Nielson Powles came within reach of the Tour de France leader's jersey again on Longwy, but like the cobbles to Arenberg on stage 5, his dreams were snatched away at the finish.

On Wednesday, Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) rode well enough in the chase group to prevent the 25-year-old from taking the American leader's jersey for the first time in 16 years. This time, Tadey Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) took the time bonus for the stage win, spoiling EF Education-Easy Post's blessing.

Paules started the stage just 6 seconds behind Pogachar and 13 seconds behind overnight leader Van Aert. At the finish, with Van Aert down after a day's attack and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Total Energies), the closest GC contender, also struggling, Paules followed Pogachar and prayed that the Slovenian would not win the stage and earn a 10-second time bonus The only thing he had to do was.

But Pogachar did not call himself the new Eddy Merckx for nothing and wanted to get the win and the yellow jersey before the Tour de France hit the mountain stages for the first time on Friday at La Planche des Belles Fils. He won ahead of Michael Matthews, David Gaudoux, and Tom Pidcock.

Paules finished in 14th place, at the tail end of the pack fighting for the slipstream of Pogachar. He was just four seconds away from the yellow jersey.

"I did everything I could. I just ran out of legs at the end," said Powles, leaning on his handlebars across the finish line, exhausted, disappointed, and proud of himself and the performance of EF Education-Easy Post.

"He will probably keep it until Paris. The Tour is long, but he's probably the strongest rider in the race and he showed that today. Unfortunately, he didn't get a few more seconds in yellow."

"I'm very proud of him.

On Wednesday, Paules came close to the yellow in his quest for a stage win, but the leader's jersey was his and his team's only goal on stage 6.

"That was all I was thinking about," he said. I knew it would be hard to take the jersey, but the team did everything they could. I'm proud of them and even if I don't get the yellow, I want to keep being a good tool. I'm glad I tried."

"I didn't think anything negative about not doing it until he put his hands up. I wasn't planning on competing in the sprint, but I thought there might be a rider out there who could beat him in a sprint from a big group." [With Pogachar likely to extend his lead at Friday's finish at La Planche de Belle Fille, Paulez admitted that his dream of the yellow jersey is out of reach. He plans to rest up and try for a stage win from a breakaway later in the Tour de France.

"Now I need to see how my body reacts. I'm a little tired from the cobbles, but we'll see how the rest of the race goes. I'm going to keep racing and keep trying."