
Tour de France patron Tadej Pogačar is like basketball great Michael Jordan, according to his team principal Mauro Gianetti.
Gianetti was speaking after the world champion had stormed back into the Tour de France 2026 yellow jersey with a crushing victory in Stage 6 from Pau to Gavarnie-Gedre in the Pyrenees on Thursday.
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"It's just a pure talent," UAE Emirates-XRG chief Gianetti told reporters. "It's like when Michael Jordan was just making the moves that the others were not able to."
The four-time Tour winner said he had admired Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt and Serbian tennis beast Novak Djokovic when he was growing up, rather than the American hoops star.
"Michael Jordan, maybe I'm too young for him, but Usain Bolt, for example, when I saw him being so dominant, it was crazy to see," Pogačar said. "He was like the top. It was really cool to see his mentality also. Or now, the last year's Djokovic's mentality in tennis, this is just another level."
This was Pogačar's 23rd TDF stage victory and his second this year, allowing him to reclaim the yellow jersey he had willingly given up two days ago.
The 27-year-old Slovenian said his team had been hugely motivated for Thursday's stage straight after the previous day's race when his teammate Tim Wellens already was starting to "visualize" the day's tactics.
"Already yesterday on the bus after the finish (there) was really big hype for today," Pogačar said. "We were like, OK, let's go all in. What's the worst that can happen? We can blow out a little bit, but we knew that we are a strong team, so we said: 'we commit to one plan and whatever happens, happens.'"
Pogačar himself was so pumped that he could barely sleep.
"I woke up way too early today, 7 in the morning," he said. "I couldn't sleep long because I was so excited for today."
At breakfast, his teammates "were all hyped, carbo-loading, eating good breakfast, having good coffees.
"Then, we went to the bus, to the start, and it was just good energy, good vibe.
"I don't know how to explain, the energy there was perfect."
Maybe Jonas Vingegaard Was Over The Limit In Tour de France 2026 Stage 6
Behind Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard said he had not had his best day as he trailed in 2 minutes, 38 seconds behind the Slovenian.
Although Pogačar attacked on the punishing Tourmalet climb, he earned most of his advantage over Vingegaard on the speedy 19-kilometer descent and then the long, shallow 19-kilometer rise to the finish.
"Not my best day, I'm obviously disappointed, I have to be," said Vingegaard, the Tour champion in 2022 and 2023. "I still believe in myself, my legs will get better throughout the race, the fight is not over."
Pogačar said Vingegaard probably lost time on the descent because he had pushed harder on the climb.
"Maybe today he was a little bit over the limit on the Tourmalet climb," said the reigning champion. "When you're out of your zone, it's hard to go downhill. You do small mistakes or less accelerations from the corners. For me, I still had this really good acceleration out of the hairpins."
Behind the pair, the battle for third place was razor tight.
Pogačar's Mexican teammate Isaac del Toro took four bonus seconds on the line for finishing third and leapfrogged Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel up to third in the GC standings.
But there are just 33 seconds separating five riders including Spaniard Juan Ayuso, Frenchman Paul Seixas and German Florian Lipowitz.
"We knew that Tadej was a cut above the rest, that's not new to anyone," said Ayuso, who is fifth, but just seven seconds behind Del Toro.
He said he'd had been through a "rough patch" and was relieved to have made it into the group chasing the final podium position so he could "keep fighting" for another day.
Tour de France 2026 Stage 6 Results – Top 25
- Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) – 4:32:07 (B10)
- Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) – 4:34:45 (B6)
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) – 4:35:04 (B4)
- Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) – 4:35:04
- Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) – 4:35:04
- Juan Ayuso (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) – 4:35:04
- Florian Lipowitz (Lidl - Trek) – 4:35:04
- Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl - Trek) – 4:35:04
- Lenny Martinez (Bahrain - Victorious) – 4:35:09
- Sepp Kuss (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) – 4:35:13
- Egan Bernal (Netcompany INEOS) – 4:36:54
- Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) – 4:40:25
- Harold Tejada (XDS Astana Team) – 4:40:25
- Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) – 4:40:25
- Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) – 4:40:25
- Yannis Voisard (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) – 4:40:28
- Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) – 4:40:28
- Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) – 4:40:28
- Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Intermarché) – 4:40:28
- Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) – 4:40:28
- Davide Piganzoli (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) – 4:40:28
- Pablo Castrillo (Movistar Team) – 4:40:30
- Richard Carapaz (EF Education - EasyPost) – 4:40:58
- Chris Harper (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) – 4:41:40
- Mathias Vacek (Lidl - Trek) – 4:43:10
Tour de France 2026 Overall Standings – Top 25 After Stage 6
- Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) – 21:11:57 (B26)
- Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) – 21:14:39 (B12)
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) – 21:15:24 (B14)
- Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) – 21:15:27 (B4)
- Juan Ayuso (Lidl - Trek) – 21:15:31
- Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) – 21:15:52
- Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) – 21:15:57
- Lenny Martinez (Bahrain - Victorious) – 21:16:18
- Mathias Vacek (Lidl - Trek) – 21:16:54
- Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl - Trek) – 21:19:07
- Egan Bernal (Netcompany INEOS) – 21:21:09
- Sean Quinn (EF Education - EasyPost) – 21:21:32
- Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) – 21:21:39
- Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) – 21:21:42
- Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) – 21:21:47
- Richard Carapaz (EF Education - EasyPost) – 21:22:43 (B4)
- Davide Piganzoli (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) – 21:22:43
- Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Intermarché) – 21:22:48
- Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) – 21:22:53
- Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin - Premier Tech) – 21:23:23
- Yannis Voisard (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) – 21:24:18
- Harold Tejada (XDS Astana Team) – 21:25:03
- Pablo Castrillo (Movistar Team) – 21:25:21
- Sepp Kuss (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) – 21:25:30
- Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) – 21:26:28
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