Stage 6 TDF 2022 Blog: Don’t Be Depressed, It’s Not Over Yet
Stage 6 was long, at 220km, and quite difficult with rollling terrain. The peloton had a tailwind, and rode fast.
The race kicked off towards the end of the stage, with an attack by Alexis Vuillermoz on the penultimate climb, the Cote de Pulventeux. He was caught on the final climb to the line, the Cote des Religieuses.
UAE led up the final climb. Tom Pidcock was on Pogacar’s wheel.
Roglic was the first to sprint for the line. Pogacar overhauled him and distanced the rest of the pack. Michael Matthews chased after Pogacar but didn’t come close to catching him. Pogacar won and Matthews was second.
The next riders across the line were Gaudu, Pidcock, Quintana, Teuns and Vingegaard, in that order.
Pogacar now has the yellow jersey, with Neilson Powless second at 4s, Vingegaard third at 31s, and the Ineos (oil and SUVs) trio of Yates, Pidcock and Thomas from 39 to 46s back.
It looks ominous, but there’s a long way to go yet. We haven’t had any sustained efforts on mountain stages, so it’s too early to write the 2022 Tour de France off as another cake walk for Pogacar.
Wout van Aert
Earlier, van Aert was in a breakaway with Quinn Simmons and Jakob Fuglsang. Fuglsang was first to check out, then Simmons could no longer hold on at 31km to go. Van Aert was caught with 11km left.
Jumbo Visma said it meant they didn’t have to pull on the front of the bunch, so tired out other teams including Pogacar’s UAE.