photo credits @ Le Tour
Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) claimed a solo victory in stage 6 of the Tour de France today, making him the first Irish rider to win a stage in the French Grand Tour since Sam Bennett in 2020, while Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) wrestling back the leader’s yellow jersey from reigning champion Tadej Pogacar.
Meanwhile, American champion Quinn Simmons came second, with Michael Storer putting Team Tudor on the Tour podium for the first time in third.
Healy and Van der Poel were part of a nine-man breakaway group, before the EF Education-EasyPost rider went solo along the final ascent.
He made his move on a flat section, 32 kilometers out. As he pulled to the left and accelerated, the eight others dithered as the distance widened.
Once Healy had broken away, even Van der Poel sat up, saving energy, possibly for Thursday’s run the the Mur de Bretagne, the scene of his 2020 triumph to seize the Tour lead he kept for eight days.
Behind, Pogacar and arch-rival Jonas Vingegaard raced up the final 10%, but van der Poel regained the lead by the narrowest margin.
Race Highlights
The first 20km of today’s stage remained calm, with no attempts at a breakaway as 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 Healy and Simmons , but their attack cam e 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), but the duo was caught after 14km.
On the Côte de la Rançonnière, there was a brief split in the peloton, but things came back together, with Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) taking the points over the top, regaining control of the virtual KOM competition.
With 144km to go, Healy attacked again, followed by Simmons, Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Will Barta (Movistar) and Harold Tejada (XDS Astana). However. the escapees were 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.
However, the cease fire didn’t last for long, with attacks going off the front of the peloton once again, including Mathieu Burgadeau (TotalEnergies). But, once again the aggressions were quickly shut 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.
With 41km to go, Healy attacked out of the eight-man breakaway group, subsequently building up a lead of 10 seconds, later increasing his gap 50 seconds with 30km to go.
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 almost two minutes on Simmons and Store. In the meantime, the peloton was almost seven minutes behind.
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 was looking to put Pogacar under pressure, but the Slovenian held firm, leading the group of favorites across the line.
