Wout wows but Pogacar is in yellow

DEFENDING champion Tadej Pogacar powered clear to win stage six of the Tour de France yesterday and take the overall lead after the peloton denied Wout van Aert what would have been a remarkable solo victory in the yellow jersey. Arguably the two most exciting talents in the men’s peloton dominated on the longest stage of this year’s Tour, 220 kilometres between Binche, Belgium and Longwy that were raced at a ferocious pace. For the first 210km, it was all about Van Aert on what would be his last day in yellow, the Belgian driving the pace on home roads as he powered the breakaway clear, then emerging as the last survivor as he tried to take on the peloton alone for the final 30km. But after he was reeled in 10km from Longwy, Pogacar took over, following a late attack from fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic up the short final climb and then powering away from Michael Matthews to win. The Ineos Grenadiers’ Tour debutant Tom Pidcock came home fourth. ‘Every time I win it’s even better,’ said Pogacar. ‘Today was so hard from the start. The first two hours were crazy and the strongest guy went in the breakaway.’