Also in that group, 46 seconds behind the winner, were Richard Carapaz (EF Education - EasyPost), Harold Tejada (XDS Astana Team) and the two main podium contenders, Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe). The next group, comprising Oscar Onley (Netcompany INEOS), Sepp Kuss (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) and Mathias Skjelmose (Lidl - Trek), was already more than one and a half minutes behind.

This has also led to a few changes in the overall standings. Whilst Pogacar will remain in the red jersey following his 38th Grand Tour stage victory, Mas has climbed to second place. The Spaniard is 3 minutes and 34 seconds behind Pogacar, whilst Roglic in third place is now 4 minutes and 21 seconds adrift. Apart from that, only Carapaz and Gall remain within the five-minute mark. Jarno Widar (Lotto Intermarché), who finished second behind Pogacar two days ago and thus raised high hopes in Belgium, has fallen well behind and dropped out of the top 10.

In the battle for the white jersey, however, Onley now faces a new rival in Debruyne. The 23-year-old, also Belgian, is now just three seconds behind Onley, but over the 177 kilometres between Alcossebre and Castelló he rode from a breakaway group that had formed late in the race, and thus entered the decisive stage of the day with a slight lead.

Pogacar wanted to let the group go – but they took too long

“Actually, our plan was to let the group go,” said Pogacar at the finish. “But it had taken nearly two hours for the breakaway to form. So we didn’t have to put much effort into chasing them down and were therefore able to try and go for the stage win after all,” he explained, describing the last-minute change of plan.

Pogacar then faced another surprise on the final climb, a gravel section just under three kilometres long. He had already built up a significant lead over the competition there, but then had to watch as Mas flew past him just before the mountain sprint and was the first to start the descent. “He came flying up from behind like a rocket. I hadn’t expected that at all, because the radio had said the next group was more than 30 seconds behind. I was a bit shocked by that.” Apparently so much so that, on the descent – barely three metres wide and full of bends – he lost control once and ended up on the embankment, but got away with just a scare.

Pogacar and Mas then rode the flat section together right to the finish. “I was glad to have Enric with me, because we were facing a headwind and I’d run out of water. I knew I could beat him in the sprint. Hats off to him for sticking with me right to the end.” However, the jump to second place in the general classification was probably worth it for Mas. Pogacar remains number one in every other category, continuing to lead both the points and mountains classifications.

2026 Vuelta a España – Results of Stage 6

Here’s how Stage 6 of the 2026 Vuelta a España unfolded

Despite numerous attempts and terrain that was certainly conducive to breakaways, it took 60 kilometres before a group was able to break away from the peloton. The pace over the first few kilometres was extremely fast, even though there were already several kilometres of climbing to tackle. Shortly before the second mountain classification, however, a quartet managed to break away and were given free rein. The group included: Gijs Leemreize (Team Picnic PostNL), George Bennett (NSN Cycling Team), Andreas Kron (Uno-X Mobility) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain – Victorious) – the attackers, with the latter having won all the mountain classifications so far.

On the descent following the second mountain classification, a twelve-man chasing group caught up with the leaders. Among them were Wout van Aert (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Hannes Wilksch (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) and the Austrian Patrick Konrad (Lidl - Trek). The new group was only able to extend its lead over the peloton slowly, having managed to open up a gap of just 1 minute 20 seconds with 85 kilometres to go. It was not until 15 kilometres later that the gap approached two minutes.

On the climb to the Alto del Desierto de las Palmes (2nd category), the first professionals began to drop back from the group, including van Aert and Bennett. Behind them, UAE gradually picked up the pace, reducing the gap to under 90 seconds with 28 kilometres to go. Meanwhile, at the front, Kron stepped up the pace and thinned out the group.

Mas brings Pogacar back – Slovenian loses ground on the descent

A short time later, Pogacar’s team had thinned out the peloton to such an extent that the team leader took the reins himself. The breakaway riders were then only 30 seconds ahead. But Pogacar reeled them in one by one as the race finally reached the gravel section at Puerto El Bartolo (Category 1). Debruyne held out the longest against the man in the red jersey.

Behind Pogacar came Mas, followed by Roglic, Gall, Carapaz and Onley, although the latter two were unable to keep up right to the very top. At the very front, there were some rare scenes: Mas managed to get back onto Pogacar’s rear wheel just before the summit and even overtook the Slovenian before the mountain classification. Pogacar then lost control on the descent and, in a brief moment of panic, had to veer off the narrow tarmac, but he didn’t fall and was lucky that his bike wasn’t damaged either.

Just under half a minute behind them, Roglic, Gall and Debruyne began the descent. When the road levelled out again nine kilometres from the finish, the leading duo had a lead of just 15 seconds over the chasing trio, whilst Carapaz was 30 seconds behind. On the flat section, where there was a headwind, the gap widened again; even with Carapaz and Harold Tejada (XDS Astana Team) managing to close the gap, no one was able to make any further headway.

As expected, Pogacar proved stronger than Mas in the sprint for the stage victory, whilst Debruyne won the chase group’s sprint.