Tadej Pogačar sprinted to a third victory at this year’s Vuelta a España on stage six, surviving a scare on the final descent, and being chased down by Enric Mas.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider has now won half of the stages so far at this year’s race, but did not have everything his own way on Thursday. Movistar‘s Mas was first over the final climb of Puerto El Bartolo, and Pogačar left the road into a muddy verge on the way down, although avoided crashing.
The pair put time into their other general classification rivals, with Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) beating the other chasers in to third. Mas is now second overall, with Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) dropping to third.
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Among those to miss out on stage six was Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos), who dropped from fifth to seventh, coming in 1:38 behind Pogačar.
Thursday’s stage, which involved a gravel sector on the final climb, looked set to be a breakaway day, but it was reeled in on that ascent after UAE Team Emirates-XRG kept it on a short leash.
“We had a plan to let the breakaway go today, but it took nearly two hours to form a breakaway,” Pogačar explained on TV post-stage.
“So in the end, we had to pull less than half the stage to control. João [Almeida] and Kevin [Vermaerke] did a good job to keep it together, and then I could go for the stage, with Pavel [Sivakov], Jay [Vine] and Pablo [Torres] leading out on the climb and setting me up for a perfect attack.”
As for Mas’s attack to beat Pogačar to the top of the Puerto, catching him, which is something seen rarely in cycling in the last few years, Pogačar explained that he was unaware the gap was closing.
“I was really surprised on the top, he flew past me like a rocket,” he said. “I was not expecting it, because I heard on the radio that I was leading by 40 seconds to second, to the chasers. There was no mention of Enric, so when he passed me I was a little bit shocked. I was sure he knew the downhill, and I was just happy to be with him in the last 10km into the headwind, because I had no water.
“It was nice to have a companion next to me. I knew I could beat him in the sprint, but I appreciated that he committed full, and I committed full too. Chapeau to him, and it was a great race.”
The brief foray off-road might not have impacted the race in the end, but it was proof of the risks that Pogačar was willing to take on the technical descent. Despite not looking like his usual all-conquering self, he still managed to win the stage.
Stage seven is another general classification day, with well over 3,000m of elevation in 150km and a category-one summit finish.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
It took until less than 100km to go on Thursday for the break to be established, meaning it did not have a lot of leeway to build up a sufficient gap to hold off the peloton.
Onto the final climb, just 14 riders were left in the group out front, with just over 90 seconds on what was left on the peloton: Carlos Canal (Movistar), Tom Gloag (Pinarello Q36.5), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek), Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech), George Bennett (NSN Cycling), Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal Quick-Step), Andreas Kron (Uno-X Mobility), Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost), Hannes Wilksch (Tudor Pro Cycling), José Manuel Díaz (Burgos Burpellet BH), Lars Craps (Lotto Intermarché), Gijs Leemreize (Picnic PostNL) and Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma).
However, just a couple of kilometres later, Canal, Gloag, Albanese, Wilksch, Konrad, Bennett and Leemreize were all dropped, leaving a handful out front, as UAE Team Emirates-XRG pulled the bunch back to the front. The team of Pogačar burned through riders, but the break was blowing apart at the same time.
As soon as the race hit the newly resurfaced road ahead of the gravel section, Pogačar put the power down, splitting up the group of favourites, and reeling in those left up the road. Onley was the only rider who could follow immediately, with Mas, Roglič and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) following further behind. Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) was briefly distanced, but made it back to the chasers. On the gravel, Mas pushed on.
Out front, Debruyne was the first to hit the gravel sector, with the red jersey 30 seconds behind, but Pogačar quickly ate this gap up, moving to the head of the race with just under 3km to go of the climb, and 23.5km remaining of the stage. Onley was dropped by Roglič and Gall, with Carapaz for company.
Mas put in the ride of the day to catch Pogačar, pipping him to the top of the Puerto El Bartolo. On the descent, the Slovenian misjudged a corner, going off the side of the road, but quickly rejoined the race.
The duo up front built a lead on the flat run-in to the finish, with Roglič, Gall, Carapaz, Debruyne and Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) around half a minute behind. Onley was about a minute further back, along with Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek).
In the finale, Mas forced Pogačar to lead him out, but it was to no avail, with the Slovenian comfortably having enough power to win once again.
Results
Vuelta a España 2026 stage six: Acossebre > Castelló (177.4km)
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 4:12:40
2. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, at same time
3. Ramses Debruyne (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech, +46s
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost
5. Harold Tejada (Col) XDS-Astana
6. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM
7. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, all at same time
8. Cristián Rodríguez (Spa) XDS-Astana, +1:38
9. Clément Berthet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United
10. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, at same time
General classification after stage six
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 15:38:27
2. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, +3:34
3. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +4:21
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +4:50
5. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +4:55
6. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +5:36
7. Oscar Onley (GBr) Netcompany-Ineos, +5:37
8. Ramses Debruyne (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech, +5:40
9. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +5:58
10. Harold Tejada (Col) XDS-Astana, +6:30
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