Hello and welcome to stage 6 of the Tour de France!

It might only be the first week of the race, but the race is already in the high mountains, with a stage that goes deep into the heart of the Pyrenees, and high up to some of its grandest summits. Two of the climbs from the region’ infamous ‘circle from hell’ are to be tackled – Col d’Aspin, and perhaps the most feared of them all, the Col du Tourmalet.

The big question today is how much of an impact these mighty climbs will have on the GC race? They are certainly hard enough to cause havoc if the GC riders race up it, but will the 40km from its summit to the finish, and the relatively shallow gradients of the category two climb of Gavarnie-Gèdre that they’ll climb up to the finish, be enough to discourage early attacks?

One thing that is for sure is that many, many riders will be aiming to get into the breakaway. With such big gaps on GC already, including lots of strong climbers, today represented an excellent chance for a stage win from the break, which will surely be reflected in the battle to get into it come the start of the racing in about just over twenty minutes.

Jonas Vingegaard continues to take no chances when it comes to his health at this race, again wearing a mask this morning to try to avoid infection. The Dane had a stressful finish yesterday when he was held up by the late crash, but thankfully did not go down himself.

Jonas Vingegaard avoids Tour de France disaster, scrambles to finish on teammate’s bike after late crash chaos

The riders are on the move in Pau, following the neutral service ahead of the official start.

There is one non-starter today – Alex Molenaar, who had been riding such an animated race by getting into breakaways and spent a day in the polka-dot jersey, but yesterday went down heavily in a crash.

Before things kick-off and the race ignites in a matter of minutes, have a read of our thorough preview of the stage.

Tour de France 2026 stage 6 preview – Showdown among GC favourites Pogačar and Vingegaard expected on most demanding day in the Pyrenees

The riders in the neutralised section.

OFFICIAL START

Christian Prudhomme’s head is out the top of the car, the flag is waved, and the race is on!

And surprisingly, the first attacker right from the flag is a Visma-Lease a Bike, Victor Campanaerts. Visma must mean business today, and are riding on the front foot rather than passively. That bodes well for how exciting the stage might turn out to be later.

Inevitably, the irrepressible Mads Pedersen is on the attack too. The green jersey jumped out the peloton and bridged up to Campanaerts and Lotto’s Huub Artz. There are points to be won for him in the green jersey classification, with an intermediate sprint less than 60km into the race, before any of the mountains have been tackled.

180KM TO GO

Pedersen, Campanaerts and Artz have a lead of 25 seconds on the peloton. Some other riders have tried getting out the peloton to join them, including O’Connor and Ganna, but so far to no avail.

The leading trio are working well together, and are still building their lead. The road remains fluctuates between flat and slightly uphill for most of the stage’s first half, so within their specialities.

170KM TO GO

The peloton chasing behind is at 50 seconds. It’s calmed down there, with the attacks no longer being made from it, and NSN having taken over the pace-setting. They’re responding to Pedersen’s presence in the break, on behalf of their own green jersey contender Biniam Girmay.

Artz’s presence in the break follows on from his Lotto’s approach from yesterday, when their rider Baptiste Veistroffer was the sole man up the road. Ever since star man Arnaud Dr Lie’s abandonment they’ve had to shift their approach, and are doing a good job so far of keeping their jerseys visible.

‘I don’t understand why I was alone, we have an amazing chance to race the Tour de France’ – A pat on the back from Pogačar as Baptiste Veistroffer saves the day

160KM TO GO

The gap has continued to grow, now up to 1:25. This has become a chase between Pedersen, Campanaerts and Artz, against the NSN-led peloton.

It’s likely that the race in the peloton will ignite again come the climbs later on, be it the upcoming fourth and third category efforts or the Col d’Aspin later on, when the stronger climbers will surely try to get into the break.

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Something has happened to Huub Artz in the break. He has been having long discussions with the commissaires car, and has now slowed up and allowed himself to be dropped out of the break. It’s unclear what he has been told by the commissaires, but he doesn’t look especially happy about it.

150KM TO GO

Campanaerts and Pedersen lead the race by 1:15. Artz has dropped back into the peloton – the TV has shown replays of his position on the handlebars, which it seems might have been what the commissaires were reprimanding him for.

The weather is hot out there today, with riders like Richard Carapaz (pictured) making sure to keep cool. The race is in the ‘red zone’ in terms of weather today, and there is a risk of thunderstorms later, but no sign of them materialising just yet.

Tour de France enters the Extreme Weather Protocol red zone but the show will go on

KOM – COTE DE LOUCRUP

Pedersen has taken the point ahead of Campanaerts over the first (category four) climb of the day, but the real intrigue has happened behind. There was an upping of pace at the front of the peloton, with Van Eetvelt among those to accelerate, and some small gaps in the peloton opened up, with Pogačar keeping himself right towards the front.

130KM TO GO

It’s calmed down again in the peloton among the big GC men, but Remco Evenepoel was held up taking a nature break, and now has teammates with him trying to pace him back into the peloton.

Meanwhile a two-man counter attack of Raúl García Pierna and Xabier Mikel Azparren have attacked out of the peloton, and are a few seconds ahead of the peloton, which is 35 second behind Campanaerts and Pedersen at the front of the race.

but a two-man counter-attack has formed with

INTERMEDIATE SPRINT

Mission accomplished for Mads Pedersen! He’s taken the points at the intermediate sprint, uncontested by Campanaerts.

Behind, Kanter, Philipsen and Girmay sprinted for the remaining points on offer (after Azparren and Garcia Pernia had been caught) finishing in that order.

Pedersen has sat up and been caught, and here come the counter-attacks! Ben Healy is among those involved, and others are trying to go with him, as the gradient kicks up for an uncategorised rise. Campanaerts remains out front alone for now, with a lead of about 10 seconds.

120KM TO GO

The peloton is all back together again, with Campanaerts caught, and Evenepoel back in the peloton following his delay from earlier. A new wave of attacks is being made, with Jorgenson among those trying to go clear, but nothing has stuck yet.

A promising group of five has formed as they approach the foot of the second climb of the day, the category three Côte de Mauvezin. Martin, Foss, Caruso, Tratnik and O’Connor are all present, and are being joined by more.

That break as been caught as the ride up the climb, but the peloton is all stretched out. There are 1,500m left to ride until the summit.

KOM – COTE DE MAUVEZIN

Ben O’Connor has gone clear of the peloton with Xabier Mikel Azparren, and takes the two points at the top, with Azparren taking one. They are about 20 seconds ahead of the peloton, from which sprinters like Girmay and Philipsen have been dropped out of.

The instructions on race radio from Decathlon DS to their riders. This race has occasionally got messy over the small climbs, with gaps emerging in the peloton, and so they’re aware for the sake of their leader Paul Seixas of the need to stay alert.

For now, the race is calm again, with UAE Team Emirates XRG riding tempo at the front behind O’Connor, who is 30 seconds up the road. Azparren has dropped back to the peloton.

100KM TO GO

O’Connor still leads the race by himself, 40 seconds ahead of the peloton. There will now be a long rolling section of road before they hit the foot of the first proper mountain of the day, Col d’Aspin, where the race will really ignite.

Remco Evenepoel is looking a lot happier than earlier, sat in the peloton and smiling, in contrast to the stress he was under earlier when he was caught out in a split. He is looking in great shape at this Tour, as observed by his DS yesterday, and this could be a big day for assessing his hopes of properly challenging for the yellow jersey.

‘Probably the lightest I’ve ever seen him’ – Red Bull full of confidence in extremely lean Remco Evenepoel ahead of first Tour de France mountain stage

UAE Team Emirates XRG continue to ride at the front of the peloton, but we’ve just heard from the team’s race radio that the instructions are to slow down a bit. That’s understandable, as Ben O’Connor is the only man up the road, and poses no threat on GC anymore, and there’s still some road to be taken on before the climb.

For now, O’Connor leads by 1:15.

Decathlon’s Daan Hoole is having a rough day. He’s just been seen at the back of the peloton, being sick onto the road – and that’s before we’ve even started the two upcoming mountains.

As a major part of Paul Seixas’ engine room, the team will hope he can survive the stage. This has been identified as the key day in the first week of the Tour for his GC ambitions.

‘The key moment of this first week’ – Teenage Tour de France star Paul Seixas heads into the unknown on first high mountain stage

80KM TO GO

Here we go, the riders have begun Col d’Aspin! They will be climbing for 12km at 6.5%. O’Connor leads the peloton by just 45 seconds, with UAE leading the chase.

Some big names have been dropped from the peloton already on the Aspin – Cian Uijtdebroeks, who has struggled all Tour, and, more surprisingly, Juan Ayuso!

It appears the latter’s problem was technical rather than physical, as he’s making his way back into the peloton, but it’s a stressful situation to be in nonetheless.

Nils Politt is leading the peloton for UAE. He’s going hard, but not too hard, keeping O’Connor at 35 seconds. Meanwhile Ayuso is back in the peloton, along with all the other main GC names.

The riders are about 5km from the top of the Aspin. With only one man up the road, there are a lot of points available in the KOM competition available for anyone climbing well in the peloton who has their eye on the polka-dot jersey.

That doesn’t include the current wearer of the polka-dot jersey, Alex Baudin. He has been dropped from the peloton.

70KM TO GO

The peloton is getting smaller, and Ben O’Connor has been caught and dropped out of it. It’s still a big group though, with all the GC favourites are still in it, as well as the yellow jersey of Torstein Træen – but his rival Sean Quinn has been dropped.

We have also just had our first attack on the climb, with Valentin Paret-Peintre making a move. He has his eye on the KOM points.

KOM – COL D’ASPIN

Lenny Martinez also attacked out of the peloton to join Valentin Paret-Peintre before the summit, and beat him in a sprint to take the maximum points.

They’ve both made their intentions of targeting the mountains classification clear by attacking. As two quality climbers who are also in possession with quick kicks in the KOM sprints, and far enough down on GC to be given freedom to attack, they look like great candidates for the polka-dot jersey.

60KM TO GO

Paret-Peintre and Martinez dropped back into the peloton on the descent, meaning we have no breakaway as things stand. The riders are still descending down the Aspin, after which they’ll start climbing the Tourmalet almost immediately.

We’ve also just had an abandon – Soudal’s Bert Van Lerberghe, a key part of Tim Merlier’s lead-out train.

The riders have started the Tourmalet! Tim Wellens is leading them on it for UAE Team Emirates XRG.

Jonas Vingegaard is receiving encouragement on Visma-Lease a Bike’s race radio.

Right now it’s UAE Team Emirates XRG who are dominating at the front of the peloton, though. Wellens still leads the peloton for them, and as well as him, Pogačar still has Vermeersch, Großschartner, McNulty, Yates and Del Toro with him.

50KM TO GO

Riders are being dropped on the Tourmalet. Matthew Riccitello is among them, which after Aurélien Paret-Peintre was dropped earlier, is leaving Paul Seixas looking light on support.

And now one of Visma’s big support riders, Jorgenson, is dropped. So far UAE are winning the battle among the GC teams. Felix Großschartner leads the peloton for them, one of five riders still at the front for them.

YELLOW JERSEY DROPPED

Torstein Træen has been dropped! His yellow jersey is now under peril, though he has a big advantage of 7:53 to defend from Tadej Pogačar. He will have to pace himself carefully for the remainder of the mountain, and the stage.

Tom Pidcock has been dropped! The peloton continues to thin out, it’s down to about 20 – 25 riders.

There are now only 16 riders left in the peloton – McNulty leads, and with him are teammates Pogacar, Del Toro and Yates, plus Vingegaard, Piganzoli, Kuss, Evenepoel, Lipowitz, Seixas, Ayuso, Skjelmose, Carapaz, Johannessen, Bernal and Martinez.

Carapaz has been dropped, as has Piganzoli, leaving Vingegaard with Just Kuss to support him. Pogačar still has McNulty pacing, and both Yates and Del Toro in reserve.

Yates has taken over as pace-setter from McNulty, who has been dropped. Johannessen is the latest rider to be dropped, leaving just 12 riders left in the group.

Del Toro takes over from Yates already, accelerates, and has gone away from the rest with Pogačar on his wheel! Not even Vingegaard has managed to follow this move.

Vingegaard is trying to chase them down behind, and has Lipowitz almost on his wheel. Seixas is behind, and the rest further down.

POGACAR GOES CLEAR

Pogačar has gone clear of Del Toro and is leading the race by himself!

Vingegaard has caught and passed Del Toro, who is going backwards. Lipowitz is catching up to him.

Vingegaard appears to be clawing Pogačar back…he’s just seven seconds behind.

Pogačar is holding his lead, keeping 10 seconds on Vingegaard. Behind, Seixas has caught up to Del Toro and Lipowitz, who are 50 seconds behind.

40KM TO GO

Vingegaard is grimacing in a way we rarely see him do. He must be going very deep, but is drifting further away, to 25 seconds. The Seixas / Lipowitz / Del Toro group is 1:05 behind, while Evenepoel is in a group at 1:20.

KOM – COL DU TOURMALET

Pogačar summits the Tourmalet, to take the Souvenir Jacques Goddet. He’s 30 seconds ahead of Vingegaard, and about 1:20 ahead of Seixas / Lipowitz / Del Toro.

How many risks will Vingegaard and the others be willing to take on this descent to try to bring him back? This could be a dramatic downhill.

Vingegaard is being cheered on on this descent by his DS, but 30 seconds is a lot of ground to make up. After the long descent of the Tourmalet, there is another climb to the finish to take on, the Gavarnie-Gèdre, which might rise at only 3.7% but goes on for a whole 18.7km. He cannot afford to go into the red.

30KM TO GO

Pogačar is pushing on hard on this descent, calling out to a moto to get out of his way as he powers down it. His lead is getting bigger, now 40 seconds up on Vingegaard. And he’s also very nearly the virtual yellow jersey, with Torstein Træen having only just crested the climb, over seven minutes later.

The Evenepoel group has brought back Seixas, Lipowitz and Del Toro, after strong work from the Belgian on the descent. They’re 1:50 behind Pog and one minute behind Vingegaard.

20KM TO GO

Pogačar has almost reached the bottom of the descent, and has increased his lead to just over a minute on Vingegaard, and 1:50 on the 8-man chase group behind containing all of the other GC contenders.

CRASH – YELLOW JERSEY

Torstein Træen has gone down on the descent. He’s back up on his feet, and has just started riding again after getting a concussion test, but will now surely lose the yellow jersey to Pogačar.

Vingegaard is really up against it here. He’s started the final climb, but is now 1:15 behind Pog, and only 40 seconds ahead of the chasers. He’s cutting a lonely figure.

Evenepoel had been showing some frustration in the main chase group, but they’re now working together, with most riders (but to Del Toro and Kuss, who have their respective leaders Pogačar and Vingegaard up the road) taking turns. They’re not making much inroads though, with Pog 2:17 up the road, and Vingegaard also still 45 seconds ahead.

Pogačar continues to grow his lead bit by bit. He’s 1:40 up on Vingegaard, and 2:30 up on the Evenepoel / Seixas group. As many predicted, this is turning out to be the day he seizes control of this Tour de France.

5KM TO GO

Pogačar’s lead over Vingegaard has grown to over two minutes. Vingegaard is still going relatively well though, holding his lead of 40 seconds over the chasing group, though he’s having to go very deep to do so by the look of the facial expressions he’s pulling

Cian Uijtdebroeks has DNFed the race, after being dropped much earlier. Here’s the full story.

Cian Uijtdebroeks withdraws from Tour de France on Col du Tourmalet

1KM TO GO

Just 1km left to ride for Tadej Pogačar! He stands to make huge gains, having increased his lead to Vingegaard to 2:23, and to the rest to 2:55.

POGACAR WINS

He’s done it yet again, celebrating with a flamboyant bow. We now wait to see when the others arrive.

At last, Vingegaard arrives home for second-place, a whole 2:40 behind Pogačar.

Behind, Del Toro wins the group sprint for third ahead of Evenepoel, at 2:57.

So that’s stage win number 23 Tadej Pogačar, pulling him ahead of André Darrigade on the all-time ranking to fifth, and to within 8 of Mark Cavendish’s record.

In a parallel universe, where Tadej Pogačar doesn’t exist, today was instead the day where Jonas Vingegaard laid the foundations for a record-breaking sixth yellow jersey. He did another great ride today, showing no signs of fatigue following his victorious Giro d’Italia ride, but could not get anywhere near his eternal rival.

Thanks for joining us today, as Tadej Pogačar firmly seized control of this Tour de France. Despite the stellar names in the field, most of whom stepped up to the occasion and put in great performances, the Slovenian remains untouchable, and looks the firm favourite to equal the record for most ever Tour de France wins. But there’s still much, much more racing to come, and all sorts can happen in this race, with many twists and turns to come.

Tomorrow will be all about survival for Pogačar and the other GC favourites, as the attention shifts back towards the sprinters again for what looks set to be a bunch finish. We’ll be back with live coverage again, so be sure to follow along as we bring you all the action!