Ben Healy's Tour de France has been very difficult so far, but now he is racing into the Massif Central where he took the yellow jersey last year (Photo: Thomas Maheux)
The Tour de France today, Tuesday, goes back into the Massif Central, Ben Healy country. The Irish rider went on the attack last year - a Massif attack - in the same mountain range on stage 8, taking the yellow jersey.
Healy has had a tricky season so far this year, with injury and some illness - and his difficult run has continued at this Tour. Still, that phase of the racing where he is expected to do well has now arrived, and he says he is determined to make an impact.
Healy has been jumping around, especially early in the stages, on recent days at the Tour. And he still has his pre-race goal in mind; to get in the breakaways and do damage that way.
"Our goal is just that every breakaway that makes it to the line, we've got to be represented, and we managed to do that (on Sunday)," he said of him and his team mates going on the attack.
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His French EF Education-EasyPost team mate, Alex Baudin, made it all the win to the line in the front group and finished 4th.
"I think we can be happy. It's a tough job to always be in it," he said of Sunday's stage to Ussel, won by Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) before yesterday's rest day.
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"It was just crazy, to be honest – when you see a peloton as small as it was over some of those climbs, you know it was full gas.
"The start was super hot, full gas from kilometre zero, and then sprinting over those climbs trying to get into the breakaway. It was a proper attritional day."
Today's stage is 166km from Aurillac to Le Lioran and though there are none of the most iconic mountains of the Tour on the route, there are seven categorised climbs, including two cat 1s, on a day with almost 4,000m of climbing.
Healy is currently placed 106th overall, some 1hr 42mins down on yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). This time last year Healy was leading the race.
However, that unflattering general classification comparison will count for nothing if Healy's form can now click into place on this Tour and he can get up the road and take a stage win.
His team mate, Richard Carapaz, has also seen his general classification ambitions lost in the first half of the race, as he is back in 23rd, more than 15 minutes down.
And that means Healy will not be hampered by having to hold back in any way to defend a team GC position.
