UAE Team UAE star Tadej Pogacar leads overall in Tour de France

Tadej Pogakar On Thursday, a relentless challenge was launched in the final stages of the longest stage of the Tour de France to grab the overall lead.

The UAE drivers chased a hat-trick for the championship, attacking in the final 200 metres to win the 220km sixth stage in 4 hours, 27 minutes and 13 seconds from Australian Michael Matthews and Frenchman David Gaudou.

Pogacar’s teammates Rafał Majka and Brandon McNulty led the Slovenian on the final ascent before he went bankrupt. Jumbo-Visma driver Primoz Roglic initially overtook him, but in the end the defending champion was just too powerful and fast.

“Yeah, it gets better every time I win,” Pogacar said.

Belgian overnight leader Wout Van Aert picked up the pace for most of the day as he powered the breakout before becoming the last survivor as he attempted to take on the peloton for the final 30km on his own.

But after being rolled up 10km from Longwy – sitting up and completing the descent for about seven minutes – Pogacar took over and was able to celebrate after the finish line.

“Today was tough from the start, the first two hours were crazy,” Pogacar added. “The strongest man came into the breakout (Van Arte). A lot of people joined the peloton and so did our team. I thought he would get to the end, but in the end, the peloton was stronger.

“We came to the last climb and I still feel good. The team did a fantastic job and got me to the perfect position.

“I’m very happy. It wasn’t a pure sprint because we worked really hard on the last two climbs, over our threshold, worked really hard on the last climb, was very busy, and I think my last leg was good to push. “

Pogacar is also happy to get the yellow jersey. “I’m very happy to win, anything else is just a bonus,” he added. “We will consider [the yellow jersey] in the next few days. “

Paying tribute to Pogaka, 31-year-old Matthews said: “He’s been great all week so far, for what he’s done for himself, for the sport and for the fans, to see a guy who has so much. It’s amazing how talented people use it in a really good way.” Method.

“He’s won the Tour twice, but he’s doing a show for the fans and giving our drivers a tough time. It’s going to be even more special when I finally get to beat him.”

Neilson Powless, who retained second overall after finishing 14th, had a similar view of the young Slovenian.

“It looks like he can do pretty much anything and it will be interesting to see how he does over the next two weeks,” the American said.

“Man, man, Tadej, probably the strongest man in the world. It’s been a very busy two days, everyone was pumping so hard today, and I think that makes the final even crazier than it would have been. Everyone was at the limit. We’re on tour now.”

Updated: July 7, 2022 at 4:47 pm