Irish rider Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) caused a major surprise in a very eventful Tour de France, and after being part of the main breakaway in the tenth stage between Ennezat and Le Mont-Dore (Puy de Sancy) over 165.3 kilometers, he became the new leader on France’s national day, which commemorates the storming of the Bastille in 1789.
The stage was won by British cyclist Simon Yates (Team Visma - Lease a Bike), who broke away from the leading group in the last kilometers with a mountain finish in the French Central Massif.
How did Healy manage to become the new leader of the Tour?
Without a doubt, this stage had several protagonists and two winners. Because Simon Yates, in a 2025 where he was the leader of his team for the Giro d’Italia and managed to conquer the Corsa Rosa, celebrated a stage victory of great value in the Tour de France (his third victory in the “Grande Boucle”).
Ben Healy, for his part, did what he had to do and gave it his all to don the yellow jersey as the leader of the Tour de France, even if only for a few days.
July 14 is a major holiday for the French, and there was no French rider capable of bringing joy to their compatriots. However, there was still a celebration with a very bold and talented escape, as besides Simon Yates, there were cyclists such as Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers), Ben O’Connor (Team Jayco AlUla), Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), and Anders Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility).
Healy knew he was going for the yellow jersey or the stage win. He chose the latter, sacrificed himself, and achieved it with great determination in the Central Massif with four categorized climbs, and many tough ascents not counted for the mountain jersey competition. Even though this took him out of the equation for the stage win, it unexpectedly gave him the leadership for the EF Education-EasyPost team.
Back in the favorites group, while Yates was escaping and Healy was struggling, the Visma team was trying things out until Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) delivered two strong blows that only the leader of the Dutch team, the Dane Jonas Vingegaard, could follow. He latched onto the Slovenian’s wheel and did not let go.
So Pogacar crossed the finish line at Puy de Sancy feeling upset, on one hand for losing (or rather, conceding) the yellow jersey before the well-deserved first rest day, and on the other hand for not being able to gain more advantage over Vingegaard in their personal battle.
In the finish line, suffocated but anxious to know when the current Tour de France champion would arrive, Ben Healy was waiting, who pushed himself to the limit in the breakaway to secure the yellow jersey. Now the Irishman is leading with a 29-second advantage over Pogacar, even though he started the stage eleventh, 3:55 behind the Slovenian.
The biggest loser of the day was Frenchman Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea B&B Hotels), who lost 46 seconds in relation to Pogacar and Vingegaard, dropping from third to sixth place in the general classification.