Pogacar dominates on Tourmalet as yellow jersey crashes

Pogacar dominates on Tourmalet as yellow jersey crashesImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Tadej Pogacar won the Tour in 2020, 2021, 2024 and 2025ByMatt WarwickBBC Sport Senior JournalistPublished8 minutes ago2 CommentsTadej Pogacar took a big step towards winning the Tour de France for a record-equalling fifth time with a dominant victory on stage six, regaining the leader's yellow jersey.The defending champion established a lead with ease on the iconic Col du Tourmalet during the first 186.2km mountain stage of the three-week race.Pogacar, 27, is aiming to become the joint-most successful rider in the Tour's history, alongside Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.Between launching his attack five kilometres from the top of the Tourmalet to the summit of the climb, UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Pogacar gained 30 seconds over his main rival Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark - and a devastating one minute 45 seconds over Belgium's Remco Evenepoel of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and young French hope Paul Seixas of Decathlon CMA CGM.Pogacar eventually crossed the line of the stage from Pau to Gavarnie-Gedre two minutes 38 seconds ahead of Visma-Lease a Bike's Vingegaard, with Pogacar's team-mate and chosen lead domestique Isaac del Toro of Mexico a further 19 seconds down, along with Evenepoel and Seixas.Pogacar takes the overall leader's yellow jersey after finishing nearly half an hour ahead of former wearer Torstein Traeen of Norway, who crashed heavily earlier in the stage.Vingegaard, 29, had no answer to Pogacar's trademark explosive initial launch and pace management, which ekes out his time gap in metronomic fashion. Vingegaard had returned to top form since a serious crash in 2024 in the build-up to the Tour which injured his lungs.As part of his recovery, Vingegaard won cycling's other two three-week Grand Tours, including last year's protest-hit Vuelta a Espana and May's Giro d'Ita...