Tadej Pogacar (United Arab Emirates) showed everyone that he is in Tour-winning form with a win on Stage 6 of the 2022 Tour de France. It was a hilly stage, perhaps too hilly for the pure sprinters, favoring all-arounders who can bring a good kick to the uphill finish. The Slovenian wunderkind had all the tools in the toolbox, and he separated himself from the pack for a convincing win in the final lead-in to the finish line.

It might have been a great stage for the yellow jersey wearer coming into Stage 6, Wout van Aert (JV). Van Aert raced with superhuman fight throughout, attempting a breakaway. The peloton kept pulling the Belgian back until it could pull him back no more. This was a curse in disguise for van Aert, as all the breakaway attempts sapped his burst – he was caught by the peloton, and lost the yellow jersey to Tadej Pogacar to boot. As a consolation prize van Aert was awarded the Most Combative jersey for the stage.

Elsewhere in the race the American Nielson Powless (Education First-EasyPost) raced well and held onto second place in the general classification. Whether or not EF should gently nudge its GC strategy to Powless, from Rigoberto Uran (EF) will become clear when the tour hits the real mountains on Stage 7, then stages 11 and 12. Magnus Cort Neilsen (EF) held onto the polka dot jersey, but acquired no King of the Mountains points – he too must be eyeing the true mountain stages ahead and wondering about his fate.