I said yesterday that Tour de France Stage 6 might test Michael Woods's form. Sadly, it did. He cracked on the endless slopes of the Tourmalet and lost about 25 minutes on the leaders' times. Less than a week in, he's effectively out of contention for the podium places in Paris, and will have to go hunting for stage-win chances -- and the honour of simply finishing another Tour de France.
Meanwhile, the stars showed why they were stars. And the Tourmalet, one of the great mountains of the Tour de France for a century or more, presented a terrific watching experience. The climb up the Tourmalet and the (slightly smaller) final hill became the scenes of extraordinary shows of dominance. Jonas Vingegard set a new record speed for climbing the Tourmalet, and Pogacar not only stayed right with him, but roared away from him on the final ascent and put himself right back in contention. Had Vingegard done that to Pogacar, they would have been talking about the race being as good as over.
