Who is Ben Healy, Irish cyclist and new Tour de France leader –
Stage 10 at Tour de France, the hardest one so far, with eight peaks to climb before climbing the Le Mont-Dore and 4,461 meters of slope, has been conquered by Simon Yates, the British cyclist and most recent champion of the Giro d’Italia, finishing the race in 4 hours 20 minutes 5 seconds.
However, the big winner today was Ben Healy, an Irish cyclist on the American team EF Education-EasyPost, who secured the yellow jersey as new Tour de France leader by finishing in third place, 31 seconds behind Yates. He surpassed Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, who finished ninth and tenth, 4 minutes 51 seconds behind Yates.
While Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard are still considered favourites for the Tour de France, Healy leads the general classification with 37 hours, 41 minutes and 49 seconds. Pogacar, last year’s winner, is second 29 seconds behind, followed by Remco Evenepoel (1 minute 29 seconds behind) and Vingegaard, the Danish cyclist from Team Visma (1 minute 46 seconds behind).
Healy leading comes after his maiden Tour de France win on Stage 6, thanks to a solo attack in another hilly stage, between Bayeux and Vire Normandie. The 24-year-old, born and raised in Wordsley, England, but naturalized as an Irishman due to his father’s nationality, also won one stage at Giro d’Italia 2023, but wasn’t in anyone’s prediction as a Tour de France leader this year.
All cyclist will have one day of rest now, just after Bastille Day, so he will sleep one more day with the yellow jersey before Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel attempt to take it back in Toulouse on Wednesday…
