Tadej Pogačar yellow jersey duties returned after a commanding stage six ride at the Tour de France, as Adam Yates praised his teammate’s mindset in the heat at Gavarnie-Gèdre.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader won from a 43km solo move, the longest winning solo break of his Tour career. He also reclaimed the race lead after a stage shaped by his team on the Col d’Aspin and Col du Tourmalet.
Yates arrived in the finishing paddock a little over eight minutes after Pogačar. The Slovenian had already come through bowed over, pale, and covered in sweat after his effort.
Asked about Pogačar regaining yellow, Yates first reacted simply: “Good.” He then explained why his teammate appears so comfortable with the pressure.
Yates said Pogačar had recently joked on the team bus that he knows little else at the Tour. He is usually in white, yellow, polka dots, or another prominent jersey.
For Yates, that constant responsibility helps explain Pogačar’s mental strength. Most riders can finish, head to the bus, shower, and reset away from podium duties. Pogačar rarely gets that quiet version of the Tour.
Yates explains Pogačar yellow jersey mindset
Pogačar’s move came five kilometres from the top of the Col du Tourmalet. UAE Team Emirates-XRG had already driven the pace on the Aspin and then on the hors-category Tourmalet.
Yates played a key support role before Pogačar attacked. The plan, he said, had always involved launching on the Tourmalet and trying to open a gap.
The final climb toward Gavarnie-Gèdre then suited Pogačar’s strengths. Yates described it more as a valley climb than a true mountain ascent.
On rolling roads like those, Yates said, Pogačar ranks among the best riders in the world. The Slovenian used that terrain to extend his advantage after the Tourmalet.
Yates admitted the size of the gap surprised him. Pogačar now holds 2:42 over Jonas Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike, his chief Tour rival.
Yates called that margin “a good advantage,” but he avoided any suggestion that the race had already turned decisively. He reminded reporters that the Tour can still punish mistakes.
“It’s never over till it’s over,” Yates said, pointing to the possibility of bad days still ahead.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG now face the task of protecting the race lead without losing composure. Yates said the team must stay calm, avoid errors, and focus on recovery over the next two days.
For Visma-Lease a Bike, stage six created a far more difficult problem. Vingegaard and his teammates must now respond to a Pogačar performance that looked familiar in both style and effect.
Yates joked that when Pogačar produces rides like this, it has started to feel normal. Yet the scale of the attack, the heat, and the gap to Vingegaard made the stage a major moment in the Tour.
The race still has distance to run, and Yates made that clear. But Pogačar’s stage six victory restored yellow and placed his rivals under immediate pressure.