With this 97th success of his career, Tadej Pogačar, won today's stage by 1:01 ahead of Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard, and became the rider with the most victories of any active rider, tied with Norway's Alexander Kristoff and France's Arnaud Démare.
The world champion revenged himself from losing valuable time on yesterday's time trial when he attacked with 7km to go, still seated in the saddle, dropping race leader Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
“We had our own plan, but then Visma started to go full gas. The climb brought back some good memories inside and my team was strong and incredible,” stage winner Tadej Pogacar told Roadcycling.com shortly after the stage finish.
“I felt good, so I instructed my teammates to go from the bottom of the climb where it was steepest. I wanted to finish fast, so I could watch my girlfriend in the women’s Tour de Suisse. I was feeling good, when I attacked and I had to pace myself all the way to the finish line. A one-minute advantage is ok,” Pogacar explained.
Tadej Pogacar has now taken over the yellow jersey in the general classification. Despite having problems Jonas Vingegaard advanced to second place, while Florian Lipowitz dropped to third. Remco Evenepoel is fourth on the GC, while Matteo Jorgenson is fifth.
A huge battle is expected at Saturday’s at 7th stage which is set to test the riders in the peloton on a condensed 131.6-kilometer route from Grand-Algueblanche to Valmeinier 1800.
The riders will be challenged to climb no less than three mountains beyond category and are certainly expected to be drained of all energy when they reach the finish line.