Tadej Pogacar dropped Jonas Vingegaard in the final two miles of the first summit finish of the Tour de France, but Vingegaard took the overall race lead.
Pogacar, the 2020 and 2021 Tour winner, and Vingegaard, the 2022 Tour winner, dueled for the first of what is expected to be multiple times in this year’s Tour in stage six.
“I would not say revenge,” said Pogacar, who in the previous stage Wednesday lost 64 seconds to Vingegaard and last year was overall runner-up to Vingegaard. “I feel a little bit relieved.”
TOUR DE FRANCE: Standings | Broadcast Schedule | Stage by Stage
Vingegaard attacked first, with about three miles to the finish of the category-one Cauterets-Cambasque climb. Pogacar was the only man left who went with him.
Then Pogacar attacked with about a mile and a half to go. He held on to prevail by 24 seconds over Vingegaard. Vingegaard began the day with a 53-second advantage over Pogacar, so it was the Dane who took the yellow jersey from Australian Jai Hindley.
“We wanted to try to test [Pogacar] again today and see how he felt,” Vingegaard said. “I suppose he felt better than yesterday.”
He leads Pogacar by 25 seconds with two weeks of racing left before the ceremonial finish on the Champs-Elysees.
“It’s going to be one hell of a battle all the way to Paris,” Vingegaard said. “I’m where I want to be. The Tour de France is really long. Everything can happen.”
The Tour continues Friday with this year’s flattest stage, finishing in Bordeaux. Mark Cavendish, who won the last time a stage finished in Bordeaux in 2010, is expected to take another crack at breaking his tie with Eddy Merckx for the career Tour stage wins record of 34.