CASTELLO, Spain — Tadej Pogacar continued his impressive run at the Spanish Vuelta, winning Stage 6 after going off track and nearly crashing on a quick descent.
The defending Tour de France champion, seeking a career sweep of Grand Tour titles, was able to slow down just enough to stay on his bike and return to the road to eventually outlast Enric Mas and secure his third stage victory.
“We had a plan, we felt we could let the breakaway go, but it took nearly two hours to form a breakaway, so in the end we had to pull less than half the stage to control,” Pogacar said.
The Slovenian from UAE Team Emirates increased his overall lead to 3 minutes, 34 seconds, with Mas of Movistar Team in second place and Primoz Roglic dropping to third, more than four minutes behind Pogacar.
Pogacar already had put on a dominant performance to win Stage 4, and he also won the opening stage.
He is trying to become the ninth male rider to win all three Grand Tours races.
Pogacar won the Tour de France for a third straight time and a record-tying fifth overall in July, and he claimed the Giro d’Italia win in 2024. He had not raced in the Vuelta since making his Grand Tour debut at the event in 2019, when he won three stages.
Pogacar is the first rider with three wins in the first six stages since Oscar Freire in 2007.
He dropped the rest of the riders with less than 15 miles to go but was caught by Mas before the final summit.
“I was really surprised on the top. He flew past me like a rocket,” Pogacar said of Mas. “I was not expecting it because I heard on the radio I was 40 seconds ahead of the chasers and Enric wasn’t mentioned. When he passed me, I was little bit shocked.”
The duo worked together through the end and Pogacar eventually prevailed at the finish line.
“I was sure he knew the downhill and I was happy to be with him for the last (6.2 miles) with headwind,” Pogacar said. “I had no water. I knew I could beat it in the sprint. I appreciated that he committed fully, and I also committed fully to the line.”
Stage 6 featured a mid-mountain route that included a dirt road on the final climb. A quick descent toward the finish line in Castellon challenged riders and nearly proved costly to Pogacar as he nearly lost control of his bike and couldn’t stay on the road on a sharp turn.
Stage 7 is a 93-mile mountain route.
The Vuelta finishes in the southern Spanish city of Granada on Sept. 13.
