HAUTE-PYRÉNÉES, France — Tadej Pogačar remembers the bad days and visualises the good ones.As he flew over the summit of the Col du Tourmalet, Jonas Vingegaard trailing half a minute behind, he remembered the day three years ago when the Dane had hauled in his attack.But on the bus the previous evening, encouraged by veteran teammate Tim Wellens, Pogačar had pictured forging the gap, breaking the body and spirit of his ever-present rival.By the end of stage six, 24 hours later, Pogačar had claimed utter control of the Tour de France — leading the race over Vingegaard by two minutes and 42 seconds. His winning margin on the day, of four seconds fewer, was the largest of his Tour career.He gapped Vingegaard by 31 seconds up the Tourmalet, a further 41 seconds on the descent, and finally, in the effort that shattered Vingegaard’s challenge, by 90 seconds on the final time trial effort to the finish.Both individually and as part of a team, this was the most dominant win of Pogačar’s Tour career. This is how he delivered it.Pogačar’s 23rd Tour de France stage victory was one of his most impressive (Dario Belingheri / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)It was 7am. Light had dawned over the Tourmalet and the first of the crowds were drawing their chairs to the roadside, one of the Tour’s legendary peaks, just under 19km at 7.4 per cent. At UAE Team Emirates’ team hotel on the outskirts of Pau, Pogačar was on edge.“Woke up way too early,” he would explain post-stage. “Seven in the morning. But maybe I couldn’t sleep because I was so excited for today.” He lay in bed, waiting for his teammates to be ready for breakfast, before being met by doping control to provide a sample — the realities of life as the Tour favorite.One day before, Pogačar had finished at the head of the main bunch of contenders Wednesday’s stage six into Pau, doing well to avoid late crashes which slightly impacted Vingegaard and yellow jersey Torstein Træen, seven minutes and 53 seconds ahead of Pogačar.“We were all on the bus, driving to the hotel, and Tim Wellens especially always wants to visualise what we’re going to do tomorrow,” Pogačar said. “The energy yesterday was such a hype for today. We agreed: ‘Let’s go for it, what’s the worst that can happen? We might blow out a little bit, but we’re a strong team. Let’s commit.’”After a final squad coffee the next morning, they travelled to the start. “It was just a good energy, good vibe,” Pogačar said. “I don’t know how to explain it. The energy in the air was perfect.”Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike were the stage’s first agitators. Victor Campenaerts powered up the road in a bid to become a satellite rider — getting over the Tourmalet ahead of the main bunch in order to help Vingegaard on the descent and valley.“This isn’t our strategy; we normally just go along with our team,” Pogačar said of the decision not to match Visma’s aggression. “We knew there was a tailwind all the way to the line and still quite fast, so we just needed to commit.”Pogačar’s UAE teammates worked perfectly for him all stage (Jeff Pachoud / AFP via Getty Images)Visma’s ploy did not work. Campenaerts and the early break were caught by the Tourmalet, and with the Belgian spent, UAE Team Emirates’ own trio of rouleurs moved to the front, with Nils Politt, Wellens, and Felix Großschartner, in turn, increasing the speed.“It was our plan to ride a hard pace over the Aspin and Tourmalet to stop the break,” explained UAE’s manager Mauro Gianetti. “We wanted to attack on the Tourmalet, and not wait until the final climb, because it was not steep enough, plus the tailwind, to make any difference.”Midway up the Tourmalet, UAE still had climbing domestiques Adam Yates, Brandon McNulty, and Isaac del Toro in reserve — while behind, Visma’s equivalent riders were being dropped from the group. Matteo Jorgenson’s disappearance with 10km to go to the summit, before Davide Piganzoli followed minutes later, underscored UAE’s team dominance. Up front, Vingegaard was left with just Sepp Kuss for company.“Each of my teammates was incredible today,” said Pogačar. “They are crazy, good guys.”The star turn went to Del Toro, UAE’s Tour leader-in-waiting — though a day not to come for some years yet. Pogačar gifted Del Toro his first Tour win in Barcelona on stage two, a favour repaid in kind on Thursday. The 22-year-old launched five kilometres before the top of the Tourmalet, with only Pogačar following his wheel — an acceleration leaving Vingegaard grimacing and contorting as the elastic tightened around his neck.Both Pogačar and Del Toro swapped turns, unusually for a domestique-team leader relationship, and for a period of some 800m, it appeared that the two might team time trial to the finish line. A decision, however, was quickly made as Del Toro felt the fire in his legs. Pogačar forged on alone.Vingegaard had attempted to ride at his own pace, not willing initially to go over his limit by chasing the Slovenian’s first acceleration. Initially, it seemed to be working. The gap dropped: 12 seconds, eight seconds, six. The Dane was close enough to read the sponsors on the UAE Team Emirates kit.“He had done this in the past a few times already, Pogačar said. “I remember when Carlos Rodriguez won a stage in 2023, I think in Morzine; it was a similar day. I attacked. Jonas didn’t follow straight away; he went at his pace and then caught me maybe two kilometres from the top.“Today was similar. I heard a really small gap on the radio, and I think for me, if the climb had been just one kilometre more, I would have exploded. But for Jonas, it was just a little too long for that pace; he did his best, but it makes a difference when you go too much into the red.”Vingegaard had overreached. Sensing he would reach Pogačar’s back wheel, his final attempted surge was too much — with Visma’s head of racing, Marc Reef, admitting after that “with about two kilometres to the summit, he had to ease his pace slightly.”Pogačar pulled away — and was the fresher man over the summit. “In my mind, I left everything to coincidence,” he said. “Whatever happens, happens. I was not calculating minutes or seconds; I just wanted to go all the way to the finish full gas.”Others counted the minutes and seconds for him. In climbing the fearsome Tourmalet in 43 minutes and 12 seconds, Pogačar lowered the ascent record, which he co-held with Vingegaard, by over two minutes.Feats like these mean Pogačar’s brilliance is usually comprehended when the tarmac goes uphill. At the top of the pass, he admitted he was “a little bit scared”, adding later that “it’s a s*** downhill, really dangerous if you miss a corner.”Pogačar, alone, descends the Col du Tourmalet (Bernard PAPON / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)It is not that he struggles. By this point in his career, he is an above-average descender, but it was not the discipline in which he was supposed to make the difference. One brief remonstration with a motorbike perceived to be in his line aside, Pogačar pushed aggressively down the mountain, shouting his indignation into the face of the risk.“We did the same downhill in 2023,” he remembered. “It was (Wout) van Aert and Jonas and me. I remember how Jonas was pushing Wout to go even faster on the downhill. I still had a broken hand; I wasn’t comfortable, and it was really crazy.“I was having these flashbacks in my mind: if Jonas came fresh to the top, and he was maybe only 20 seconds back, then he would for sure catch me on the downhill. I knew how good Jonas was at descending there, but maybe he was a little over the limit today after the Tourmalet. When you’re out of your zone, it’s hard to descend; you make small mistakes or accelerate less out of the corners, but for me, I had good acceleration out of the corners. I was just trying to go as fast as possible.”It was another attack constructed from the ashes of his worst days.From the far foot of the Tourmalet, it was still an 18.7km drag from the village of Luz-Saint-Sauveur to the finish line in Gavarnie-Gèdre, though at a shallow three per cent, this was closer to a time trial than a climb.Pogačar’s descending was as impressive as his climbing on Thursday’s stage (Jeff Pachoud / AFP via Getty Images)Vingegaard, on this section, was almost caught by a group of six podium contenders working together, including Remco Evenepoel, Paul Seixas, and Del Toro — while Pogačar extended his advantage over the chasing sextet, the gap to Vingegaard growing by what felt like a second per pedal stroke.The 43km solo was his longest distance victory in his seven years on the Tour. In totality, it was a display of absolute dominance. His debut win on the Planche des Belle Filles time trial in 2020 was the most thrilling; his victory over Plateau de Beille in 2024 produced the best raw numbers — both tested a single discipline, climbing, and were solo efforts.Thursday’s display, in teamwork, climbing, descending, and soloing, was a deconstruction job on Vingegaard and Visma, hammering home his and UAE’s advantage in every facet of the sport. If they had put a ramp on the final downhill and invited him to do a triple flip over it, Pogačar probably would have received the highest score from the judges as well, such was his form.