It will come as no surprise to those who watched Tadej Pogačar's performance on the Col du Tourmalet on Thursday that a new record time for the Pyrenean mountain was set.
The mountain has been climbed more than any other at the Tour de France, but nobody has raced up its slopes quicker than Pogačar did on stage 6.
After a lead-out up the mountain by his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates, including Adam Yates and Isaac del Toro, Pogačar attacked more than 4km from the top of the summit, dropping his GC rivals, including Jonas Vingegaard and going solo the rest of the way.
His time at the top of the 17km climb, tackled from the southern side from Sainte Marie de Campan, stood at 43:12, more than two minutes quicker than the previous record of 45:35, set by Vingegaard and himself on stage 6 of the 2023 Tour. The previous record had been set in 1993 by Tony Rominger and Zenon Jaskula, with a time of 45:50.
On that day, a 144.9km ride from Tarbes to Cauterets, Pogačar came out on top too, dropping Vingegaard to win by 24 seconds. He wouldn't go on to win the yellow jersey, however, as he went on to collapse in the Alps and cede overall victory to his Danish rival by 7:29 in Paris.
That outcome looks less likely this year, after Pogačar soloed to the finish line with a 2:38 advantage over Vingegaard.
On stage 6, Pogačar benefited from his teammates pushing hard up the climb, with Nils Politt's turn giving way to Felix Großschartner up to 8.6km to go, then a 3km turn from Brandon McNulty, before Adam Yates and Del Toro put the final touches on the lead-out.
Del Toro's push already saw Vingegaard unable to keep up, leaving Pogačar to go it alone and put 30 seconds into his rival at the summit of the Tourmalet.
The record ascent time came about as a result of that team strength, as well as the early attack. His move came much earlier than the attack in 2023, where Vingegaard launched 1.4km from the top, while the flags at the side of the road also indicated that a tailwind was blowing on the way up the Tourmalet.
Behind him, Vingegaard's own ride set what would've been a new record, with his time at the top coming in at 43:42, and the chasing group behind, including Remco Evenepoel and Paul Seixas, setting a time of 44:30.
Pogačar also took the KOM crown on the fitness app Strava for the Tourmalet ascent from Sainte Marie de Campan, measured at 43:08. The only rider in the top 10 for the segment not from yesterday's ride is former pro Romain Bardet with 47:04, though it must be pointed out that many pros, including Jonas Vingegaard, do not upload their rides to Strava.
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