Sovereign Tadej Pogačar dominated the third mountain stage of the Tour of Catalonia and is heading for a clear victory

Slovenian Tadej Pogačar dominated the third mountain stage of the WorldTour Tour of Catalonia and increased his lead in the standings by another minute. He is now more than 3 and a half minutes ahead of second-placed Mikel Landa of Spain.

Pogačar has again passed everyone

Just like in the previous two stage wins, Tadej Pogačar put the pedal to the metal and had no competition. On stage 6 of the Tour of Catalonia, the third mountain test, which covered almost 155 km, the Slovenian went into the breakaway from around kilometre 125 and once again passed everyone.

The decisive climb

Saturday’s stage was the hardest of the race. Pogačar went into a solo breakaway before the final climb up the Alto de San Isidre with around 27.5km to go. The only one who had any strength to respond to Pogačar’s hellish pace was the second man in the overall standings, Spaniard Mikel Landa.

The Spaniard was joined by former Tour de France winner, Colombian Egan Bernal, and together they made it to the finish and minimized the gap to this year’s winner. Even so, they still accumulated a deficit of almost one minute. For the Colombian, however, it meant moving up to third place in the overall standings.

Pogačar reached the finish line with a 57-second lead over the pair of Egan Bernal, Mikel Landa. He also beat the great climbers and once again demonstrated his dominance in this bike race.

He will enter Sunday’s final stage with more than three and a half minutes on second-placed Landa of Spain and almost five minutes on third-placed Egan Bernal of Colombia.

Tour of Catalonia – Stage 6 (154.7 km)

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slovi./UAE Emirates) 4:11:53
2. Egan Bernal (Col./Ineos) -57
3. Mikel Landa (Span./Soudal Quick – Step) -57

Overall standings:

1. Tadej Pogačar 25:06:16
2. Mikel Landa -3:31
3. Egan Bernal -4:53

Source: UCI, Tour of Catalonia