Today's parcours
It's another mountain test for the GC men today with Col du Tourmalet tackled from the harder side plus a cat one mountain top finish at Cauterets-Cambasque.
Recapping a classic mountain raid
Yesterday's stage was truly one for the ages with Jai Hindley soaring into yellow thanks to a good old mountain raid whereby he got in the break and kicked on from there on the final climb to put himself 47 seconds to the good.
At the finish he said "it was an accident". However, its noteworthy that he recced these stages months ago. It was no accident that he knew what he was doing, made the right moves at the right times and maximised what he could get from the day.
The other winner was Jonas Vingegaard, who put Tadej Pogačar to the test and found him wanting to the tune of 1-04 in fact.
Can the Slovenian hit back today? Can Bora-Hansgrohe do an effective job of defending the jersey? Will Vingegaard show them all who's boss?
Who is Jonas Vingegaard?
Several months ago my colleague Tom Thewlis embarked on a mission to profile the reigning Tour de France champ.
The result is a highly insightful feature with sotires you won't have read anywhere else. It ran in our Tour de France preview magazine but we've put it online this monring.
I encourage you all to go and read it.
How tough is the Col du Tourmalet?
This is its 85th appearance in the Tour.
The first over the summit will be given the Souvenir Jacques Goddet, a cash prize of €5,000, given in honour of the long-standing Tour organiser who died in 2000.
What is today's finish like?
Word in the peloton is that its harder than it looks on paper. In theory this is lesser beast than the Tourmalet, indeed the race organsier has only given it a first category rating, but I've been told its deceptive and there could well be time gaps on this climb.
Australia celebrates Jai Hindley's yellow jersey coup
Marine Vinall, writes in her profile of the rising star in The Age: "after Hindley stood on the Tour’s podium for the first time after his stage five victory and claimed the yellow jersey with a 46-second lead over Vingegaard, he has announced himself as a serious contender."
News.co.au reports that Hindley has "thrust himself into contention" to win the yellow jersey after his "epic win" yesterday.
While Sophie Smith (full disclosure: who is formerly of this parish and is currently travelling with Cycling Weekly on the race) reports for ABC: "Pundits at the Tour remain focused on defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), and Yates' teammate Tadej Pogačar, the two-time winner and Slovenian prodigy who lost time on stage five, as the two big yellow jersey favourites.
"But Hindley believes that the general classification is "wide open" and it's very clear he's arrived thoroughly prepared.
"'Stage six, I think this final climb is really tough, actually a lot tougher than what it says on paper, so I think there we can expect some gaps," he said of Thursday's summit finish."
Col du Marie-Blanque Strava stats
The Strava KOM for the final climb of yesterday's stage, held by Richie Porte, got obliterated yesterday.
5km to start: The stage is underway currently rolling through the neutral zone.
4km to start: Alexander Kristoff has to change a wheel. No real issues with the race at this pace.
144km to go: We're off and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) attacks straight away!
He's got a small group with him, including Julian Alaphilippe. Will Bora-Hansgrohe be happy with him going up the road?
142km to go: The van Aert group has quite a big gap. Alaphilippe driving the pace there's c.10-15 of them with others coming across.
139km to go: The only have a gap of eight seconds and Alaphilippe tries to push the group on.
138km to go: Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) is among the escapees as is Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers).
133km to go: The peloton seems to have locked the front down so these are the break of 15 riders.
132km to go: The five trying to bridge are 35 seconds behind.
131km to go: It is in fact six riders coming across and they includ Neilson Powless, who had the polka-dot jersey until yesterday. He's on a mission to get it back I suspect.
126km to go: The chasers aren't making much progress as the break powers on. The gap from the from to the peloton is now 2-30 but the chasers are still 35 second behind the break.
124km to go: They're making progress now just 12 seconds to go.
124km to go: And they've made it the break is now 20 riders strong. Bora-Hansgrohe are doing the work in the front of the peloton.
119km to go: Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) is pictured off the back of the peloton while Mathieu van der Poel dros back from the break to speak to his DS in the team car behind.
The break's lead is a little under 3 minutes.
117km to go: We're hearing the descent off the Tourmalet may be a bit wet. It'll be a while before we get there.
116km to go: Kasper Asgreen (Soudal - Qucik-Step) is driving the break on.
There's a lot of chat around the race that UAE with their, shall we say, enthusiastic approach to the race have paid the price yesterday with Pogačar losing time.
Now maybe they have made tactical errors there but it's made for much more entertaining racing so I for one would rather they continue with their devil-may-care approach to the Toru de France. Rather that than be boring.
Further to my last update here's Adam Yates's take.
Adam Yates on criticism of UAE‘s tactics yesterday: ‘We’re not racing a bunch of farmers.’July 6, 2023
110km to go: The gap to the break is over 3 minutes now. The main GC teams are amassed around their guys in the peloton.
Jai Hindley tells GCN he was initially thinking of the GC battle yesterday, not the stage, but there's a long way to go in this race.
105km to go: EF Education sports director Andreas Klier tells the TV that Neilson Powless might want to win the stage but that'll be up to the likes of Bora, Jumbo and UAE and how hard they chase.
100km to go: It's all quiet as it's about 5km to the intermediate sprint.
97km to go: Bryan Coquard, MAthieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert seem to shape up for the sprint.
95km to go: They just roll through with Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) taking the maximum 20 points. Wout van Aert rolls through second.
93km to go: At the other end of the race Mark Cavendish (Astan Qazaqstan) is among those riders dropped from the peloton.
93km to go: Wout van Aert's 17 points at that intermediate sprint move him up to third in the green jersey competition.
Col d'Aspin
We're coming to the bottom of the first major ascent of the day, Col d'Aspin. It's not the worst of the day but it is a first category climb.
88km to go: It's 11km to the top of the Aspin and Kasper Asgreen is pushing the pace in the break. The breaks advantage is 3-22.
86km to go: Jumbo have challenged Bora's position at the head of the peloton.
85km to go: Maxim van Gils (Lotto-Dstny) has to stop to get a front wheel puncture changed in the peloton.
Climb-fest
It's worth noting that there's 3,700m of climbing on today's stage and the vast majority is packed into this 80km or so.
82km to go: Asgreen is still at the front of the break. Bit of pressure on Alaphilippe this I'd say.
Mark Cavendish is with lead-out man Cees Bol, not sure where the rest of the sprinters are. He doesn't look like he's having a great time, unsurprisingly.
81km to go: Jonathan Vaughters, the EF Education boss who is workign for TV this week, tells us he thinks that Mark Cavendish will win in the back end of the race if he wins at all.
That is, as Vaughters points out, what he did in the Giro d'Italia.
80km to go: Jai Hindley loses one wing-man as Jordi Meeus goes out of the back of the peloton. As the teams designated sprinter he wasnt' goign to be a whole heap of help for the rest of the day so that's not really a big loss for the Australian.
80km to go: There are 3km left to the top of the Col d'Aspin and, well, Asgreen continues to lead the break up the mountain.
80km to go: Jumbo-Visma come to the front of the peloton and wrestle control away from Bora-Hansgrohe.
Meanwhile, up front Wout van Aert now comes to the front of the break in a move that seems to make no obvious sense.
79km to go: Coquard and others are beginning to be dropped from the break.
79km to go: Agreen has been dropped to. His work for Alaphilippe done for the day. Nikias Arndy (Bahrain Victorious) and Matteo Trentin (UAE Emirates) also fall out the back of the break.
78km to go: Presumably Jumbo want a higher pace in the peloton to put pressure on Jai Hindley, Pogacar and co, but they don't want to catch the break just yet and so have told van Aert to up the pace there too.
I imagine they'd like to catch van Aert on the final climb or perhaps at the top of the Tourmalet.
76km to go: Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) powers out of second wheel to take the maximum KOM points at the top of the climb.
He's in the virtual polka-dot jersey now.
74km to go: In the peloton, the pace set by Jumbo continues to dispatch riders out the back as they approach the top of the Col d'Aspin.
73km to go: It's worth a time check to remind ourselves the break has 3-18 on the peloton as they descend.
It's nice and dry on the road and Mathieu van der Poel is railing the corners, with van Aert struggling a touch to keep up.
71km to go: Van der Poel flicks the elbow for van Aert to come through but the Jumbo rider shakes his head. It looks like the Dutchman is trying to split things up here but to what end it's not really clear.
It's all settled down again now.
70km to go: The fierce pace up the Col d'Aspin has reduced the break's number to closer to 15 riders.
64km to go: There has been some reforming out front and the break now stands at 16 riders.
Annemiek van Vleuten wins another Giro Donne stage
Dutchwoman Annemiek van Vleuten won yet another Giro Donne stage today.
The pink jersey wearer has a nigh on unassailable lead in the pink jersey of 3-56 over her closest challenger Juliet Labous (DSM-firmenich).
The Movistar leader has won three stages of this race so far, and you wouldn't bet against her winning more. There's three left to go.
60km to go: Bora are back in charge at the front of the peloton as the race begins to climb again.
59km to go: Jai Hindley drops a bidon as a team-mate hands it to him thankfully it doesn't get caught in a wheel or cause him any trouble.
58km to go: Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal - Quick-Step) attacks in the break with over 11km to go to the summit of the Tourmalet. James Shaw (Ef Education-EasyPost) is on his wheel, but no-one else is.
58km to go: To my eyes James Shaw's socks look alarming close to the UCI legal limit.
In case you don't know the sport's governing body says they can't go above half-shin. They even have a special machine to measure them that they use at stage starts sometimes.
57km to go: Van Aert is dragging the break back to Shaw and Alaphilippe.
And he's caught them.
57km to go: Mathieu van der Poel is dropped from the break. There are 12 riders in the front group now.
56km to go: Jumbo-Visma has amassed at the front of the peloton again as Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) is pictured going out of the back along with Cycling Weekly columnist and British Champion Fred Wright.
56km to go: I've just spotted that Adam Yates, who lost the yellow jersey yesterday, still has his yellow shades on.
55km to go: The gap to the break has come down a bit by the way to 4-28.
It looks like Bora-Hansgrohe may be somewhat depleted in numbers but I can't be 100% sure from the pictures.
54km to go: It's 7km to the top of the Tourmalet but it's nice and sunny at the top so fears for wet roads may prove unfounded.
53km to go: Jumbo are pressing on and the gap to the break has fallen to 3-35.
Bora don't have many team-mates left around the yellow jersey, though Emanuel Buchmann seems to be there.
51km to go: The gap to the break has stabalised at 3-30 but the peloton is greatly reduced now.
Hindley and Pogačar are joking with each other in the peloton just behind them.
51km to go: Van Aert continues to set the pace at the fornt of the break. James Shaw and Neilson Powless behind him look unfussed but further back ther are some faces in pain.
There's 3.7km to the top of the Tourmalet.
50km to go: Jumbo lose Dylan van Baarle from their mountain train.
They up the pace nd only Hindley and Pogačar can go with them. Vingegaard has two team-mates.
Jai Hindley in trouble
50km to go: Hindley has been dropped. He's got no-one with him. There's 3km to the top of the Tourmalet still.
49km to go: Jai Hindley has lost 40 seconds to the Vingegaard, Pogacar group already.
That's the equivalent of his advantage over the Dane on GC.
47km to go: Wout van Aert and the break come through the coloured smoke from fans' flares at the top of the Tourmalet.
Hindley is nearly two minutes behind them. He's losing big time today.
45km to go: Over the top of the Tourmalet Wout van Aert sits up a bit to wait for his team leader and
Halland Johannessen is the first over the top of the mountain he's take the five thousand euro prize.
45km to go: This Tour is rapidly becoming all about Vingegaard and Pogacar today. If this gap persists Hindley will be some distance back and everyone else will be even further back.
Hindley is in the peloton led by UAE Emirates, who aren't exactly going to be chasing too too hard.
43km to go: Vingegaard is leading Pogacar down the descent with Powless close behind.
41km to go: French president Emmanuel Macron is busy glad handing people at the finish, in case you were interested.
Vingegaard has now bridged up to van Aert who'll do the lions share of the work down this descent.
48km to go: There are still a group out front which includes James Shaw, Reuben Guerrero and Michal Kwiatkowski they have 31 seconds on Vingegaard and Pogacar and co.
Behind them is the peloton at 2-34 behind the front of the race. That's where Jai Hindley now is.
38km to go: Vingegaard and Pogacar are passed the most twisty bit of the descent. Van Aert will likely earn his keep here.
32km to go: The distance is ticking down very fast on the descent as van Aert drags the Vingegaard group to within 10 second of the front of the race.
Hindley is now two minutes back. He'll definitely lose the jersey today.
30km to go: It's not that steep but they're flying down hill at 75kph.
28km to go: The good news for Hindley is although the time gaps would be were they to remain as they are now he'd still be on the third step of the podium such is his advantage of over a minute to his team-mate Emmanuel Buchmann.
25km to go: Vingegaard and co have now caught what was left of the break. the only teams with two riders are Jumbo with van Aert and vingegaaard and EF with Shaw and Powless.
There's also Halland Johannessen, Guerreiro (who's name I think I spelled wrong earlier, sorry Reuben) and Kwiatkowski.
And, of course, Tadej Pogačar.
24km to go: No-one is going to give van Aert any help here.
24km to go: Pogačar says something to James Shaw but the British Tour debutant shakes his head.
23km to go: Buchmann is doing a lot of work on the front of the peloton to try and get his leader Hindley back in contention but he's outgunned by van Aert on this terrain. The gap had dropped below 2 minutes briefly but is now back to 2-15.
20km to go: Despite other teams, like Ineos having riders inthe group and a seeming incentive to work, the gap is going out to the front of the race as the riders get a final feed. It's now 2-25.
17km to go: Tom Southam, DS at EF, scomes on the radio to give his two riders some encouragement.
16km to go: Jonas Vingegaard went up the Tourmalet in 45-11, which is a record according to the bods at the host broadcaster.
16km to go: It's now 2-40 from the leaders to the yellow jersey group. Van Aert is, as some in the sport might say, doing the madness.
Cauterets-Cambasque
A quick reminder of the final climb, which they're just coming onto now. the bottom is fairly fast and you benefit from being in the wheels but the top is pretty vicious, mostly over 10%.
15km to go: Hindley is now 2-48 behind the leaders and has little hope of bringing it back.
14km to go: Buchmann is still slogging away at the front of the peloton. Jonathan Castroviejo, Ineos' reliable mountain engine, is sat behind him but he's not giving him any help.
13km to go: The maximum speed achieved on the stage was set by Tadej Pogačar who hit 103kph on one of the descents today.
12km to go: Van Aert shows little signs of tiring, they're doing 37kph and the road is already pointing skyward.
10km to go: Powless looks a little on the limit as van Aert drives on. He knows no one is going to help him.
9km to go: Egan Bernal collects a bottle and hands it to Pidcock.
9km to go: It's been sunny today and Pogačar sprays some water over himself.
10km to go: The ticker was wrong a moment ago. The climb looks to be getting a bit steeper as they enter a set of lacets.
Neilson Powless is losing contact a bit. He's struggling more than his team-mate Shaw, which is a turn up for the books.
9.5km to go: A grimace is starting to creep across van Aert's face. The speed remains high though.
8.6km to go: Ineos have now started to work at the front of the peloton and the gap to the leaders has come down a touch to 2-30.
8km to go: Buchmann has dropped back but is still in the group.
7km to go: The terrain is rolling its not relentlessly uphill if they want to take back time it's here that strength in numbers would be of some use for Ineos and the rest of the peloton.
7km to go: Van Aert has been given the most aggressive rider prize for the day. Hardly surprising.
6.5km to go: They're going pretty fast still but in 1km time it's going to really ramp up.
5km to go: Neilson Powless is dropped from the front group. He's got his prize for today so it's not all bad for him.
4.8km to go: The gradient is biting as you can really see the riders have slowed down.
4.6km to go: Vingegaard goes. Pogacar follows.
4.4km to go: Kwiatkowski is trying to bridge back up to them.
4.2km to go: Pogacar and Vingegaard look pretty comfortable. Kwiatkowski has made it back on.
4km to go: Vingegaard seems happy to set the pace, he's not looked at the others for a turn.
3.8km to go: Kwiatkowski is dropping back a bit a bike length has opened up and as Vingegaard gets out of the saddle he is decisively distanced.
3.6km to go: There's only two of them but they're moving quicker than the peloton, the gap has expanded to 2-37.
3km to go: This tour is really just the two of them now. Vingegaard is in and out of the saddle but Pogačar remains firmly in his.
2.8km to go: Egan Bernal swings off from the peloton. He's been in domestique mode this afternoon.
2.7km to go: Pogačar attacks! And there's a gap!
2.6km to go: The Dane can't respond and the Slovenian is flying he has 8 seconds.
2.5km to go: Rodriguez and Yates have clipped off the fornt of the peloton.
2.1km to go: Pogacar's pace looks ot have dropepd a touch. But he's holding the 8 second gap.
2km to go: Pogacar looks back to judge the gap he has. Can he up the pace again? Vingegaard is working his way back. Possibly. It's finely balanced.
1.5km to go: It's flattening off a bit now and Pogacar is grimacing as he tries to press home his advantage the clock says its going out to 13 seconds.
1km to go: Under the flamme rouge Pogacar pushes on. It's 17 seconds. He's about a minute down from yesterday, this'll make it a lot closer.
500m to go: Pogacar will get 10 bonus second on the line, Vingegaard will get six.
The gap is 23 seconds.
This bit is steep. Pogacar gets out the saddle.
Pogačar bows in celebration as he wins the stage.
What a stage. Johansson comes home in third.
Johannessen sorry.
Hindley is trying to limit his losses.
Guerreiro comes in fourth. Shaw fifth - that's a hell of a ride from him.
Rodriguez and Hindley and Simon Yates are all coming in 2-39 down on Pogačar.
Adam Yates and Tom Pidcock and co come in 3-10 down.
What a stage that was! I'm off to write a race report.
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