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
00:25to be 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 Cat 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.
00:51Yeah, in the race it just depends on how the sector is and everything, but I'm sure they
00:57did everything to 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
01:09a strong 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.
01:21I think it will be a super tricky day, especially with the gravel sector that will be uphill,
01:27then with the downhill to the finish.
01:29I think today we can maybe see already the first breakaway day.
01:34We will try with a few guys to take the breakaway and then we see and hopefully take good results
01:40today, maybe 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
01:49and around 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 Bandereta.
02:14Andreas Krohn, who already attacked yesterday.
02:17George Bennett, Heiss Leimreiser and Santiago Buetrago, 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, they're working well together.
02:46The average speed creeping above 42 kilometers an hour despite two climbs, this 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.
03:13Three of the riders at the front, Crone, Van Aert and Urka Berrade, had already won a stage of the
03:18Vuelta,
03:19while 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, while Van Aerts takes those 20 points.
03:44It was then onto the third climb, 7.6 kilometers at just under 5%.
03:49The 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.
04:01Van Aerts saying goodbye.
04:04And further back, Lorenzo Fortunato also dropped the man wearing polka dots on Fogacchi's behalf.
04:10Speaking of which, Buetrago didn't have it all his own way up at the summit.
04:14Santiago Buetrago moves forward now, the Colombian and the Grand Tours stage winner.
04:19As José Manuel Diaz comes through, he wants the five points.
04:24After the descent, they swept back through Beni Kassim,
04:27before heading to the all-important final climb.
04:30Things starting to swing in the peloton's favour,
04:33with UAE gradually bringing the gap down.
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,
05:01with Pogacchi and co. now just a minute back.
05:06And after a final turn from Pablo Torres, Pogacchi made his move,
05:11with the road gradually becoming 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,
05:28Enric Mass had pulled clear of Roglic, 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, he takes the ten points on this Category 1 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.
06:02Smart advice.
06:04Mass knows this descent. He knows when and where he can push.
06:09Daddy Pogacchi runs off the road.
06:11A scare for Pogacchi, but no drama, and they were soon charging down towards the finish.
06:17Carapace had linked up with Harold Tajada to get back to the group containing Roglic, Gal and De Bruyne,
06:22and about a minute further back with the day's GC losers, Oskar Onli and Sepp Kurs.
06:30The race situation remained the same on the running, so it was going to be a two-up sprint between
06:35Pogacchi 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, Tadej Pogacchi.
06:55Never in doubt.
06:56The man in the red jersey.
06:57This is the Tadej Pogacchi show.
07:00He wins a third stage.
07:04Well, Tadej Pogacchi proving too strong for Enric Mass as he collected his third win in six stages,
07:10bearing 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.
07:44And then in the end, I knew that I can beat 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 Gale 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 Wada is two and a half minutes further back.
08:57Tomorrow is another toughie with over three and a half thousand metres of climbing and a summit finish.
09:02Join us for that on Friday and thanks for watching.
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