Tadej, his teammates from the UAE Team Emirates – XRG, and the other riders in the 112th Tour, endured an extremely challenging 6th stage. The peloton had to overcome 201.5 kilometers and 3,550 meters of elevation in Normandy. The stage was even more demanding because the fierce battle for the day’s breakaway lasted almost two hours.
In the end, a group of eight riders escaped from the main group, including Ben Healy (EF Education Easy Post) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Deceuninck). Tadej, together with his team, decided not to chase the stage victory this time or to defend the yellow jersey, which he wore after an outstanding performance in the time trial in the 5th stage.
Thus, Healy celebrated his first stage victory in the Tour, and van der Poel donned the yellow jersey again, which he had already worn for three days after winning the 2nd stage. But it was close, the Dutch ace initially had a substantial lead over the main group, but he significantly weakened in the end. Meanwhile, the Visma Lease a Bike team started setting a very hard pace in the background.
They also attacked on the final climb to Vire Normadie, Tadej responded, finishing 9th, 5:27 behind Healy and 1:29 behind van der Poel. This was enough for the Dutch star to take the overall lead by just one second.
»I don’t know what Visma was trying to achieve in the end, their riders pushed hard, we followed them. The first two hours were incredibly fast and demanding, we survived them well, then we had to decide whether to go for the stage win or not. We decided not to use too many bullets and continued at our own pace. Nils Politt, Marc Soler, and the rest of the team did an excellent job. Then Visma came up on the last two kickers, riding all out. Maybe they had info that Mathieu van der Poel was suffering and losing time up front. Perhaps Visma wanted to give me the yellow jersey today, but Mathieu has it by one second, so chapeau to him. It was a superb ride from him today, and the breakaway did an amazing job up front. All credit to the guys in the break,« said Tadej at the finish, where he also handed over the polka dot jersey of the king of the mountains and the green jersey for the best in sprint points.
»We are friends, and I am happy to see him back in the yellow jersey. To go on the attack the day after you lose yellow. Respect. He was there and fighting for the stage win. He’ll be happy in yellow, and I’m happy for him,« Tadej added about the second exchange of the yellow jersey between him and van der Poel.
»I have nothing against the yellow jersey, but the goal was to spend as little energy as possible today. Tomorrow is another finish for me, and then we still need some legs for the second and third week, so today was really good for us.,« Tadej revealed why he did not defend 1st place in the overall standings this time.
He might adopt a different tactic tomorrow, as a very interesting 7th stage in Brittany is next. It will also take the peloton through Yffiniac, the birthplace of five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault. This 197-kilometer test with 2,450 meters of elevation will end at the top of the Mûr-de-Bretagne. The riders will have to conquer it twice, first 15 kilometers before the finish and then in the battle for victory. The Tour last visited here in 2021, and Tadej finished 2nd behind van der Poel.