Tadej Pogačar showed his dominance on Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 6 with a strong climbing performance on the final ascent.
It was the first mountain day of the 2025 Dauphiné, featuring Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard, and Remco Evenepoel, making this one of the most stacked one week races of all time. After losing the time trial to Evenepoel, Vingegaard, and Matteo Jorgenson, Pogačar’s Tour de France odds lengthened, but today would provide more clarity. The stage was tough, with the GC group doing Mont Sax in 17:30 minutes at 6.5 ᵉW/kg.
Sepp Kuss attacked on the climb, with Pogačar closing down the Visma rider’s move. Florian Lipowitz then launched an attack and gained a small gap but was eventually caught. The GC group included Pogačar, Vingegaard, Jorgenson, Tulett, Evenepoel, Mas, Seixas, and Dunbar.
The final climb was Combloux, previously used in the 2023 Tour de France time trial, where Vingegaard had dominated Pogačar, though this was an extended version. Tobias Halland Johannesen burned 2252 kilojoules over 2:39h at a rate of 13.70 kJ/kg/h before the final ascent.
Tim Wellens and Jhonatan Narváez set a strong pace for Pogačar, with the Ecuadorian champion dropping Evenepoel and Lipowitz. Pogačar then attacked with 7.3 km to go, seated, and immediately distanced the Dane, showcasing his dominance and silencing critics after a disappointing time trial. Pogačar beat Vingegaard by 61 seconds on a relatively short climb, with Lipowitz, Jorgenson, and Evenepoel being the only GC riders to lose less than two minutes.
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By his summer standards, Pogačar delivered only an average performance: 7.21 ᵉW/kg for 19:50 minutes. He is still not in top shape. Vingegaard did 6.78 ᵉW/kg for 20:51, while 18-year-old Paul Seixas finished 2:04 behind Pogačar with 6.26 ᵉW/kg.
Pogačar delivered only an average performance: 7.21 ᵉW/kg for 19:50 minutes.
Do you have a graph of his *W/kg performances ? over the years ?
Why do the all have dry lips, often with sores? Bardet had very dry lips with sores in the (pre stage!) interview, Pogacar as well. They try to cover it up with some kind of balm. Pogacar was very confident in the pre stage interview Probably had a good blood bag after dissapointing time trial?
It’s dry and hot and they spend a lot of time in the sun. That dries your lips out.
Hmm, I think I have seen the same phenomenon in the rainy spring. Also, their hydration is closely monitored, if you get dehydrated, it is over for you.
Have you ever tried cycling 20+ hours a week bro your lips don’t hold up well