00:00On to stage six of La Vuelta, which could be a real blockbuster.
00:05Tadej Pogacar is looking untouchable in the red jersey, but will he be gunning for a third
00:09stage win today, or could this be a first proper opportunity for the breakaway?
00:14Whatever happens, the riders will have to be switched on from the word go.
00:19Yeah, today's stage is quite an interesting one.
00:22I don't think it's going to be too hard, but it's one of those days where you'll have to
00:26be really careful.
00:26In theory, it should favour a breakaway, but we'll have to see how it goes.
00:33Well, today features one of the key innovations of this year's edition, a short gravel sector
00:38on the final climb, the Cap 1 Puerto El Bartolo, where the gradients will really sting between
00:4315 and 20 percent.
00:46I train on gravel quite a bit, so it's always nice.
00:52In the race, it just depends on how the sector is and everything, but I'm sure they did everything
00:59to make it proper for a bike race.
01:04The stage is up and down all day long before that steep final climb and looks ideal for a
01:09strong breakaway.
01:11Tudor Pro Cycling are one of the teams who will be trying to get in there.
01:14Their best-placed man is Marco Brenner, who turns 24 today, the German hoping to celebrate
01:19in style.
01:21No, I think it will be a super tricky day, especially with the gravel sector that will
01:26be uphill, then with the downhill to the finish.
01:29I think, yeah, today we can maybe see already the first breakaway day.
01:34Yeah, we will try with a few guys to take the breakaway and then we see and hopefully, yeah,
01:39take a good result today.
01:41Maybe make a nice birthday present for me.
01:44177 kilometers on the menu today in the province of Castellan with four climbs on the menu and
01:50around 3,000 meters of elevation gain.
01:52The final climb of El Bartolo tops out with just 20k remaining.
01:56That is no doubt where the day's decisive move will be made.
02:03Well, as expected, there were attacks left, right and centre at the start and it took around
02:0860 kilometers for a breakaway to form.
02:11Four riders sparked the move on the Col de la Bandarita.
02:14Andreas Krohn, who already attacked yesterday, George Bennett, Heiss Leimreiser and Santiago
02:20Buetrago, who took the points at the summits.
02:22They were soon caught by a chase group of 12 to make it 16 at the front with just under
02:28100k to ride.
02:29This was potentially a race winning move with the likes of Watt van Aerts, Patrick Conrad,
02:34Peo Bilbao and Ramses de Bruyne, the best on GC at 4 minutes 44.
02:40This is the front group and they're all very cohesive.
02:43They're working well together.
02:46The average speed creeping above 42 kilometers an hour despite two climbs.
02:50This was full on.
02:52UAE taking control of the peloton as a couple of riders crashed.
02:56Unfortunately, the birthday boy was one of them.
02:59Crash here, down below.
03:02This is Marco Brenner on his birthday.
03:04The former German champion is down along with two teammates.
03:09Things settling into a familiar pattern with a gap of around two minutes.
03:14Three of the riders at the front, Krohn, Van Aert and Urke Berrade, had already won a stage
03:18of the Vuelta, while Bilbao, Buetrago and Conrad post victories at the other Grand Tours.
03:25The 16 leaders approaching the intermediate sprint with Van Aerts on the hunt.
03:32The Belgian in the yellow jersey start to move forward.
03:35He's the best placed rider in that classification in the breakaway.
03:38No real challenge.
03:40And well, Van Aerts takes those 20 points.
03:44It was then onto the third climb, 7.6 kilometers at just under 5%.
03:50The break still collaborating smoothly, but UAE were starting to up the tempo in the peloton,
03:55even if the gap was still over two minutes.
03:58It was all getting a bit much for some riders, especially on the steeper gradients.
04:02Van Aerts saying goodbye.
04:03And further back, Lorenzo Fortunato also dropped the man wearing polka dots on Pogacchi's behalf.
04:10Speaking of which, Buetrago didn't have it all his own way up at the summit.
04:15Santiago Buetrago moves forward now, the Colombian and the Grand Tours stage winner.
04:19As Jose Manuel Diaz comes through, he wants the five points.
04:24After the descent, they swept back through Beni Kassim before heading to the all-important
04:29final climb.
04:30Things starting to swing in the peloton's favour, with UAE gradually bringing the gap
04:35down.
04:36And as they hit the climb, Bilbao's day was done.
04:41Sterling Job from Pale Bilbao.
04:44And his final Grand Tour of his career before he retires.
04:48Krone attacking from this dwindling group.
04:51And it was too much for Conrad, winner on the Tour de France back in 2021.
04:57Five kilometres from the summit, there were only seven men left at the front, with Pogacchi
05:02and co.
05:02Now just a minute back.
05:06And after a final turn from Pablo Torres, Pogacchi made his move, with the road gradually
05:12becoming steeper and narrower as they approached the gravel section.
05:15The Slovenian hoovering up riders, with Ramses De Bruyne proving the strongest from the break.
05:21The Belgian leading solo on the dirt track, but the man in red was closing fast.
05:25Pogacchi taking over at the front, while further back, Enric Mass had pulled clear of
05:30Roglic, Onli, Gal and Carapace.
05:32Everyone forced to dig deep on this punishing climb.
05:35The summit soon loomed into view, and what an incredible effort this was from Enric Mass.
05:40The Spaniard fighting his way back to Pogacchi.
05:43Behind them, De Bruyne was caught by Roglic and Gal, who had dropped Onli and Carapace.
05:48Enric Mass comes through.
05:50He takes the ten points on this category one climb, Puerto El Bartolo.
05:55Mass leading Pogacchi into the very technical descent.
05:58And knowing the way down, he warned the world champion to be a bit careful.
06:01Smart advice.
06:11A scare for Pogacchi, but no drama, and they were soon charging down towards the finish.
06:17Carapace had linked up with Harald Tajada to get back to the group containing Roglic, Gal
06:21and De Bruyne.
06:22And about a minute further back were the day's GC losers, Oskar Onli and Sepp Kurs.
06:30The race situation remained the same on the running.
06:33So it was going to be a two up sprint between Pogacchi and Mass for victory.
06:37The Slovenian targeting his third win of the week.
06:40It's Pogacchi who's going to try and lead this one out from first wheel.
06:44Who's going to make the first move?
06:45He looks over his left hand shoulder.
06:47Here goes Enric Mass.
06:48Enric Mass looking for his first victory in four years.
06:52But he's going to be the world champion Tade Pogacchi.
06:54Never in doubt.
06:56The man in the red jersey.
06:58This is the Tade Pogacchi show.
07:00He wins a third stage.
07:04Well Tade Pogacchi proving too strong for Enric Mass as he collected his third win in six
07:09stages, bearing in mind that one of them was cancelled.
07:13The 27 year old continues to reign supreme.
07:16He moves on to 130 career wins after a brilliant battle with his Spanish rival.
07:24I was just really surprised on the top.
07:28He flew past by me like a rocket.
07:31I was not expecting because I heard in the radio that I'm leading for, I don't know, 40 seconds to
07:38second chasers.
07:39It was nice to have a compatriot next to me and then in the end I knew that I can
07:47beat him in the sprint.
07:48But I still appreciate that he committed full and I also committed full to the finish line.
07:55So chapeau to him and it was a great race.
07:59Pogacchi and Mass coming in 46 seconds clear with De Bruyne the best of the rest.
08:04Kuss and Onli both lost a minute and 38 seconds and they drop out of the top five overall.
08:12Pogacchi stays in red with Mass up to second place now, 47 seconds clear of Roglic.
08:18Carapace and Gaal move ahead of Kuss and Onli with De Bruyne and Tejada moving into the top ten.
08:25Thanks to another stage win, Pogacchi still has a solid lead in green.
08:29He is 33 points ahead of Van Aert with both men picking up 20 points on the day.
08:36The world champ also took six KOM points on the final climb where he was surprised by Mass.
08:41He leads by 15 points from the Spaniard with Buetrago up to fourth.
08:48And it's game on in the youth classification with just three seconds now separating Onli and De Bruyne.
08:54Janna Wida is two and a half minutes further back.
08:57Tomorrow is another Tuffy with over three and a half thousand metres of climbing and a summit finish.
09:02Join us for that on Friday.
09:04And thanks for watching.
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