Ireland’s Ben Healy takes maiden Tour de France stage win with sensational solo ride

The EF Education-EasyPost rider escaped from a high-quality, eight-man breakaway to earn the biggest win of his career

Ireland's Ben Healy soloed to victory on stage six of the Tour de France as Mathieu van der Poel took the yellow jersey back from Tadej Pogacar by a single second.

Healy went alone from an eight-strong breakaway group with 42km left of the deceptively difficult 201.5km stage from Bayeux to Vire Normandie, claiming his first career Tour stage win and Ireland's first since Sam Bennett enjoyed two in 2020.

The 24-year-old, born and raised near Birmingham, quickly built a lead over his former companions, and a counterattack from American pair Quinn Simmonds and Michael Storer failed to make significant inroads before they drifted back, with Healy ultimately winning by two minutes 44 seconds from Simmonds.

It is the biggest win of his career to date, eclipsing his breakaway win on stage eight of the 2023 Giro d'Italia into Fossombrone.

“It's just unbelievable really,” the EF Education-EasyPost rider said. “It's what I've worked for not just this year but the whole time really, it's really incredible, hours and hours of hard work from so many people and to pay them back today is really amazing.

Ben Healy celebrates winning stage six of the Tour de France (AP)

“This was a stage I had circled in the book from the start and to do it in the first one is amazing.”

Van der Poel had also been part of the breakaway, finishing eighth on the day, just shy of four minutes behind Healy.

At one point the Dutchman enjoyed a virtual lead in yellow of around three minutes over Pogacar, but that was reduced to a single second by the end of the day as the world champion marked moves from Jonas Vingegaard's Visma-Lease a Bike squad on the approach to the finish, then sprinting to the line.

Though he lost the yellow jersey he took from Van der Poel in Wednesday's time trial, Pogacar will be more concerned with the gaps to his main rivals over the full three weeks, and he remains 42 seconds clear of Remco Evenepoel and one minute 13 ahead of Vingegaard.

Van der Poel will be back in yellow on stage seven (AFP via Getty Images)

“Visma went hard so we just followed,” Pogacar said. “The first two hours were super hard, incredibly fast and then we were deciding if we go for the stage or not, and we decided not to spend the bullets so we rode our pace.

“Nils [Politt] did an incredible job, then Marc [Soler] and the rest of the team. Visma on the last two kickers were just riding all out.

“Maybe they had info that Van der Poel was suffering in the front, losing time, and maybe they wanted to give me yellow, but I think Mathieu has it for one second so chapeau to him. It was a super ride from him today.”

Healy, a known breakaway specialist, had been in virtually every attempt to go clear. Giro d'Italia winner Simon Yates and Eddie Dunbar were also in the group that eventually made it, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.