Jeremy Whittle's report
What a day that was. If you don’t like that, you don’t like bike racing. Here’s Jeremy Whittle’s report from Cauterets-Cambasque.
Thanks for reading and for your emails. Until next time!
Let’s turn our attention to tomorrow’s stage, one of the flattest of this year’s race. It’s one for the sprinters, with the finish in Bordeaux. Don’t expect there to be any great movement in the GC standings, unless there is heavy wind that could separate the riders.
This represents a brilliant opportunity for Mark Cavendish to get that historic 35th stage win, but expect Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen to be challenging.
Interestingly the Eurosport team have just highlighted a incredibly tight corner with 3km to go in Bordeaux, just before they cross the Garonne river to the finish line. It’s an insane right-hand corner, almost a U-turn, and how the sprinters negotiate that could be key in who claims the stage win.
A brutal day for Jai Hindley, who couldn’t follow his efforts of yesterday. Hindley loses the yellow jersey after one day, and the Australian is now 1min34secs off the pace in the GC classification.
Pogacar speaks!
I would not say revenge, but it does feel sweet to take some time back today. Yeah, I was a bit worried yesterday. The display that Jonas showed yesterday was incredible. I was thinking when he was pulling on Tourmalet that it was the same again, and maybe we could pack up our bags and go home. But I hung on. Now I think the gap [to Vingegaard in the GC standings] is perfect.
That’s my 10th stage victory. I’m coming for you, Mark [Cavendish]! No, no, I’m joking. He’s a long way ahead.
Pogacar dedicates his victory to his girlfriend and fellow professional cyclist, Urska Zigart, who crashed yesterday in the Giro Donne, the women’s Tour of Italy. “She’s not racing today. I got all of my power from her,” he says.
General classification standings
Still early days of course, but this suddenly feels like a two-horse race. But let’s be wary of drawing too many conclusions. Think of where we were yesterday, and how the race turned on its head today.
Joel Embiid, 2023 MVP in the NBA, approves.
“OMG I THOUGHT THE TOUR WAS ENDED YESTERDAY…. Go Pogacar”
OMG J’AI CRU QUE LE TOUR ÉTAIT FINIT HIER…. Allez Pogacar #TDF2023
— Joel “Troel” Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) July 6, 2023
Everything with Pogacar, from his performance yesterday to his body language this morning, pointed to the Slovenian being a wounded animal. Jumbo-Visma and the rest of his rivals smelled blood. I don’t think anyone, apart from maybe Pogacar himself, saw this coming.
Make it 🔟 stage wins for @TamauPogi with an average speed of 27.6km/h up Cauterets-Cambasque
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 6, 2023
He is the 4th youngest rider to make it to 🔟 @LeTour victories after François Faber, Mark Cavendish and Bernard Hinault 👶#TDFdata #TDF2023 https://t.co/PdByxfMTsZ
Absolutely ridiculous. Pogacar looks like he came out of a slingshot.
💥 @TamauPogi ATTACKS! Vingegaard is not in his wheel!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 6, 2023
💥 @TamauPogi ATTAQUE ! Vingegaard n'est pas dans sa roue !#TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/tLG4iLcCdM
The top five:
1. Tadej Pogacar
2. Jonas Vingegaard, at 23'’
3. Tobias Halland Johannessen, at 1’22'’
4. Ruben Guerreiro 2’06'’
5. James Shaw, 2’15'’
Pogacar wins stage six! Vingegaard takes the yellow jersey.
The Slovenian puts 23 seconds between himself and his great rival, Vingegaard. And he’ll earn an extra 10 bonus seconds for the stage win, with Vingegaard taking a bonus six points for second.
Vingegaard will be in yellow, but Pogacar has put the frighteners up Jumbo-Visma in the GC classification. Stunning.
Updated
1km to go: This is quite the role reversal from yesterday! Seventeen seconds now between Vingegaard and Pogacar. The latter was seen as wounded, especially after the struggles yesterday. Pogacar looked like he was holding on for dear life, but it appears the two-time champion was just biding his time. Amazing.
Pogacar attacks with 2km to go! Wow!
2km to go: Pogacar suddenly takes off, like he found a burst of nitros in his rear wheel. And Vingegaard has no answer! Pogacar opens a gap of 10 seconds over his rival. This is absolutely stunning racing.
3km to go: It’s a waiting game. Pogacar on Vingegaard’s wheel.
And then there were two! Vingegaard v Pogacar
4km to go: Van Aert is finished. He’s absolutely emptied the tank and almost comes to a complete standstill, as fans try to push him up the mountain. Vingegaard attacks! Pogacar is with him, leaving the five others, including Guerreiro and Shaw, in their wake. Johannessen threatens to hold on, but he can’t. It’s down to just two men.
Updated
5km to go: Powless can’t hang on. He drops from the leading pack, which is now seven strong.
Remember, he still leads the KoM standings, which look like this after Tourmalet.
1. Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), 36
2. Felix Gall (Ag2r-Citröen), 28
3. Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar Team), 23
4. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X), 20
5. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), 19
6. Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), 18
7. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), 17
8. Daniel Martínez (Ineos Grenadiers), 15
6km to go: We’re approaching the steepest part of the climb, with some parts north of 10%. This is where Vingegaard could make his move. How will Pogacar react?
Updated
7km to go: For the second consecutive day, Van Aert has been awarded the combativity prize. Shock.
8km to go: The group containing the yellow jersey, Hindley, as well as the Yates brothers, Kuss, Bardet and others, are around 2min30secs adrift of the leaders.
9km to go: Fans swarm onto the road to push their heroes up the mountain and around the hairpin bends. Powless threatens to fall off the back of the leaders, but finds some energy and regains his position.
10km to go: This is insane from Van Aert. How does he have the legs for this?
12km to go: So who do you fancy? Vingegaard or Pogacar. They are flying up the final climb of the day, an average of 5% at 30-40km/hr. Expect Vingegaard to attack when things get a little steeper in the final kilometres.
15km to go: No change at the tête de la course. Jumbo-Visma’s Van Aert and Vingegaard lead the breakaway group, who have started the ascent to Cauterets-Cambasque.
To put Vingegaard’s climb at the Tourmalet into context, he took two minutes from David Gauda’s record:
When @JumboVismaRoad up the ante... Jonas Vingegaard shaves 2 minutes from @DavidGaudu's @Strava KOM on the ascent of Col du Tourmalet ⛰️#TDFdata #TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/COMHPWOijY
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 6, 2023
17km to go: The leaders are actually putting time into the peloton, and have stretched their lead to around 2min38secs. It doesn’t appear that the peloton will challenge at the finish line.
19km to go: Britain’s James Shaw is getting a lot of encouragement from his EF Education-EasyPost radio. “You have some of the best legs in the world. You are in this”.
22km to go: So we expect Van Aert to lead out and set the pace for the leaders, which Jumbo-Visma will hope lay the foundations for Vingegaard to pip Pogacar. After yesterday’s toil for the Slovenian, it will be very interesting what is in his legs. Pogacar will wait for the attack, and react when he can.
Updated
26km to go: Vingegaard, Pogacar and Van Aert catch the leaders. The group is now eight strong and they have a lead of two minutes over the peloton. With the descent now finished, there is a brief period of riding on the flat before the last ascent to Cauterets-Cambasque, the first altitude finish of this year’s race. It is nowhere near as severe as Tourmalet, but could still spark some separation.
⛰ One last climb, and it's the first altitude finish of the #TDF2023 : Cauterets-Cambasque coming soon!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 6, 2023
⛰ Une dernière ascension qui nous amène à la première arrivée en altitude du #TDF2023 : Cauterets-Cambasque ! pic.twitter.com/Ni27qeRgmm
Updated
32km to go: Vingegaard and Pogacar are closing on the leaders, who are now just four after Van Aert dropped back. This is the current state of play, courtesy of the Tour De France website.
In the lead
Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost), Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X)
Seven seconds behind
Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost)
At 2 minutes
Jai Hindley, Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla), Carlos Rodriguez, Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich), Felix Gall (Ag2r-Citröen)
Updated
38km to go: An email from Alex Whitney.
While I think there’s an element of testing Pogacar to take advantage before he grows into better form, it seems to me that Vingegaard is a much different rider than last year and I suspect much of that comes down to confidence. He seems much more willing to approach his limits climbing, rather than playing it safe as he did much of last year’s Tour until Roglic broke Pogacar on the Col du Granon.
I would agree with that. Vingegaard is the aggressor here.
40km: Behind the leaders, Vingegaard and Pogacar follow, around 30 seconds behind. Around two minutes behind the GC contenders come the peloton, with Hindley and Yates among them. That distance means that Vingegaard is now the virtual holder of the yellow jersey. Big, big moves.
Updated
Tobias Johannessen first to the top of Tourmalet!
47km to go: Elbows at the summit! Johannessen gets a barge from Movistar’s Ruben Guerreiro, but it is the Norwegian who is the first of the five to cross the line at the Tourmalet. Five remain in the breakaway group: Johannessen, Guerreiro, Kwiatkowski, Shaw and Van Aert fly down the descent, underneath chair lifts and through the barren mountain-top terrain. They are doing 80km/hr down the hill.
Updated
47km: Meanwhile, in the breakaway, Van Aert is pushing hard to reach the summit. The leaders are losing time on Vingegaard and Pogacar, but they should reach the summit first. The crowd are going absolutely crazy, with French president Emmanual Macron also there to take in the party.
48km: Vingegaard goes again! A big right-hand hairpin and the Dane sprints up the last 2km of the Tourmalet. It’s one-on-one as Kuss drops off: Vingegaard versus Pogacar, who is just about hanging on as they zoom towards the leading back, now just a minute back from the breakaway. Vingegaard and Pogacar whistle past Alaphilippe, who is dropping back from the leaders. This is real racing.
🇩🇰 Jonas Vingegaard attacks! But this time, @TamauPogi stays in his wheel!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 6, 2023
🇩🇰 Jonas Vingegaard attaque ! Cette fois, @TamauPogi reste dans sa roue !#TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/8G3QfVXBBl
Updated
49km: Pogacar holds on, he’s able to track Vingegaard and Jumbo-Visma teammate Sepp Kuss! But Yates and Hindley can’t hold on!
Updated
Vingegaard and Jumbo-Visma attack Pogacar and Hindley!
50km to go: Here we go! This is the attack we were waiting for. The peloton are into the last few km of the Tourmalet climb, and Vingegaard leads off the attack, with Pogacar and Hindley desperately trying to hand onto the Dane’s wheel.
Updated
51km to go: Jumbo-Visma also lead the peloton. It seems they are trying to put the boot into Pogacar, who struggled yesterday.
Meanwhile, at the head of the course four kilometres before the summit, Michael Woods (who is in GC contention) and Julian Alaphilippe gets dropped.
52km to go: Van Aert is doing an awful lot of work at the head of the breakaway group. You wonder how long he can keep this up for. We’re into the hardest part of the Tourmalet climb now, around 6km from the summit. The leading group is 10 strong, around 3min41secs ahead of the peloton.
🏁55 km
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 6, 2023
1️⃣0️⃣🚴♂️< 4'15" < 🚴♂️🚴♂️🚴♂️🚴♂️🚗
🇫🇷 @alafpolak1
🇧🇪 @WoutvanAert
🇵🇹 @Rguerreiro94
🇳🇴 @TobiasJohannes1
🇩🇰 @jonasgregaard
🇪🇸 Gorka Izagirre
🇵🇱 @kwiato
🇫🇷 @LouvelMatis
🇺🇸 @NPowless
🇬🇧 @JamesthingyShaw #TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/jp1DmKvf8i
56km to go: Mathieu van der Poel is dropped, he failed to keep pace with that little burst from Alaphilippe and Shaw. The leading group is 13 riders strong, and they hold about a 4min30sec lead over the peloton, where Vingegaard lurks. The Dane looks very comfortable, Will he make a move today, or keep his powder dry?
57km: Ah. Nope. With the gradient at 9%, Van Aert and co catch Alaphilippe and Shaw, who humbly shuffle back into the leading group.
57km to go: Alaphilippe breaks away from the leaders! Britain’s James Shaw follows but it’s still very early for there to be a genuine attack. Around 10km to the top of the Tourmalet, and that’s a lot of kilometres. But the duo have got a little gap, let’s see if they can maintain or grow it!
58km to go: A near miss for overall leader Jai Hindley! His Bora-hansgrohe collected a water bottle, tried to pass it to the yellow jersey rider but dropped it! The bottle bounced on the tarmac and thankfully slid right between the wheels of Hindlay, and surely could have unseated the Australian in the peloton. That could have been disastrous, but Hindlay just shakes his head in relief and continues up the ascent.
62km to go: And so, the 17km climb begins, at an average gradient of 7.3%, although the maximum gradient is a ridiculous 18%. Altitude is definitely a factor. They started their climb at 880m, and the summit is at 2,115m, before a 47km run to the finish line, descending the Tourmalet and then back up to Cauterets-Cambasque.
Updated
65km to go: The breakaway have stretched their lead in the descent, up to around 4min20secs. They now have started their ascent up the Tourmalet, the most visited mountain on the Tour.
Here is the virtual KOM classification after Col d’Aspin:
1. Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), 30
2. Felix Gall (Ag2r-Citröen), 28
3. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), 19
4. Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), 18
5. Daniel Martínez (Ineos Grenadiers), 15
Here’s how Powless did it at the top.
⛰ He had to sprint against @Rguerreiro94, but @NPowless crests the Col d'Aspin first. He is back in the lead of the KOM classification.
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 6, 2023
⛰ Il a du sprinter face à @Rguerreiro94, mais @NPowless passe le Col d'Aspin en tête. Il est de nouveau @maillotapois virtuel.#TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/PIM6K2Lde6
72km to go: The Tour has just reached the 1,000km mark across these five and half stages. The peloton has also reached the top of the Col d’Aspin, around 3min25secs back. Both breakaway and peloton make their descent before the big one: the Tourmalet.
Neilson Powless takes the points atop Col d’Aspin!
The American moves back to the top of the King of the Mountains standings, taking the virtual polka dot jersey from Felix Gall. Powless looked pretty comfortable there, and wasn’t challenged on the line. The 26-year-old openly stated this morning he was hunting for KOM points and maybe even a stage win today.
I felt pretty good yesterday. I was just riding the wrong wave and missed the move. Today, I want to at least stay in the game a little bit. It depends. Felix Gall is a super strong climber, so it’ll be hard to take it off his shoulders. Today’s a really good opportunity for points but also a stage win.
77km to go: The leading pack is now down to 14 riders, with Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) one of the riders dropping back. That’s six that have been lost since the initial breakaway.
Updated
78km to go: Wout van Aert is leading the breakaway, who are just 1km from the top of Col d’Aspin. Oddly, his Jumbo-Visma teammates are also leading the peleton, and Christophe Laporte and co have really stepped up the pace, the peleton is now just three minutes back. Why are Van Aert’s own team-mates chasing him?
80km to go: The leaders are around 4km away from the summit. This is the 76th time the Tour has climbed to Col d’Aspin, and Julian Alaphilippe, who is in the breakaway, will be looking for a repeat of 2018, when he was first to the top.
82km to go: The leading group, 19 riders strong, has retained their lead of 3min23secs over the peloton. Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R-Citroen) has dropped from the leaders, he’s half-way back to the peloton and would do well to preserve his energy and wait for them.
As you can see from the graphic, this is far from today’s biggest climb, but at 12km long, it is particularly nasty in the second half. It has an average 6.6% gradient but that goes up to around 9% at some points.
Just a reminder of where we are in the stage. We’re approaching the half-way point to Cauterets at the bottom of the Col d’Aspin.
Updated
Hello everyone. What a fascinating race we have here. Let’s dive in.
Updated
87.5km to go: OK, as we hit the foot of the Col d’Aspin, a 12km 6.5%-gradient challenge, with the peloton now 3:24 back, it’s time for me to hand over to Michael Butler for the business end of the stage. Enjoy!
That Intermediate sprint result in full:
1. Bryan Coquard, 20 pts
2. Wout van Aert, 17 pts
3. Mathieu van der Poel, 15 pts
4. Jonas Gregaard, 13 pts
5. Anthony Perez, 11 pts
6. Oliver Naesen, 10 pts
7. Matteo Trentin, 9 pts
8. Neilson Powless, 8 pts
9. Nikias Arndt, 7 pts
10. Michal Kwiatkowski, 6 pts
11. Matîs Louvel, 5 pts
12. James Shaw, 4 pts
13. Gorka Izagirre, 3 pts
14. Chris Juul Jensen, 2 pts
15. Krists Neilands, 1 pt
93km to go: The riders regroup, with the gap from lead group to peloton remaining around 3:10.
Bryan Coquard wins the intermediate sprint
The intermediate sprint at Sarrancolin approaches, prompting a little break. Coquard is prominent and prioritising this, and puts himself on the wheel of the leaders, and then Van Aert comes on to his wheel, greedy for points, but Coquard gets clear and takes the 20 points with ease, followed by Van Aert and Van de Poel.
Updated
99km to go: Under 100km remaining now, with most still holding their positions, the peloton three minutes behind the 15-strong leading group. But shunted out of the back of the peloton are Mark Cavendish, his Astana teammate Giani Moscon, Stefan Kung and Rui Costa
Updated
106km to go: So, a bit of calm before the next (possibly actual) storm, though the weather looks set fair at the minute, the next climb being the Col d’Aspin. The gap between lead group and peloton is now 3:05. At what point will this big front group fragment?
Updated
Powless takes two KOTM points
113 km to go: Nielsen Powless is ushered through courteously by his EF Education teammate James Shaw to take the first two King of the Mountains points of the day, moving his total on to 20, with Kasper Asgreen crossing the line behind him to take one.
Updated
117.5km to go: We’re on our first climb of the day at the 602m Côte de Capvern-les-Bains. The lead group, led by Alaphilippe, Asgreen and Van Aert, are 2:47 ahead of the pack, which is being led by yellow jersey man Jai Hindley’s Bora-Hansgrohe team.
Updated
120km to go: The chasing pack have caught the lead group, giving us 20 riders up top. We’ve yet to hit the mountainous parts of the stage yet and are ambling through pleasant countryside flecked with landmarks such as the Abbaye de L’Escaladieu.
The gap between front and peloton is now up to around 2:50.
126.5km to go: That chasing group in full, 35 seconds off the frontrunners – Nielson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-QuickStep), Oliver Naesen (AG2R-Citroen), Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar).
And the full lineup of the lead group is: Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates), Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost), Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep), Nikias Arndt (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty), Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R-Citroen), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Krists Neilands (Israel-PremierTech), Chris Juul-Jensen (Jayco-AlUla), Matis Louvel (Arkea-Samsic), Tobias Johanssen and Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X).
“Yesterday’s stage was a corker,” roars William Preston, “and there’s loads more to come. When right from the off people get a stomp on it’s a great sign of things to come. Another day in the mountains offers superb opportunities for thrilling heroics for those wanting a super day out, and this is a brilliant stage for it.”
130km to go: With the peloton lagging, a pursuing group has forged ahead of them, led by the polka dot jersey hopeful Neilson Powless of EF Education-EasyPost. The chasing pack is 45 seconds behind the front riders, with the peloton 2 mins 16sec behind.
135km to go: some more details of the breakaway group for you. It includes Van Aert, Shaw, Alaphilippe, Arndt, Cosnefroy, Coquard, Izagirre, Juul-Jensen, Johanssen, Gregaard, Martínez, Trentin and Van der Poel.
137km to go: The peloton responds to that early break, clawing it back to an eight-second gap with the 15 or so-strong breakout group, who then respond to stretch it out to 12. Alaphilippe calling the shots, and UAE Team Emirates have managed to grab a place in that leading group, Matteo Trentin joining them. Also among them are Van de Poel and Jensen.
Updated
143km to go: And we’ve some early aggression to savour, as Van Aert and Alaphilippe lead an immediate breakaway of around half a dozen from the off. A statement from Jumbo-Visma there, and a headache for UAE Team Emirates already.
Updated
145km to go: Racing is go!
The départ réel is off and they’re freewheelin’ through the streets of Tarbes. Buckle up …
Some chat with Tadej Pogacar on Eurosport. Asked where things have gone awry so far, he replies: “Maybe small details – a little bit of everything. The shape is here but I think the next days I can be even better. Jonas was super strong yesterday. I think he would have made a gap anyway. We’ll see the next days if I can respond. I’m good.”
King of the Mountains standings:
Early doors yet, of course, but here’s the polka dot jersey situation:
1 Felix Gall, 28pts; 2 Giulio Ciccone, 19; 3 Jai Hindley, 18; =3 Neilson Powless, 18; 5 Dani Martinez, 15.
Felix Gall leads the KOM classification with 28 points. Giulio Ciccone follows with 19 points. Jai Hindley and Neilson Powless have 18. Dani Martinez, 5th with 15 points,
This is the 13th time Tarbes has hosted the start of a Tour stage. The last tome was 2019, a stage that finished on top of the Tourmalet, Thibaut Pinot took that one – perhaps surprisingly, Pinot’s last Tour stage win.
An email: “Every year I play the fantasy Tour game,” writes James Davison, “and apply the same formula – a top GC, good sprinter or two, swap a few decent climbers mid race and fill up the rest of the team with riders with interesting names. I always pick Tony Gallopin, or Gallopin’ Tony as I probably rather patronisingly call him. He’s riding for Trek this year, and has been around for ages. Here’s the thing, I cannot ever remember his name ever being mentioned in any commentary, being in any breakaway or making any impact on any stage? Does he actually exist? You watch though, he’ll no doubt win today’s stage by five minutes after a 100km solo break.”
You read it here first. For info, Gallopin is nestled in 43rd in the GC standings.
Weather news: it’s a hot day in Tarbes, around 25 degrees C, though there is a possibility of rain in the region later in the afternoon, and a risk of thunderstorms on the Tourmalet. Eek.
Preamble
Morning/afternoon everyone. Well yesterday’s initially torpid, ultimately dramatic action certainly shook things up, with Jai Hindley romping into the yellow jersey, Jonas Vingegaard making decisive moves and Tadej Pogacar and his UAE Emirates teammate Adam Yates left with plenty to think about. Nestled ominously in second, the Dane already looks well placed to retain his tour title. But Hindley has shown enough to suggest he might stick with him all the way.
But there’s a long way to go yet and today’s stage in the Pyrenees – with the formidable Col du Tourmalet its highest point – is a proper climbers’ assignment and as well as seeing how Pogacar and Yates respond, we could also see strong showings from pure climbers such as Giulio Ciccone, who sits third in the overall standings, Ben O’Connor or Krists Neilands. There’s plenty to look out for, with the neutralised start at 12.10 BST and the “live” race getting going 15 minutes later.
