Tour de France Stage 6, as it happened - Pogacar swaps white for yellow with win in Longwy

The 109th edition of the Tour has not even reached the mountains and defending champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) already has the yellow jersey on his back. On the race’s longest – and fastest – day, the Slovenian superstar zipped clear of his rivals to win the uphill sprint at Longwy as Belgium's Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) conceded the yellow jersey in style.

“Every time I win it’s even better. Today was such a hard day. From the start, the first two hours, was crazy. The strongest guy went in the breakaway and a lot of guys were pulling in the peloton. I was thinking he [Van Aert] would come to the finish but in the end the peloton was stronger. We came to the final climbs and I felt good. The team did a perfect job and brought me into a good position. I’m so happy. It was not a pure sprint because we rode the last two climbs really hard. It was super hard and hectic on the final climb but I guess I had good legs to press in the end.”

The double champion will now ride the first mountaintop finish of this Tour in yellow after the latest display of his superiority over all terrain. Here's the new-look top 10:

1. Tadej Pogacar
2. Neilson Powless +04
3. Jonas Vingegaard +31
4. Adam Yates +39
5. Thomas Pidcock +40
6. Geraint Thomas +46
7. Aleksandr Vlasov +52
8. Daniel Martinez +1:00
9. Romain Bardet +1:01
10. David Gaudu +1:02

1. Tadej Pogacar
2. Michael Matthews
3. David Gaudu
4. Thomas Pidcock
5. Nairo Quintana
6. Dylan Teuns
7. Jonas Vingegaard
8. Daniel Martinez
9. Primoz Roglic
10. Romain Bardet

Roglic went early on that final uphill sprint but his compatriot swung past him and put everyone to the sword to secure the seventh Tour stage win of his career. The likes of Enric mas, Adam Yates and Neilson Powless all finished in the same time, but Geraint Thomas was caught out on the wrong side of a split and will concede five seconds, plus the 10 bonus seconds, today.

Michael Matthews slaps his handlebars after taking second place - and that's because the defending champion has just gone and kicked clear to embarrass everyone else to take the win and pocket 10 bonus seconds. And with those he will swap white for yellow tonight because Powless found himself distanced on the home straight...

Brandon McNulty leads this lead group with teammate Tadej Pogacar in his wheel ahead of the final dash to the line. Neilsen Powless is still here so the yellow jersey dream is alive for the American...

The Frenchman has five seconds going onto the final climb to the line, which is very much like the climb in Ans in the old finish to Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Behind the likes of Pogacar, Pidcock, Vingegaard, Yates, Thomas and Quintana are primed. Matthews is there, too, and Pog has numerous UAE teammates around him. And that's it, Vuillermoz is caught as Rafa Majka takes it up. Dylan Teuns of Bahrain also lurking with intend.

The reigning champion can't help himself! The man in white puts in a dig to shuffle the pack and test the resolve of his GC rivals... Vuillermoz meanwhile crests the summit in pole position but his hap is small over this select field of 30-odd riders.

BikeExchange-Jayco and Jumbo-Visma lead the main pack as they start the Cat.3 Cote de Pulventeux (800m at a face-slapping 12.3%). It's that man Benoot who is setting the tempo but all the GC big guns are here except Vlasov who is chasing back on. The first attack comes from Alexis Vuillermoz of TotalEnergies...

It's very nervy as we enter the final 10km now - and another crash sees a Groupama rider hit the deck and take down Aleksandr Vlasov. The Russian now needs to chase back on before the final.

The yellow jersey is caught after his bold, brave and audacious breakaway attempt. It's not long before he's spat out the back. Now it's showtime. And it wasn't Benoot who almost crashed there for Jumbo-Visma because he's right there on the front with teammate Jonas Vingegaard.

Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (Lotto Soudal) and Kobe Goosens (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) went down hard after two Jumbo-Visma riders - perhaps Roglic and Benoot - almost knocked each other over. Benoot takes evasive action on the grass verge and the other Jumbo rider manages to stay up - but the other riders are collateral there. And that will disrupt the chase. Two Groupama riders had to go off the road, too, one being Valentin Madouas.

Van Aert is now grimacing as he tackles the Cat.4 Cote de Montigny-sur-Chiers (1.6km at 4.4%). His lead is just 15 seconds but he holds on to take the single KOM point over the top. A raft of riders have been spat out the back already - including Mathieu van der Poel, Caleb Ewan, Michael Storer and most of those riders who crashed yesterday and today, plus many of those who led the chase.

Just 30 seconds now for Van Aert and it's easy to see why EF are really going big guns here. Not only could a rider like Alberto Bettiol perhaps pick up a stage win, but the American Neilson Powless could well find himself in yellow. He's just 13 seconds down on Van Aert on GC but the Belgian is unlikely to be able to keep up after all his efforts. That said, Tadej Pogacar is only at 19 seconds so he could just as well be in yellow himself in 25 minutes' time.

He won't give up easily but as the yellow jersey goes under the 20km banner his lead is down to just 45 seconds - and with two climbs still on the menu, it will be a surprise if the Belgian is in the mix for the win today. It's mainly the GC teams and their leaders bossing things now - which goes to show just how hard the run in and up to Longwy is going to be.

"I'd be surprised if he wins but I won't be shocked." That's the verdict of Robbie McEwen as Wout van Aert extends his lead above the minute mark. Behind it's Ineos who have taken up the chase in their yellow helmets as the best team on GC. It's worth remembering that there is no 3km rule today and so that will add a bit of spice to proceedings.

The American with the shaggy ginger beard and luxuriant mane is a beaten man - and with a shake of the head he concedes defeat as his yellow counterpart soloes clear in pursuit of a victory that's looking more and more unlikely. Van Aert needed to take matters into his own hand because the gap is down to one minute. The peloton is all strung out - and the big sprinters are clinging on for dear life. Truth be told, it's not going to be a day for the likes of Groenewegen, Jakobsen or Ewan whatever happens.

The chase has been largely carried out by Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost), Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe). With the gap down to 1'30", EF now call on the services of Swiss powerhouse Stefan Bisseger, which doesn't bode well for Quinn and Wout.