Dunbar full of fight as Pogačar goes nuclear at Dauphiné | Video

Tadej Pogačar goes nuclear on the final climb, to win and take the race lead, on the first stage for climbers at Critérium du Dauphiné (Photo: Tony Esnault)

Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco AlUla) may not have been able to match the best on the final climb at stage 6 of Critérium du Dauphiné on the Friday but he Irishman was full of fight and retained his 6th place position on the general classification.

The Irishman put in an epic TT yesterday and will look to steady himself, and improve on the remaining climbs of the next two days. But at this point of the race, he looks good for a place in the top 10 in the final standings, at the very least.

Today Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was riding his own race, and everyone else another. He attacked with just over 7km of climbing remaining and in that relative short time, he managed to put 2:26 into Dunbar, for example.

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While his only truly equal in stage racing, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) was the sole rider able to respond when Pogačar attacked, even he backed off after matching his rival for just a few hundred metres.

From that point, every settled into their own rhythm on the climb, with Pogačar relentlessly pulling ahead of every, with a killer seated effort that looked like it was taking very little out of him. After Vingegaard on the road, race leader Remco Evenepoel (Soudal QuickStep) led a small group, doing his best to defend the yellow jersey.

Ben Healy, above, and Archie Ryan were among those jumping around early and trying to get in the breakaway (Photo: Tony Esnault)

Dunbar was among the riders scattered just behind Evenepoel as the gaps began to open. He will perhaps be a little disappointed he could not have done better on the stage than 13th. However, he is still very much in contention, still 6th and now 2:28 down.

There are just five riders within one minute of him, and those are the men he must now hold off. However, if he is feeling slightly better tomorrow and Sunday, it is definitely not beyond him to make gains in the overall.

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In the end today, Pogačar won the stage by 1:01 from Vingegaard, with the impressive Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) riding to 3rd at 1:22. Like Lipowitz, Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) also sat on Evenepoel for a time before attacking him, finishing 4th at 1:30, with Evenepoel 5th at 1:50.

Rounding out the top six was one of the men of the stage; breakaway rider Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost). He hung on to the GC men with real grit, to finish 1:56 down.

Baudin's Irish team mates, Archie Ryan and Ben Healy, were among the early attackers, trying to get into the breakaway but just not getting the rub of the green today. Healy finished 34th at 9:12 with Ryan placing 64th at 13:31.

Going into tomorrow's stage, with its Valmeinier 1800 summit finish, Pogačar leads by 43 seconds from Vingegaard, with Lipowitz 3rd at 54 seconds. Dunbar is still where he needs to be, though will hope for an improved performance tomorrow.

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