Seemingly backed into a corner, Tadej Pogachar is back in contention for victory at the 2023 Tour de France. Jonas Vingegaard took the yellow jersey from Jai Hindley, but Pogachar's daring solo attack and victory on stage 6 at Cautaret-Cambasque was a clear warning that Dane and his Jumbo-Visma team would continue fighting all the way to Paris.

"Yesterday I didn't die. Of course, I'm supremely happy today. We played smart today," Pogachal said.

"I think I'm getting better every day. I want to keep going like this and not give up until the end. It's still going to be a big battle."

Pogachar finished 24 seconds ahead of Vingegaard, with a time bonus of another four seconds. 7]

Pogachar joked that he would win his 10th stage win in the Tour de France and try to break Mark Cavendish and Eddy Merckx's record of 34 wins to fight back.

"I'm really happy just to have one stage win. It's unbelievable to win a stage in the Tour de France. I was as happy today as I was when I won three years ago. Winning the Tour is always special," Pogachar said.

It is easy to forget that Pogachar is only 24 years old and is still learning how to win races and Grand Tours. He had a tough day for his UAE Team Emirates teammates on stage 5 in Pau, when he mistakenly chased an early attack and missed the move when Hindley, Van Aert, and others joined the breakaway.

Pogachar was stronger and smarter on the Tourmalet Pass.

"When Jumbo started pulling on Tourmalet, I thought, 'Okay, if it's the same as yesterday, I can pack up and go home,'" Pogachar said.

"But I told myself I had to hang on to the wheel and not give up until the summit. If I lost the wheel there, it would be much harder. I was happy to have good legs in Tourmalet."

Pogachar's aggressive and intuitive racing often succeeded, but he learned that he had to adapt his strategy to specific situations. In the Col du Tourmalet, he struggled to steer Vingegaard, but felt he had to attack on the climb to the finish.

"I was thinking about attacking in the last 4 km," Pogachar said of his natural instinct.

"But the radio told me to follow Jonas. But a sensible race would be to go faster, but I was struggling all the way to the finish line."

"I was in a lot of pain.

"I don't regret going at that moment. If I had gone earlier, I would have exploded on the flat. It was a good day and I tried to feel the race. At the end you need to have the guts to attack.

"Plans A, B, C, D, E, F...... Or the whole alphabet. Even if you have a plan, you never know what will happen. Racing is really hard

"Yesterday I had a plan, but it completely failed. Today, Jumbo did not fail to have a plan, but they tried it and did not succeed. There are a lot of situations that you have to think about. It is hard to predict if it will work or not. That's cycling."