Tadej Pogačar rode to the UAE Team Emirates-XRG team bus beyond the finish line, unsure if he had kept or lost the Tour de France leader's yellow jersey but convinced that Visma-Lease a Bike had tried to keep him in yellow and play tactical mind games yet again.
Pogačar and his teammates were happy to let Mathieu van der Poel (Alepcin-Deceuninck) go in the breakaway, and so happy when it was confirmed that the Dutchman had taken the yellow jersey by one second. Pogačar's defensive racing ensured he also lost the green points jersey to Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) and the polka-dot mountains jersey to teammate Tim Wellens.
He will race stage 7 to Mûr-de-Bretagne in his world champion's rainbow jersey on Friday.
"That was close…" Pogačar joked before warming down in the shadow of the team bus.
Pogačar later explained that he was so close to keeping the yellow jersey due to an acceleration by Visma-Lease a Bike in the final part of the stage. They perhaps accelerated to keep Pogačar in yellow and busy with post-race obligations, and so oblige UAE to control the race on stage 7 and perhaps beyond.
The Pogačar-Vingegaard rivalry and the UAE-Visma rivalry have been going on ever since Pogačar snatched his first Tour victory in the Planches des Belles Filles time trial in 2020. Pogačar and Vingegaard have fought for the last four editions of the Tour as part of an often tense, if respectful, rivalry.
The rivalry will surely be the story of this year's Tour and shape stage 6 to Vire Normandie.
"Visma tried to do, I don't know what… They went hard, so we just followed them," Pogačar said, slightly irritated by Vimsa's race tactics.
"They came up on the last two kickers, riding all out," he added.
"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."
Speaking to Slovenian media after the stage, Pogačar was more overtly critical of the Dutch team's tactics.
"I know they're behind, but... What they did today was absolutely ridiculous. Maybe they lost their way a bit yesterday," he said to radio station Val 202.
"That sprint at the end was also a bit pointless, because it wasn't a sprint for the top 10. Jorgenson probably thought he'd gain a second or two."
Usually a rider who also likes to race whenever possible, Pogačar explained his short and long-term race tactics, already thinking about conserving himself for the harder weeks to come.
"I don't mind having the yellow jersey, but the goal is to spend as less energy as possible today," he said.
"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.
"The first two hours were super fast, and we survived them well. Then we decided if we wanted to go for the stage or not. We decided not to spend any bullets and rode our pace. Nils rode his pace and did his job, as did Marc Soler and the rest of the team."
Despite losing yellow, Pogačar was happy to hand the jersey over to Van der Poel, with the rivals also good friends in the peloton. The Dutchman accidentally served as a lead-out for Pogačar to win his 100th career victory in stage 4 in Rouen, and Pogačar was happy to see him in the break of the day on the hot ride to Vire Normandie.
"We're friends, and I'm happy to see him back in yellow," Pogačar said of van der Poel.
"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."
After the stage, the pair joked in the comments of Pogačar's Instagram post, with Van der Poel saying "You think 1sec is enough for me to keep it to Paris?".
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