Stage 6

The road

At the start

The longest day, and a wall at Longwy

The pavé cost Primož Roglič a minute and a half and lifted Tadej Pogačar to fourth, nineteen seconds off Wout van Aert's yellow jersey, with Neilson Powless and Edvald Boasson Hagen improbably second and third. Jack Haig has abandoned. Today is the longest stage of this Tour, 219 kilometres from Binche to Longwy, ending on the short, sharp Côte de Pulventeux and a two-kilometre haul to the line.

How it was won

1. 1132 km to go

   A slipped chain does not stop him

   Van Aert, the race leader, is already up the road with Simmons and Fuglsang in a move that makes no strategic sense whatsoever. He slips his chain on the climb, changes bikes later, and simply keeps riding — the lead touches four minutes.

2. 273 km to go

   Full points, and still not satisfied

   The maillot jaune takes maximum points at the intermediate sprint, but it is obvious his afternoon is not about the green jersey. He is chasing an exploit, and the peloton has decided there is no reasoning with him.

3. 330 km to go

   Van Aert sheds his last companion

   Fuglsang cracked long ago; now Simmons is dropped too. Thirty kilometres from the line the race leader is alone off the front of the Tour de France with Ineos massing behind him.

4. 414 km to go

   The exploit runs out of road

   The terrain turns rugged and the half-minute finally evaporates. Just past the top the peloton washes over Van Aert and spits him out the back — a magnificent, doomed 148 kilometres off the front.

5. 55 km to go

   Pogačar splinters the front group

   As one fire dies another catches. Pogačar accelerates on the short, sharp Cote de Pulventeux and blows the leading group apart, then sends Majka and McNulty to marshal what is left over the top and onto the two-kilometre haul into Longwy.

6. 6At the line

   Yellow changes hands in Longwy

   Roglič opens the uphill sprint from a long way out and Pogačar answers with something the fast men simply cannot match, careering clear of Matthews, Gaudu and Pidcock. He takes the stage and the maillot jaune off the shoulders of the man who spent all day trying to keep it.

The result