Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) produced a stunning ride on stage 6 of the Critérium du Dauphiné, dropping all of his rivals on the Côte de Domancy to both win the stage and wrest back control of the overall race lead in dominant fashion.
After starting the day with time to make up on Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), Pogačar restored his position at the top after a rapid lead-out from his team and a subsequent ruthless seated attack.
Jhonatan Narváez did for everyone except for Vingegaard, proving his worth again as a new signing for 2025, before the world champion blasted away and dropped Vingegaard, riding in the saddle the whole time, with around 7km left to ride.
Pogačar quickly caught the last remnant of the early breakaway, Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), then kicked on up the final Côte de la Cry climb to win solo at the finish, with big time gaps to those behind.
Vingegaard was the second best on the road, but could only limit his losses to 1:01, with Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) continuing to impress in third, as Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Evenepoel crossed the line 1:30 and 1:50 down respectively.
With the damage done, Pogačar swapped out his rainbow jersey for a yellow one, with a 43-second advantage to Vingegaard in second, and a 54-second lead over surprise package Lipowitz in third, with the queen stage to come tomorrow, before a final mountain test on Sunday.
Evenepoel’s losses saw him drop to fourth overall at 1:22, after a valiant fight in the yellow jersey, with Jorgenson set to start stage 7 in fifth, at a 1:41 deficit.
“Tim [Wellens] was super strong, Pavel [Sivakov], Jhonny [Narváez] too, they were really incredible today, all the team actually. In the end, I felt good, and we said we would go from the bottom of the climb on the steepest part,” said Pogačar post-stage.
“We committed, because we have nothing to lose, only to gain, and it was like this. It was a hot day, a hard day, and I had to hurry up just to see the finish of Urška [Žigart, his partner and women’s WorldTour pro] at the Tour de Suisse, and I made it just in time, so all good.
“I think I was feeling really good and when I attacked, it was an all-out effort and I knew it was still around 15 minutes after the Côte de Domancy to the top, so I had to pace myself and the feeling was there, the legs were turning, and it was just in my favour to be in front and gain time. One minute is good, and I’m super happy.”
How it Unfolded
Stage 6 of the Critérium du Dauphiné saw the riders set out to more hot and sunny conditions in Valserhône, with 126km and the first summit finish of the race awaiting them in Combloux.
A rapid first hour of racing was opened up by green jersey Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), but the eight-man breakaway of the day didn’t form until 20 more kilometres of full-gas attacking and counter-attacking was completed.
Michael Leonard (Ineos Grenadiers) sparked a new move just inside 100km to go, with four riders initially following him: Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), Pierre Thierry (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies).
Van der Poel then ensured he didn’t miss out with another burst, but this time, he had both Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) and Romain Bardet (Picnic PostNL) for company, as they made it eight in the lead of stage 6 on the steep first categorised climb of the day up the Côte de Villy-le-Pelloux.
With the break gone, the peloton settled into a holding pattern with Pogačar’s UAE team keeping control in front of Evenepoel’s Soudal-QuickStep train. Unfortunately, for those in front anyway, this meant the gap was kept close, around 1:30, with Domen Novak working away for a likely Pogačar assault in the final.
As the second categorised climb up Côte de Mont-Saxonnex (5.5km at 8.6%), there was a change in the peloton, with Visma-Lease a Bike coming to the front with number, making sure Vingegaard was in an ideal position.
The injection of pace behind saw Evenepoel left out of position and caught behind a split at the foot. It didn’t take him long to get back to the front, however, and he was soon on Pogačar’s wheel as the men in yellow and black powered on in numbers.
Van der Poel and Bardet dropped out of the break, with their advantage being halved to just 40 seconds with 43km to go. Armirail, Baudin and Leonard proved the strongest, but they would soon be caught, too.
The first Visma move came from Sepp Kuss, with all the big names shutting it down instantly, but it was then Lipowitz who kicked on, prompting Jorgenson into chasing for Visma, with Pogačar, Evenepoel and Vingegaard following in the wheel.
Lipowitz was allowed some advantage, as Pogačar waited for teammates to return and bring the German back gradually. While at the same time, the gap to now just Baudin and Leonard had stabilised to 45 seconds.
Aside from the superstars and their teammates, just Enric Mas (Movistar), Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla) and 18-year-old super talent Paul Seixas (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) could follow in the GC favourites group.
Lipowitz was reeled back in by Wellens with 40km to go and just a few hundred metres of the climb to go, allowing Leonard and Baudin’s gap to extend back out to a minute.
The GC group that formed on the road towards the final climb was made up of Vingegaard, Jorgenson, Ben Tullett (Visma-Lease a Bike), Pogačar, Wellens, Evenepoel, Lipowitz, Mas, Seixas, Armirail, Dunbar, Leknessund and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility).
They were soon joined by a large chase group, led by Bahrain-Victorious for Santiago Buitrago and Lenny Martinez, with more teammates arriving to help both Vingegaard and Pogačar. This let the leading duo build out their lead to 1:22, giving them a chance, yes, but only a very narrow one.
With a duo of climbs set to decide the day, the breakaway remnants reached the foot of the Côte de Domancy (2.5km at 9.3%), with a lead of 1:14 en route to the finish up the Côte de la Cry (2.7km at 7.7%). On home roads, Baudin quickly left Leonard behind with 8km to go, in a hit out for glory on stage 6.
In contrast to the previous climb, Pogačar was led into the Domancy by three of his teammates, with Visma sitting close behind for Vingegaard. Jhonatan Narváez took over for the world champion and set an infernal pace, dropping everyone, including Evenepoel, Jorgenson and Lipowitz, except for Vingegaard.
Pogačar took over on his own just 30 seconds behind the leader on the road, and while Vingegaard initially stuck to his wheel, quickly, balance was restored for Pogačar, who powered away in the saddle with ease.
Evenepoel lost 35 seconds in quick time, but paced at his own tempo behind to try and limit the damage. Vingegaard in no way blew up, but climbed 17 seconds behind Pogačar, who caught Baudin with 6.7km to go and went solo in search of the stage win.
However, the world champion continued to accelerate as those behind faltered.
Lipowitz attacked a chasing group behind, having lost a minute to Pogačar, which none of Evenepoel, Jorgenson or Wellens could follow. The American waited for his moment, but a few kilometres later, he also attacked away from the yellow jersey to try and minimise his loss.
As the line arrived, Pogačar looked as easy as ever to take victory solo, with the demolition behind following him in. Vingegaard was next finish having lost a minute, offering his congratulations to the new race leader at the finish. Behind, Evenepoel and the rest of the GC riders came home in ones and twos, having felt the full force of a top-level Tadej Pogačar on stage 6.
Results
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