Ben Healy on Irish Tour history: 'This yellow jersey is unbelievable.'
Simon Yates took a third career stage win in the Tour, only a few weeks after his unexpected success in the Giro d'Italia, dropping the last of his breakaway companions on the uphill finish to Puy de Sancy, while Ireland's Ben Healy claimed the first yellow jersey of his career.
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Ireland's Ben Healy takes Yellow Jersey in Tour de France
Healy, stage winner in Vire, had started the day almost four minutes behind the race leader, Pogacar, but as the defending champion and Vingegaard rode steadily to the finish line, the 24-year-old leapfrogged the Slovenian in the standings and became the first Irishman to wear the yellow jersey since Stephen Roche in 1987.
'It was such a tough stage today and I'm really tired, so I think this is only going to sink in tomorrow,' he said. 'I gave everything in the last 40 kilometres to give myself the best possible chance of taking the yellow jersey.'
Healy's success was wholly deserved after he and his team had forced the pace to ensure the day's breakaway stayed clear to contest the finish, with the main peloton, containing Pogacar, almost six minutes distant.
'This is more for the team,' Healy said. 'They had to work hard today to put me in this position. Winning a stage was the first dream, but don't get me wrong, this yellow jersey is unbelievable.'
Yates, winner of two stages in 2019, attacked at the foot of the final climb to Puy de Sancy, with only the Australian rider Ben O'Connor able to follow. As O'Connor faded, he was pursued into the final kilometre by Thymen Arensman of Ineos Grenadiers, but the Dutchman was unable to close the gap.
As the race began in Lille, Yates had admitted needing to 'blow out the cobwebs' after his Giro win, but added that it had been a bigger challenge to reboot his motivation.
'It was a tough start for me,' he said of the Tour's Grand Départ, 'and not my forte. I was still quite tired after the Giro. Mentally, that was the hardest part.'
Yates was among those in the day's breakaway who had admired Healy's unrelenting efforts to keep the pace high. 'It's really impressive how strong he is. It's not the first day I have felt his strength. I was also in the breakaway a few days ago when he won the stage and I was quite blown away with how much time he took.'
The still air of the Auvergne was thick with the smell of roadside barbecues as the peloton tackled a sawtooth profile from Ennezat to Le Puy Sancy. But despite the Bastille Day celebrations there were mixed fortunes for the home nation with Kévin Vauquelin, third overall before the first real climbs, losing ground in the classification and dropping to sixth place.
Meanwhile Lenny Martinez, whose grandfather Mariano Martinez won on the Bastille Day stage to Morzine in 1980, was the agent provocateur on the day's eight climbs. Martinez's accelerations on each ascent gradually reduced the initial break of 29 down to a final group of five and he was rewarded with the King of the Mountains jersey.
As the stage entered the final 10km, a select group that included Healy, Yates and Martinez moved clear. While Yates rode to victory, the limpet-like Healy clung on to ensure he retained his time advantage over Pogacar.
Healy gets a well-earned rest day in Toulouse on Tuesday as his EF Education-Easy Post team now look ahead to defending the race lead into the Pyrenees.
Besides Roche, the other two Irishmen to hold yellow are Shay Elliot and Sean Kelly.
Kelly told TNT Sports: "What a performance by Ben Healy. This is the performance of his life. We've seen him do magnificent things before but today was another step up."
Former Irish road racer Dan Martin, who won Tour de France stages in 2013 and 2018, added: 'I went to see him after he won the stage and he was speechless. I'm excited for the country, for Ben, for the team."
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