LONGWY, France (Reuters) – Twice defending champion Tadej Pogacar stormed to victory in stage six of the Tour de France on Thursday with a late lung-busting effort and snatched the overall leader’s yellow jersey from Wout van Aert.
It was the seventh Tour stage win for the Slovenian, who finished ahead of Michael Matthews and David Gaudu in the 220-km journey from Binche to Longwy.
Belgian Van Aert, flanked by Jakob Fuglsang and Quinn Simmons, led the breakaway and the Jumbo–Visma rider put on a remarkable show to open up a gap of two minutes before being swallowed by the peloton with 11km to go.
But the decision to attack the stage alone proved to be a costly miscalculation as an exhausted Van Aert slid down the peloton after being caught and lost his lead in the general classification.
Friday’s stage seven is a 176.5-km ride from Tomblaine to La Super Planche des Belles Filles.
(Reporting by Dhruv Munjal in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon)
