Tour de France 2023 Stage 6 recap: Jonas Vingegaard in yellow despite losing out to winner Tadej Pogacar

A wonderful quote here from the outgoing yellow jersey, who was stoic in defeat:

"It was just an epic day riding around in the yellow jersey doing some mythical climbs. To be honest, I got my arse handed to me. But I really enjoyed it. I knew I just wanted to ride my own race and if I could hang onto the two favourites, I’d just do my best. But I got spat out with 4km to go on the Tourmalet and it was pretty much lights out after that."

After his 10th stage win on the Tour, Tadej Pogacar had a word of warning for Mark Cavendish...

"I would not say revenge but it’s sweet to win today and take some time back. I feel a little bit of relief and feel much better now. The display Jonas showed yesterday was incredibly. I was thinking, when they were pulling on the Tourmalet, that we can pack our bags and go home. But luckily I had good legs today and I could follow quite comfortably on the Tourmalet and then, when it was the right time, I could attack. It was a big relief. It’s going to be a big battle right to the last stage. Ten stage victories now – I’m coming for you, Mark!"

Jonas Vingegaard's American team-mate Sepp Kuss stopped for a quick chat after the Dane moved into the yellow jersey but missed out on the stage win today.

"We have to be happy with how we played it – we wanted to go for it and everything went mostly well. After yesterday, Pogacar is such a fighter and he wanted to bounce back today. Impressive ride by him but I think we can be happy with how we took on the race."

Vingegaard is into yellow for the first time but he has Pogacar breathing down his neck while Hindley is best of the rest.

1. Jonas Vingegaard
2. Tadej Pogacar +25
3. Jai Hindley +1:34
4. Simon Yates +3:14
5. Carlos Rodriguez +3:30
6. Adam Yates +3:40
7. David Gaudu +4:03
8. Romain Bardet +4:43
9. Thomas Pidcock +4:43
10. Sepp Kuss +5:28

1. Tadej Pogacar
2. Jonas Vingegaard +24
3. Tobias Johannessen +1:22
4. Ruben Guerreiro +2:06
5. James Shaw +2:15
6. Jai Hindley +2:39
7. Carlos Rodriguez +2:39
8. Simon Yates +2:39
9. Adam Yates +3:11
10. Romain Bardet +3:11

Yesterday's stage winner crosses the line around 2'40" down for sixth place. He'll lose the yellow jersey but will still be best of the rest in what seems to be, again, a two-horse race for yellow between Vingegaard and Pogacar.

Portugal's Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar) has put himself right in the battle for polka dots with fourth place ahead of former EF team-mate James Shaw.

The defending champion comes home around 25 seconds down and that will be enough to see him back in the maillot jaune. But Pogacar is very much in the mix now after turning the race on its head.

Meanwhile, it's an impressive third place for debutant Tobias Johannessen of Uno-X who is the best of the rest today.

The white jersey shrugs off yesterday's disappointment with the 10th stage win of his Tour career. The double champion is back!

Pogacar may not take enough time to move into yellow - but he's going to put himself right back in the thick of things with a stage win. What a ride from the Slovenian.

It looks like Vingegaard might close the gap but Pogi had a second wind and he's now 12 seconds clear. There are 10 bonus seconds up for grabs too...

Wow - the two-time winner pulverises Vingegaard with a huge injection of pace! Just when we wrote him off, he pulls out the goods - and the man in white has opened up a small but decent gap over the defending champion.

Back with the chase group, Egan Bernal swings to the side of the road and then comes to an almost complete standstill. The Colombian is in domestique mode back on his first Tour since 2020 - working for Carlos Rodriguez and Tom Pidcock.

The Polish veteran succumbs to the inevitable and so we have last year's top two back on the front and doing their thing. The Dane will be in yellow tonight but can he take the stage or will Pogacar bite back after his disappointment yesterday?

Van Aert's interminable pull ends as Vingegaard launches his attack - taking Pogacar with him. Kwiatkowski follows behind and amazingly manages to close the gap. So, eight has been whittled down to three. The yellow jersey group is 2'28" down.

The American is now definitely dropped from the leading group, which is down to seven. Still Van Aert taps out tempo - and his continued accelerations see both Shaw and Guerreiro distanced, too.

The Belgian has been named the most aggressive rider on the Tour for a second day running. He's such a machine! Yesterday he did his part in Vingegaard dropping Pogacar - can he today deliver his man to a stage win as well as the yellow jersey? Yellow is pretty much guaranteed, but for the stage the Dane will have to get the better of Shaw, Guerreiro, Powless, Johannessen, Kwiatkowski and his old nemesis Pogacar. Heck, he may have to get the better of Van Aert, too, given how the man in the Red Bull helmet is riding.