Tour de France Stage Six: Ireland’s Ben Healy takes Solo Win

Tour de France Stage Six: Ireland’s Ben Healy takes Solo Win

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Beny’s Ben Healy won phase six of the Tour de France in Normandy on Friday morning AEST with a long solo break, while Mathieu van der Poel houses the yellow jersey of the general leader with one second back.
Van der Poel was invoiced at the start of the Tour as a potential winner of phase seven to Mur de Bretagne, where he first took the yellow in 2021.
“It would be a great final for a great week,” said an exhausted Van der Poel.
“If I get the victory or not, it is great to wear the yellow sweater again.”

The Belgian Evenpoel is third in one minute at 49 seconds with Kevin Vauquelin in France. Jonas Vingegaard is fifth at a minute 14 seconds.

Healy, 24, became the first Irish stage winner since Sprinter Sam Bennett won on the Champs Elysees in 2020.
“That was so nice, and when we all got away, I discussed it with the team car and we chose that unlikely place to attack,” said Healy.

“I am very proud to present Ireland, I am from an Irish family and although I was born there, it was an option that I chose as a younger one.”

Phase six was intense from the off a series of hills between Bayeux and Vire when the temperatures above 26.5 Celsius rose, with the peloton the hammer dropped at average during the first three hours at an average of 47 kilometers per hour.
Healy and Van der Poel were part of an escape in the mid-race of nine people who set a ruthless pace.
Healy broke solo knowing that when he waited for the hilly final, he had little chance of beating the proven experts in the escape.
He suddenly made his movement on a flat part, 32 kilometers away. While he pulled and accelerated to the left, the eight others went off as the distance grew.

For Pogacar, allowing the Dutch powerhouse in the escape meant that he lost the overall lead.

Once Healy was broken, Van der Poel even sat up straight, which saved energy, possibly before the run -up the Mur de Bretagne – scene of his 2020 triumph to grab the tour leader he saved for eight days.

Behind him, Pogacar and arch -rival Jonas Vingegaard fought against the last slope of 10 percent, but Van der Poel regained the lead with the narrowest margin.

‘Vauquelin-Mania’

After a whole day of effort, the American champion Quinn Simmons became in second place and Michael Storer put Team Tudor on the Tour stage for the first time in the third time.
The day started in Bayeux, known for its carpet of the 1066 Norman Conquest of England, but also the birthplace of the budding French star Kevin Vauquelin.

The Arkea Rider, 24, was toast in the city when he left in third position on the Tour, only 59 seconds of Pogacar and finished in fourth place in a minute.

Prior to the stage, he greeted “the roads where I grew up and learned to love the hills”.
At the finish he spoke about “Goose Bumps” while the fans encourage him, where local media spoke about “Vauquelin-Mania”.
After six days of racing in northern France, the Tour goes to the west with a 197 kilometer run from Saint Malo over Rolling Hills in Britany, ending on top of the steep climb called the Mur-de-Bretagne.

The place to view the 2025 Tour de France – live, free and exclusive – plus the fourth edition of the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift is here on the SBS On Demand Hub.

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