattias Skjelmose and Juan Ayuso of Lidl-Trek Sepp Kuss of Visma-Lease a Bike, and Lenny Martinez.
Pogačar went through 6 km to go with nearly 2 minutes on Vingegaard with the Evenepoel chase group closing on Vingegaard just 35 seconds further down the road. In the last kilometer, Pogačar crossed the ravine spanning the Gave de Gavarnie and heard the PA system echoing between the rock cliffs, calling his name into the finish. The hoardings were battered with the clapping hands of spectators who came out to see Pogačar's 23rd Tour de France stage win. Vingegaard soloed his way in 2 minutes 38 seconds down for second place with del Toro winning the sprint ahead of Evenepoel for third at 2 minutes 57 seconds.
The GC at the start of the day was torn up and tossed into the wind. UAE-XRG set out a plan to demolish the race and they succeeding in doing so. Pogačar has re-taken the Maillot Jaune with a 2 minute 42 second gap on Vingegaard and 3 minutes 27 seconds on del Toro who surely has sights on making it a UAE-XRG 1-2 in Paris.