Ben Healy escaped to victory on a breakaway day on stage six of the Tour de France on Thursday, as Mathieu van der Poel reclaimed yellow.
EF Education-EasyPost’s Healy attacked with around 41km to go from an eight-man breakaway and was never seen again, building up a handsome advantage by the finish in Vire-Normandie.
It was a two-up sprint for second, with Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) besting Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling), after they attacked their breakaway companions around 30km from the finish.
Meanwhile, Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Van der Poel, 1:28 behind race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at the start of the day, successfully infiltrated the break and took the yellow jersey he gave up on Wednesday. However, an increase in pace in the peloton in the closing kilometres made it a very close affair, with Van der Poel now leading by just a second.
The day had the profile of an Ardennes Classic, the perfect stage for Healy to create his masterpiece, with the Irishman attacking from the beginning until his crucial move an hour from the finish.
“It’s unbelievable, it’s what I’ve worked all for,” Healy said post-stage. “Not just this year, the whole time. It’s incredible, and hours and hours of hard work. So many people. It’s really amazing.
“Last year was a real eye opener and really made me believe I could do it, so I knuckled down and did the hard work. I tried to refine my racing style as well, I watched a lot of race footage, and it really paid off today.”
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“I switched on from the start, and maybe I spent a bit too much trying to get into the break, but once I was in there we really had to work for that gap, and it was on the pedals all day,” he continued. “I knew I needed to get away from the group, and I had to pick my moment. I timed it well, and caught them by surprise a little bit. I knew what I had to do, head down and do my best ride to the finish.
“This was a stage I circled on the book from the start. “I grew up watching the Tour, one day wishing I could be here. To even be here is an achievement.”
How it happened
A potentially tense day across Normandy began from Bayeux in the blazing sun on Thursday afternoon. With 2,978 metres of climbing across 201.5km, and six classified climbs, it was a day to watch out for for the GC riders, and many riders hopeful of victory, possibly from a breakaway.
The first 20km were not raced at breakneck speed, with some kind of truce on the table until the intermediate sprint, with no attempts at a breakaway. Intermarché-Wanty and Lidl-Trek traded turns at the front of the peloton attempting to line things up for their sprinters, Bimiam Girmay and Jonathan Milan, respectively.
It was Milan who won the intermediate sprint at Villers-Bocage with 180km to go, taking virtual control of the green jersey competition, with Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Girmay in third.
Once the intermediate sprint was done with, attacks began. The first to attempt to escape were Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek). Almost immediately, the sprinters were dropped from the peloton.
Healy and Simmons’ initial attack, as well as other early surges, came to little, although Simmons took the maximum points at the third-category Côte du Mont Pinçon
The next attack came from Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Pablo Castrillo (Movistar). The pair were caught after 14km.
On the Côte de la Rançonnière, a category three climb, a brief split in the peloton would have worried some of the GC riders momentarily caught out, including Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), but things came back together. Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) took the points over the top, meaning he was back in control of the virtual KOM competition.
With 144km to go, Healy attacked again, followed by Simmons, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Will Barta (Movistar) and Harold Tejada (XDS Astana). The break was kept on a short leash by the peloton for the next 10km, allowing Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla) to jump across, and then Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling).
It wasn’t until 109km to go that things settled down in the reduced peloton, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG coming to the front through Nils Politt, and a break given over half a minute.
The peace didn’t last for long, however, with attacks going off the front of the peloton once again, including Mathieu Burgadeau (TotalEnergies). This was quickly shut down, and the race quietened down.
Over the next 50km, the break’s lead grew to three minutes. At the Côte de Mortain, Dunbar was first to the top, taking the maximum points. On the Côte de Juvigny-le-Tertre, Storer took the maximum points.
It was just after this climb, with 41km to go, that the first attack came from the break, with Healy clipping off the front of the eight-man escape, building up a lead of 10 seconds. The Irishman forged on alone. As he went under the 30km to go banner, Healy had built up a lead of 50 seconds. The attackers had well over four minutes on the peloton at this point.
Behind Healy, Simmons attacked on the Côte de Saint-Michel de-Montjoie, followed by Storer. The pair built up an advantage of 20 seconds on the five left behind, but were still 50 seconds short of Healy out front. Healy was first to the top of the climb.
Under the 10km to go banner, and Healy was still away alone, with 1:51 on Simmons and Storer, and 2:19 on the others of the break. The peloton, meanwhile, was almost seven minutes behind. At this point, the result looked like a fait accompli.
In the peloton, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) suffered a late mechanical, losing around half a minute to the top GC contenders.
While all attention was on the finale, the Visma-Lease a Bike-led peloton had clearly accelerated, coming into Vire Normandie at pace. The Dutch team were looking to put race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) under pressure, but the Slovenian was equal to it, leading the group of favourites across the line.
