Tour de France: Slovenian Tadej Pogacar wins the 6th stage and takes the lead

Published on: 07/07/2022 – 17:41 By winning the sixth stage of the Tour de France on Thursday in Longwy, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), double winner of the Tour, takes control of the general classification of the race. A perfect double blow for Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian won the sixth stage of the Tour de France on Thursday July 7 in Longwy, in eastern France, also taking control of the general classification of the race. Tadej Pogacar stripped Belgian Wout van Aert of the yellow jersey. , great animator of this stage, the longest of the Tour with nearly 220 kilometers.>> To read also: Yellow jersey, stage victories: nine riders to watch during the Tour de France 2022The Slovenian, double winner of the Tour, has defeated the Australian Michael Matthews and the Frenchman David Gaudu in an uphill sprint, on the eve of the first summit finish, at the top of the Planche des Belles Filles. Van Aert’s last stand, with indisputable panache but the questionable tactical interest, and the favorable wind made it possible to complete the stage at an average speed of more than 49 km/h. In an unbridled first part of the stage (101.6 km in two hours), Van Aert multiplied the battering to finally cause a three-rider breakaway with Am American Quinn Simmons, the youngest of the Tour peloton (21 years old), and the Dane Jakob Fuglsang (37 years old), at … 148 kilometers from the finish. Clear domination in the sprint The peloton granted up to four minutes to the trio thrown into this reckless escape. Omnipresent since the start of the Tour, Van Aert most often dictated the pace in a burst of energy the day after the cobblestone stage, exhausting for many riders. After the intermediate sprint (km 145), Fuglsang finished by getting up and Van Aert continued the crazy adventure with Simmons, who took over without a second thought. Behind the duo, the peloton reduced its pace and the gap came close to two minutes for a long time before melting in the last forty kilometers. Alone in the lead at the start of the last thirty kilometers, the Belgian challenged the peloton launched at his kits before being joined and immediately overwhelmed eleven kilometers from the finish. The Russian Aleksandr Vlasov fell a few moments later. At the front, Alexis Vuillermoz started on the penultimate climb at six kilometers, but was joined on the finish climb, 1,400 meters from the line. In the sprint, Pogacar clearly dominated Matthews and signed his seventh stage success in the Tour, which he is competing for the third time. In the general classification, the young Slovenian (23) is four seconds ahead of the American Neilson Powless and 31 seconds over his runner-up Last year, the Dane Jonas Vingegaard. With AFP