German climber Leonard Kemna looked to be on his way to his second Tour de France victory as the survivor of a breakaway that built a 50-second lead on the rest of the field in the last 2km of La Superplanche des Belle Filles.

But, as in Villars de Reims two years earlier, the 25-year-old did not raise his arms at the finish. Their team and race leader, Tadei Pogachar, passed by, along with Tour rival Jonas Vingegaard, and Chemna's dreams were cut short 100 meters before the finish.

In five previous visits to the Vosges Mountains, only one breakaway group has won a Tour de France stage in La Planche, and contrary to pre-race expectations, UAE Team Emirates had no intention of letting that happen again on Friday's stage.

Pogachar, who won the Tour outright in 2020 with a stunning time trial there, called the climb "special" during the stage 6 victory press conference, noting that his family and girlfriend are at the top this year. It was always planned to try for another win.

"It was no secret that I was going for a stage win. It was no secret that we were going to run for a stage.

"When Brandon [McNulty] pulled, he pulled so fast. I had to pull that fast and I knew I would catch up to him in the middle of the race, but they did a really great job."

"We had to pull that fast and they did a really great job.

After Ineos Grenadiers entered the climb 1:30 behind the breakaway, UAE Team Emirates controlled the pace with McNulty and Bennett. The time gap was down to 1 minute, but Polish climber Rafał Majka took over on the climb with 3km to go.

He made perhaps the most notable lead change, helping to close the gap to 35 seconds before the Flamme Rouge and waving enthusiastically to the leaders with 800m to go.

Of course, the job was not yet done. Together with Pogachar, Vingegaard passed Kemna with a few meters to go, moving into the lead role in the battle for the maillot jaune. On Thursday, Pogachar leaped into yellow earlier than his two previous Tour winners. But it doesn't matter, Bennett said.

"I don't know what I'm going to do for the next few days, but I don't see a problem with having the jersey. Every day in yellow is good, and I think I got through the first week really well."

"I got a lot of criticism because we didn't run side by side with eight guys like we used to, but in reality Tadej always had company. I think today you could see how strong Jonas and Primoš (Roglic, who finished third in the stage) were. I'm looking forward to it as a cycling fan."

The UAE Team Emirates hierarchy was always clear, but Roglic's time loss on the cobbles sorted Jumbo Visma. The "Ineos Grenadiers" emerged at La Planche with Geraint Thomas as the strongest leader of the British team.

Both teams retain multiple options to challenge Pogachar. Bennett said he expects his UAE rivals to make a "big splash" in the Tour competition, but that he and his teammates are ready.

"We may not win one-on-one, but we can create a lot of situations and [Jumbo] has the advantage of having two dangerous players. Tadej needs a super strong team around the two of them."

"I don't know at what stage, but I think one day it will be outrageous. Primosch will go on break, Sepp (Kuss) will drop everyone, that kind of thing. It will be a situation where you really need to be prepared. So we will not underestimate them. We are never complacent and we envision war every day."

After the stage, UAE coach Jocsen Fernandez Mazin called his team a "super team" and praised his players for leading Pogachar, "a super character who does the impossible," to his eighth stage win in just three years.

"It's step by step, day by day. It's normal." Big names, big riders, super professionals. Magica is one of the best climbers and I think Bennett is the same. McNulty, Soler, and Mikkel Bjarg are also there. It's a super team."

The Spaniards were also wary of the strength of their rivals, citing the duo of Vingegaard and Roglic as someone to watch out for.

"Vingegaard at that time was 35 seconds and a good competitor. Taddei passed him in the last meter. I have the utmost respect for Vingegaard and also for Roglic, who tried yesterday on the last corner. He lost two minutes on the cobbles, but you won't remember that.