EF Education-EasyPost put up a brave fight during the epic sixth stage of the Tour de France in the Pyrenees.

Sean Quinn started the day in second on the general classification and the whole squad rallied around the Californian to give him a shot at racing into the yellow jersey. With the Côte de Loucroup and Côte de Mauvezin on course before the mythical ascents of the Col d'Aspin and Col du Tourmalet, which lead to the summit finish in Gavarnie-Gèdre, it was always going to be a race against the odds, but any chance of going into yellow is worth a best shot and that's what our squad gave.

After a big effort from his teammates to keep him out of the wind and doused with ice and water, Sean managed to hang with the front group most of the way up the Col d'Aspin before he faltered. After he lost the wheel, Sean kept a cool head, found a good group, and held his pace. He pushed all the way to the line, fighting over the Tourmalet and all the way up to Gavarnie-Gèdre, but had lost too much time by the line. The experience has left him eager for more.

Alex Baudin is also raring to race after his time in the polka dot jersey. On the Col d'Aspin, the Frenchman had to accept that discretion is the better part of valor; he wasn't going to be able to go toe to toe with the GC favorites over hors-catégorie cols, so it was better to save his strength for the chances ahead. He soaked in all the cheers from the new fans he's made during his time in the King of the Mountains jersey and is now looking forward to the next climbing stages.

So is Richard Carapaz. After he lost the GC favorites' group, Richie rode a steady pace to the finish. His big goal is a stage win.

"The plan this morning was: race for Richie as normal, but I was also going to give my best effort to see if I could take yellow. But I had a shocker of a day, just a terrible day. I fought till the end, but I was absolutely hemorrhaging time. So, disappointed, but I just didn't have the legs, so I'll accept it.

"The boys got me so much water, so much ice, so I don't think the heat was it. Maybe it was more the knock-on effect of being six days into a bike race. Honestly, I just had sore legs.

"It is what it is. I tried, and I can be proud of the effort, even though I'm not proud of the result. Pogačar's a good bike rider, so I'll take the L." – Sean Quinn

"It was actually alright, but oh man, I was suffering. This is a brutal sport. We tried." – Michael Valgren

"It was very tough. I didn't have very good legs. I still tried to get into the breakaway, but there wasn't one, so I can't say I missed it. After that, I realized that I didn't have the legs to hang on, so I preferred to save a bit of energy because it's still a long way – there are more than two weeks left. I lost the jersey, but I expected that a little bit in the end. Seeing what UAE did today, there was nothing to be done.

"They locked everything down, so no breakaway could get away. When I tried to go again on the second GPM, I quickly realized that it wasn't going to work and they weren't letting anyone go, so there you go. It is fine. I didn't have the legs to defend today, so I did my best. It's just how it is. The priority remains to go win a stage." – Alex Baudin

"Today was pretty tough. It was very hot. We tried to do the best possible. When I lost the wheel, I knew there was still a long way to go. It wasn't worth burning myself out. I tried to continue at my own pace and ended up meeting up with several groups and made it to the finish. There's still a lot of time left, a lot of mountains left, many days left to race. We have to stay focused on the objective." – Richard Carapaz

"We saw pretty quickly it was going to be a hard stage. UAE were interested even before Lourdes – we saw they wanted a race of attrition, which always makes it difficult to get a lot out of the day. There was still motivation with Richie, to see how far he could go, also bearing in mind what's coming – there's still a lot of racing to do. Then Sean had to do his best ride over the Tourmalet and see what the time gap was at the end. He kept pushing all the way to the line. Obviously there was that misfortune for the yellow jersey. Sean was behind him at that point, so there wasn't much left on the table. But the boys got through it really well. It's been a really difficult start to the race, and there are plenty more days to come." – Tom Southam, sports director

Alex Baudin might have lost his King of the Mountains jersey, but Sean Quinn made up for it with the KOM on the Col d'Aspin descent. Sean averaged over 65 kph down the switchbacks after the summit, hitting a top speed of 85 kph on the 10-kilometer downhill.

Didi the Devil is a Tour de France legend. For over 30 years, he's been coming to the Tour in his red devil costume to cheer on the racers. Our mission for today was to find him. Driving up the lower slopes of the Tourmalet, we started to see his tridents painted on the road. And then he jumped out with a giant smile. Meet Didi on the next episode of RaceTV.

Dinner for the squad tonight is slow-cooked Moroccan lamb. We'll let you guess which team our English chefs are cheering for during tonight's big World Cup match. Packed with protein, it will help our riders repair their muscles after today's efforts. Owen and Chris served their lamb with homemade sourdough flatbreads and dollops of tzatziki to add healthy carbs and extra protein.

Ingredients

For the lamb:

Lamb shoulder

Ras el hanout

Optional: lemon juice, cumin, paprika

For the gremolata:

Parsley and mint, chopped

Lemon juice and zest, plenty

1 garlic clove, minced

Olive oil, a touch

Sea salt, to taste

To serve:

Flatbreads

Tzatziki

Method

Rub ras el hanout into every crevice of the lamb shoulder. Add lemon juice, cumin, or paprika if you want extra spice.

Marinate overnight.

Cook in the slow cooker on low all day, until tender.

Pull the lamb apart.

Mix the gremolata: combine parsley, mint, lemon juice and zest, garlic, olive oil, and sea salt. Adjust to taste.

Spoon gremolata over the pulled lamb. Serve with warm flatbreads and tzatziki.

The Tour de France's climbs are categorized by difficulty, with greater numbers of points for the King of the Mountains competition rewarded to the riders who first cross the summits of the hardest climbs. The original method the race organizers used to determine whether a climb was fourth, third, second, or first category – in ascending order of difficulty — was very simple. They drove a car up them: if they could manage in fourth gear, the climb was fourth category; if they needed third, it was third; second, second; and first, first. Some climbs, like the Tourmalet or Galibier, were so steep and hard that the car stalled and the race organizers had to get out to push. These climbs were classified hors-catégorie – beyond categorization. Today, the system is more arbitrary, but the old categories have stuck. Don't tell our riders, but every climb is a breeze for our sports directors in their Cadillac Lyriq pilot's seats.