As it happened: A big mountain day on Volta a Catalunya stage 6

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 6!

Plenty of climbing on the menu today as the riders face the final mountain stage of the week-long race.

Tadej Pogačar is very comfortable in the race lead. Will he face any major challenges from the likes of Mikel Landa and Aleksandr Vlasov today?

He currently lies 2:27 up on Landa and 2:55 up on Vlasov.

A look at the stage 5 results and major classification standings ahead of today's race...

Axel Laurance took the first WorldTour win of his career from a reduced bunch sprint on stage 5 in Viladecans.

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Marijn van den Berg second, Bryan Coquard third in Viladecans

There are 4,100 metres of elevation gain on today's challenging stage, which gets underway shortly.

The peloton is rolling out to start the neutral zone now.

155km to go

Now the flag has dropped and stage 6 is underway!

Early attackers include Bauke Mollema and Hugh Carthy.

The pair have a small advantage at this early stage.

147km to go

The two riders have around 15 seconds on the peloton currently. 

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The riders will soon be climbing already on the way to the first intermediate sprint and then the day's first climb of the third-category Coll de la Bataillola.

Mollema and Carthy now have 40 seconds.

A few kilometres from the early intermediate sprint now.

137km to go

The leaders pass through the sprint a minute up on the peloton.

Mollema and Carthy are onto the Coll de la Bataillola (11.6km at 3.2%) now.

They continue with just over a minute on the peloton.

The two leaders.

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1:25 for the two leaders now.

They're already over the top of the climb and onto the descent.

116km to go

No other riders have tried to get across to Mollema and Carthy as of yet.

Carthy led the way over the top of the climb for three points while Mollema was second with two.

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110km to go

Still no movement in the race as the breakaway riders continue with a two-minute advantage.

UAE working up front in the peloton with QuickStep and Movistar behind.

The leaders coming up to the second-category Collet de Cal Ros (10km at 4.2%) next.

38km done in the first hour of the stage.

100km to go

The leaders coming towards the top of the Collet de Cal Ros now.

The gap has come down to around 1:35 on the climb.

Taking on the long descent now.

Next up is the hardest climb of the day, the Coll de Pradell (15km at 6.5% with a final 5km at 11%).

Read more about the climb, and a Sepp Kuss cake from the start, in our preview/analysis from our man on the ground Alasdair Fotheringham here...

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Kevin Ledanois (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) is the latest rider to abandon the race.

Two climbs down, three to go.

Carthy led the way over the top of the Cal Ros for another five KOM points.

Mollema and Carthy on the move.

79km to go

The riders are down on the valley roads now.

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The gap to the lead duo is only coming down now as the climb approaches.

Just over 10 seconds left now as the climb begins.

Andrey Amador, Ide Schelling, Marijn van den Berg, and Martijn Tusveld have all abandoned the race.

Carthy pushes on alone at the front of the race.

72km to go

Carthy now caught as Visma lead the way in the peloton.

The breakaway duo passing some spectators before they were caught.

Visma lead with UAE also up there at the front.

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Into the final 10km of the climb, though it's the final 5.5km which are the toughest.

Ineos now moving to the front.

A Visma soigneur accidentally takes out a trio of riders from Uno-X, Kern Pharma and Lotto after he didn't get out of the way after handing over a bidon.

Meanwhile the TV moto at the rear of the peloton just showed Robert Gesink punching Jorge Gutierrez (Kern Pharma) in the hip.

66km to go

6km to the top and it's about to get hard.

An 11% average gradient to the top of the mountain now.

Esteban Chaves makes a move at the front of the peloton.

3km to the top now and Chaves has been caught.

It's still Visma and UAE leading at the front.

No further attacks on the harsh double-digit gradients.

62km to go

Around 20-25 riders left at the front now.

Sepp Kuss among the riders dropping off the rear of the group.

Marc Soler and Tadej Pogačar on the front now.

Mikel Landa, Enric Mas, Ivan Sosa next in line.

1.5km to the top. Still around 20 in the group.

And now Pogačar heads to the front.

George Bennett (Israel-Premier Tech) stops from the lead group with a stuck chain.

The leaders ride into the final 500 metres of the mountain.

Pogačar has Soler and João Almeida with him in the group.

60km to go

Over the top now as Almeida battles to stay in the group.

No Visma riders in the lead group.

Here's the makeup of the group at the moment...

Tadej Pogačar, Marc Soler, João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), Enric Mas, Einer Rubio, Iván Sosa (Movistar), Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep), Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla), Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious)

55km to go

Pogačar leads the way on the descent.

It's a long descent with a small hill on the way down, too.

A group containing Kuss and Uijtdebroeks is reportedly around 20 seconds down on the lead group.

Kuss and Uijtdebroeks have Steven Kruijswijk, Wout Poels, Stephen Williams, George Bennett in there with them.

Actually the chasers are a minute down...

Geraint Thomas also in the chase group.

UAE working at the front with Soler and Almeida.

46km to go

The gap to the chase group hangs at around the minute mark.

Uijtdebroeks is working for Kuss in the chase and bringing the gap down a little. 45 seconds now.

39km to go

Williams also working in the chase. 35 seconds now.

More seconds come off the gap on the way down.

4km to go until the riders hit the start of the next climb.

A look at the leaders.

34km to go

The chase group has made it across to the leaders.

UAE continue to work at the front as the riders begin the next climb, the Collada de Sant Isidre.

UAE and Movistar push the pace on the way up and riders drop off the back straight away.

The climb is 5km long at an average of 8.4%.

Riders including Thomas, Johannessen, Kuss all struggling at the back.

30km to go

Now Pogačar makes a push at the front.

And again.

Landa and Tiberi go with him.

Tiberi drops away first.

And now Landa also drops.

Pogačar now solo at 29km to go and 2.5km to the top of the climb. 

Landa still second on the road.

Tiberi has Bernal, Mas, Vlasov, Martinez with him.

Harper and Almeida get across to the chase behind Landa.

Pogačar already has a minute on the third group.

26km to go

Pogačar leads it over the top of the climb.

Now onto the descent, still around a minute up on the third group.

Bernal has attacked from that group. Landa around 25 seconds down on Pogačar.

25 seconds between Landa and Bernal.

20km to go

It's still Pogačar, Landa, Bernal solo in the first three groupings on the road.

Bernal only 10 seconds ahead of the chase as Harper, Mas and Vlasov try a move behind.

15km to go

45 seconds from Pogačar to Landa.

The Spaniard has dropped back to Bernal now.

Pogačar only gaining time on the rest.

12km to go

He's taking on a small rise ahead of the final climb.

Pogačar on the attack solo.

Mas tried but hasn't been able to make it across to Landa and Bernal.

Vlasov and the rest almost two minutes down on Pogačar.

Mas 1:10 down.

Landa and Bernal at around 50 seconds.

8km to go

Closing in on the final climb now.

The climb to the finish is 6km at 7%.

Bernal is racing from ninth to potentially a final podium placing here.

Pogačar rolls through the intermediate sprint to take three bonus seconds.

5km to go

Pogačar on the climb now.

Landa and Bernal still around 20 seconds up on Mas.

Bernal needs 26 seconds on Mas to pass the Movistar man on the GC.

Pogačar riding smoothly up the climb on the way to another win.

Landa took two bonus seconds at the sprint while Bernal was third for one second.

The gaps remain largely the same. Around 50 seconds to Landa and Bernal. Another 20 or so to Mas.

2km to go

Pogačar now closing in on the finish.

No changes in the time gaps at the moment.

Today's stage winner after a 30km solo effort.

A minute to Landa and Bernal and now it appears that Mas is losing time.

Mas at 1:45 now.

The next group on the road coming back to Mas now.

1km to go

Pogačar racing towards the finish line.

The police motos are holding Pogačar up!

He tries to ride past and bangs on the motorbike with the policeman oblivious to what's going on.

Finish

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) wins stage 6 of the Volta a Catalunya!

Landa and Bernal now racing up in the final metres.

Bernal leads it out.

He takes second at 57 seconds down, just ahead of Landa.

Mas next on the road at 400 metres to go.

Harper attacking behind Mas.

Mas takes fourth at 2:15 down. Bernal has raced onto the overall podium!

More riders trickle home in small groups.

Kuss will be finishing almost four minutes down.

Pogačar now leads the race by 3:31 from Mikel Landa. Egan Bernal is at 4:53 down in third place.

Aleksandr Vlasov is fourth at 5:46 and Mas is fifth, level on time with Harper, at 5:51

Here's what Tadej Pogačar had to say after his win today...

"Today was a really hard stage. We stayed together until the climb [Collada de Sant Isidre], and Movistar tried to attack there, and I just launched it there. I saw some people follow, but I said, 'OK, we go to the top', and the rest is history, solo [in the descent].

"I took it with care and the final climb was really nice with all these people, but I was suffering a lot."

Another win for Tadej Pogačar this week.

Bernal and Landa come home for third and fourth.

And here's Mas leading the rest of the riders home some way back.

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More to celebrate for Tadej Pogačar as he picks up this strange trophy on the final podium.

We'll have news coming in from Pogačar, Egan Bernal, and Larry Warbasse today, so keep an eye out for that.

That's all from us on the live coverage today but be sure to check back tomorrow for more from the final stage in Barcelona as well as the cobbled Classics at Gent-Wevelgem!