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Pogacar back in Dauphine yellow after sixth stage victory / Photo: © AFP
Pogacar back in Dauphine yellow after sixth stage victory
Tadej Pogacar soloed to victory in the sixth stage of the Criterium du Dauphine on Friday to reclaim the yellow jersey and put himself firmly in contention for overall victory.
With this 97th victory of his career, the Slovenian, who cruised in 1min 1sec ahead of Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard, becomes the active rider with the joint-most victories -- on a par with French sprinter Arnaud Demare.
Belgian Remco Evenepoel, who was leading the overall classification, finished fifth at 1min 50sec.
Pogacar now has a 43sec lead over Vingegaard, 54sec over German Florian Lipowitz and 1min 22sec over Evenepoel.
The Slovenian had already worn the yellow jersey before in this 77th edition of the Dauphine after claiming victory in the first stage last weekend.
"I'm super happy to be back in yellow. It was a very good day for us," said Pogacar.
"I'm getting very good answers from this Dauphine. I wasn't too stressed after the time-trial (on Wednesday) and the shape is here."
On Friday, in the first of three mountain stages and competing under a baking sun, he took his revenge on Vingegaard on the Cote de Domancy, where the Dane had outclassed him in a time-trial at the 2023 Tour de France.
The world champion put in an acceleration with 7km to go that left everyone in his wake. Only Vingegaard managed to hang on to his wheel for a few metres before settling back, unable to keep up with his rival.
It was an important marker for Pogacar to put down to his leading Tour de France rivals ahead of his title defence following the 26-year-old's sub-par showing in Wednesday's time-trial at the Dauphine.
Saturday's queen stage is a mountainous 132km run from Grand-Aigueblanche to Valmeinier 1800.
Z.Sanchez--SFF
