Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) has taken the biggest win of his career on today's 6 of the Tour de France with an epic ride that made his fellow breakaway men look very ordinary on the 201.5km road to Vire Normandie.
The Irish rider, who already has a Giro d'Italia stage win in his palmares, made an all-star breakaway today that included compatriot Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco AlUla) and Tour 2025 stage winner and yellow jersey Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
He attack the breakaway almost 50km from the finish and storm home to win solo by more almost three minutes over the nearest chasers; Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) and US champion Quinn Simmons (Lidl Trek).
Dunbar was among the next clutch of chasers - all of whom had been in the breakaway for the day - finished in 4th place, on debut at the Tour de France, some 3:21 down on Healy. Giro d'Italia winner Simon Yates (Visma Lease a Bike) was next, in 5th at 3:24.
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"It's just unbelievable, it's what I've worked all for; not just this year, but the whole time," said a delighted and emotional Healy after the stage. "It's really incredible, and hours and hours of hard work from so many people, so to pay them back today is really, really amazing.
"Last year was a real eye-opener and really made me believe that I could do it. I just knuckled down and did the hard work and tried to refine my racing style as well, lots of racing footage watched and it really paid off today I think."
How Healy won on Tour
Today's 201.5km stage six took the riders from Bayeux to Vire Normandie and involved 2,980m of climbing, with six short climbs: Côte du Mont Pinçon, Côte de la Rançonnière, Côte de Mortain Cote, Côte de Juvigny-le-Tertre, Côte de Saint-Michel de-Montjoie and Côte de Vaudry.
Healy was jumping around from the start of the stage, making a number of efforts - including accompanied by Simmons - long before the winning breakaway formed about one hour into the action.
Indeed, Healy was so up for it today he even took 10 points, for 6th, in the intermediate sprint after 22km, with him and Simmons opening a gap soon after. They led onot the category three Côte du Mont-Pinçon, at 35km, but were caught by the top.
However, just after the Côte de la Rançonnière, with 56km completed, van der Poel attacked and was joined by Healy, Simmons, Will Barta (Movistar) and Harold Tejada (XDS Astana).
As they of about 30 seconds, Dunbar jumped across on his own, followed by Yates, who was with Storer, catching the leaders with 70km completed.
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By that point of the race, a group that had been dropped on the second climb was eight minutes behind, such was the intensity of the first 90 minutes of racing. And though many other riders then tried to get across to the leaders, none managed to make contact and the breakaway had one minute with 100km and just over 100km to go.
Another 20km down the road and the breakaway had two minutes as the UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad of race leader Tadej Pogačar were riding on the front of the bunch.
In the breakaway, Dunbar took the maximum two points on the Côte de Mortain Cote 314 with 60km to go and as the gap reached three minutes. On the Côte de Juvigny-le-Tertre, with 48km to go, Storer challenged Dunbar for the points, with the Australian taking two points and the Irishman one.
But not long after that, Healy attack on a narrow road, going up the inside of the group, from the back, like a rocket and immediately getting a gap. Dunbar was one of the riders to respond. But Healy went with such violence, which he sustained, it would have taken a huge, ambition-ending, effort to catch him.
And that was that; Healy riding for the remainder of the stage on his own and simply churning out so much power the others could not get close. Though Storer and Simmons got away from the breakaway and went off in pursuit of Healy, he kept them at one minute for a long time. He then just began taking time as fatigue set in for everyone apart, it seemed, from Healy.
He led solo over the Côte de Saint-Michel de-Montjoie and had almost 50 seconds on the chasers with 30km to go. Though there was still a very long way to go, it always look like Healy was destined to win.
By the time Healy crested the Côte de Saint-Michel de-Montjoie, with 28km to go, he had 50 seconds on Storer and Simmons and 1:10 on the remains of the breakaway, including Van der Poel and Dunbar. The peloton was a whopping six minutes behind Healy, who had started the day in 33rd at 7:37.
Healy had grown his advantage over Simmons and Storer to 1:50 by the time he raced through the 10km to go marker and by the finish it was 2:44.
As well as claiming an epic win, and Dunbar taking 4th, Healy moves up 8th overall, some 2:01 behind race leader van der Poel, who took the yellow jersey from Pogačar by a single second today. Dunbar has moved up 17 places to 29th, at 8:41.
Healy is also now 3rd overall in the young rider classification, some 1:18 down on Remco Evenepoel (Soudal QuickStep). In the mountains classification, Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) still leads on seven points, with Healy 3rd on four points and Dunbar 4th on three points.
