Tour de France 2023 stage 6 preview: Route map and profile of 145km from Tarbes to Cauterets via the Tourmalet
The 2023 Tour de France ignited on Tuesday’s stage five as Australia’s Jai Hindley stormed into the yellow jersey and reigning champion Jonas Vingegaard dominated his main rival Tadej Pogacar. Hindley escaped in the breakaway and both Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma and Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates took too long to close the gap, allowing the Bora-Hansgrohe rider to push on alone and claim a brilliant solo win.
With it, Hindley jumped to the top of the general classification and took the yellow jersey from Adam Yates, who caught up to the struggling two-time champion and UAE team leader Pogacar, and they finished together more than a minute and a half behind Hindley and a minute down on the ominously strong Vingegaard.
Stage six goes deeper into the high Pyrenees, and the peloton will climb the iconic Col du Tourmalet en route to the first summit finish of the Tour in Cauterets.
First comes a small category three climb before an intermediate sprint, which may well be contested by those fast riders interested in the green jersey – Jasper Philipsen is in a strong position in the points classification after winning back-to-back sprints.
Then comes the Col d’Aspin (12% at 6.5%) which so often precedes the Tourmalet (17.1km at 7.3%), the Tour’s most visited climb which will take the peloton over 2,000m high. Then comes a long, fast descent before the climb to Cauterets (16km at 5.4%), a long drag that will feel draining on the legs after such a tough first week.
It is all set up for another showdown between the podium contenders. A breakaway is likely to form early in the day but by the time the final climb comes around it could well be only the strongest climbers left at the front.
Pogacar couldn’t keep pace with Vingegaard over the Marie Blanque on stage five and so the Dane might try to attack again here on the final climb, especially if the stage win, bonus points and yellow jersey are all on the line. Bora-Hansgrohe will be doing everything in their power to keep maillot jaune on Hindley’s shoulders, who leads second-placed Vingegaard by 47 seconds, but this could be the day when Vingegaard stamps his authority on the race.
If the stage is won by the breakaway then there are plenty of cadidates. Potential break winners include Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech), Felix Gall (Ag2R), Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) and Ineos’s Tom Pidcock, who is two and a half minutes down on the general classification lead and so might be allowed to escape up the road by Jumbo and UAE. His descending skills will be almost impossible to match on the road down from the Tourmalet.
Stage 6 route map and profile
Start time
The stage is set to begin at around 12pm BST and is expected to finish at around 4.30pm BST.
Prediction
Jonas Vingegaard will put down the hammer on the climb to Cauterets and take the stage win.
