Tour of Catalonia 2024: Poagacar also unrivalled at the third mountain finish
Sebastian Lindner
· 23.03.2024
Another almost playful attack earned Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) victory on the 6th and penultimate stage of the Tour of Catalonia, which ended at the pilgrimage site of Queralt. The Slovenian attacked a good 29 kilometres before the end on the penultimate climb without getting out of the saddle. One after the other of his rivals was unable to keep up with his pace.
Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) was the last to concede. The Spaniard eventually finished third, just under a minute behind Egan Bernal, who finished in the same time. The captain of Ineos Greandiers thus improved from ninth to third place in the overall standings and ousted Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) from the podium, who was unable to keep up with the best around the small town of Berga and now ranks fourth, just a few seconds ahead of his pursuers.
Tour of Catalonia 2024: Pogacar can hardly be displaced from the overall lead
However, Team Visma | Lease a Bike had an even worse time. Although the team, which is used to success, set a fast pace in the first half of the day, captain Sepp Kuss and all his helpers lost touch with the leaders early on and thus also lost their place in the top 10. Pogacar, on the other hand, can hardly be prevented from taking overall victory before the final day in Barcelona, which still has the potential to shake up the classification. He takes a three and a half minute lead over Landa into the Catalan capital.
"I really suffered today," said Pogacar in the winner's interview, which was also confirmed by the TV pictures. The 25-year-old grimaced a few times, but this was due to his own demands, not the strength of the competition. "I attacked on the penultimate climb. There were still a few riders on my back wheel at the start, but then I was alone at the top. And the rest is history," said the two-time Tour de France winner, who still holds the mountains and points jersey. Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) remains the best young rider.
The top 10 of stage 6 of the Tour of Catalonia
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 4:11:53
- Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:57
- Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:57
- Enric Mas (Movistar) +2:14
- Chris Harper (Team Jayco-AlUla) +2:16
- Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +2:16
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +2:18
- Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) +2:18
- Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana Qazaqstan) +2:34
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +2:38
The current standings in the overall standings
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 25:06:16
- Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) +3:31
- Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) +4:53
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +5:46
- Enric Mas (Movistar) +5:51
- Chris Harper (Team Jayco-AlUla) +5:51
- Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) +5:52
- Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious)+6:23
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +6:23
- Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana Qazqastan) +7:17
How the 6th stage of the Tour of Catalonia 2024 went
Immediately after the start, Hugh Carthy (EF Education EasyPost) and Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek), two mountain pros, broke away from the peloton and dominated the first half of the 155 kilometre day up to the mountain finish at the pilgrimage site of Queralt near Berga.
The first two climbs, each longer than ten kilometres but only three and four per cent steep respectively, were completed by the duo ahead of the peloton. However, after the Collet de Cal Ros (2nd category), only one second of the maximum two-minute lead was left. And on the ascent to the Coll de Pradell (Categoria Especial), the biggest obstacle of the day, it was over for both of them. There were still 70 kilometres to the finish.
Kuss and Uijtdebroeks with problems
Visma | Lease a Bike had set the pace in the peloton, but this quickly proved to be the team's undoing. Both Sepp Kuss and Cian Uijtdebroeks were no longer able to keep up with the pace of the greatly reduced peloton. UAE Team Emirates took over the pace and reduced the lead to around 15 riders by the summit. In addition to Kuss, Wout Poels (Bahrain-Victorious) was also missing from the top 10 of the overall standings.
Shortly before the penultimate climb of the day, the Collada de Sant Isidre (1st category), the chasers came back to the front, so that around 40 riders were together again. But when Movistar took command on the five-kilometre climb, the riders began to sift again. And then came Pogacar. Sitting down, he increased the pace and within 400 metres he had shaken off all his rivals. Landa was the last to drop back with 29.2 kilometres to go.
Pogacar on his own again
On the climb, Pogacar had a one-minute lead over Landa, with Bernal a few seconds behind, followed by a group with the other captains. With 16 kilometres to go in the undulating terrain before the final climb, Bernal caught Landa. Mas broke away from the chasing group, but the Spaniard was unable to catch up.
Meanwhile, the group around Vlasov lost second by second, two minutes on Pogacar with eight kilometres to go and a good minute on Landa and Bernal. The Russian saw his podium position slipping away, so he attacked. But he didn't get away. Instead, he even had to break away again on the final climb, while Chris Harper (Team Jayco-AlUla), Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ), Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) and Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) almost closed the gap to Mas again.
