The defending champion conquers the steep Mur-de-Bretagne climb and holds a 54-second lead as the overwhelming favorite to win a fourth Tour title.

Pogačar is the overwhelming favorite to win a fourth Tour title and has been the best rider since the start of the Tour last weekend.

Happy anniversary to the King of the Mountains: Since 1975, the winner of the mountains classification has donned the polka dot jersey, white with red spots in an effort by sponsor Chocolat Poulain to make it stand out from the rest of the peloton as much as possible.

Instead, it was his Classics rival Pogacar who distanced him, with team UAE Emirates-XRG setting an infernal pace up the final slope to whittle the field down to a select group of climbers, including Remco Evenepoel, local boy Kevin Vauquelin, and Briton Oscar Onley, who ultimately finished third.

After a long solo breakaway on Thursday, Irish rider Ben Healy won a hilly sixth stage of the Tour de France and Mathieu van der Poel took the yellow jersey from defending champion Tadej Pogačar by one second.

Record points classification winner says Jonathan Milan is the other main challenger but 'there's still a long way to go'

A three-week Grand Tour will always contain natural ebbs and flows, and, for much of Monday’s stage between Valenciennes and Dunkirk, it looked as if the peloton had declared an unofficial rest day, with the riders happy to cruise back towards the coast after a weekend of wind, rain and intensity.

The first stage of the Tour de France is completed! The 184 riders started in Lille, where the first leader's jersey was awarded. In three weeks, we will know who will take home the yellow jersey, as well as the green,