Cycling: Pogačar wins 6th stage of Tirreno-Adriatico

A week after the solitary feat at Strade Bianche, Tadej Pogačar struck again, reaching the finish line of the 6th stage of Tirreno-Adriatico alone leaving his rivals in the dust on the Italian roads from Apecchio to Carpegna.

The leader of the UAE Team Emirates squad made his move 16km from the finish, on the second ascent of Monte Carpegna (6.2km at 9.6% average gradient), responding to a move by Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious), Pogacar sank a single, but decisive attack, gaining 20 seconds in a short time on a trio of pursuers made up of Landa, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Richie Porte (Ineos-Grenadiers).

The advantage widened to almost 2 minutes at the brow with just over 12km to go. The Slovenian was then able to pedal smoothly to the finish to take his sixth victory of the season and the 17th for the Emirati team.

"First of all I would like to thank the team and my team mates, they were once again fantastic all day and allowed me to take the last climb in the best position. I had good legs, Marc Soler was making a good pace, there were some attacks and, at that point, I decided to try to go all the way to the top at my own pace, giving it my all. It was very cold and, in this way, I also kept warm. I am very happy to have won and to have repaid the work of the whole team during these last days." Pogačar said.

He added, ''Today my teammates struggled at the head of the group for 200 km, with the headwind, so it’s nice to have conquered the queen stage for them. Now only one day remains, we remain calm and serene, hoping that Pascal Ackermann can recover from the efforts made for the team in the recent stages."

Sealing the win! 💙🙌👑 @TamauPogi #TirrenoAdriatico

#UAETeamEmirates #WeAreUAE pic.twitter.com/wjmmipVfWe

— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) March 12, 2022