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Ireland’s Ben Healy won stage six of the Tour de France in Normandy on Friday morning AEST with a long solo break, as Mathieu van der Poel reclaimed the overall leader’s yellow jersey by one second.
Van der Poel was billed at the start of the tour as a potential winner of stage seven to Mur de Bretagne, where he first took the yellow in 2021.
“It would be a great finale to a great week,” said an exhausted Van der Poel.
“If I get the win or not, it’ll be great anyway just to wear the yellow jersey again.”
Belgian Evenepoel is third at 49 seconds with France’s Kevin Vauquelin fourth at one minute. Jonas Vingegaard is fifth at one 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 enjoyable, and once we had all got away, I discussed it with the team car and we chose that unlikely place to attack,” said Healy.
“I’m very proud to be presenting Ireland, I’m from an Irish family and though I wasn’t born there it was an option I chose as a youngster.”
Stage six was intense from the off over a series of hills between Bayeux and Vire as temperatures rose above 26.5 Celsius with the peloton putting the hammer down at 47 kilometres per hour average over the first three hours.
Healy and Van der Poel were part of a nine-person mid-race escape who set a relentless pace.
Healy broke solo knowing that if he waited for the hilly finale, he had little chance of beating the proven experts in the breakaway.
He made his move suddenly on a flat section, 32 kilometres out. As he pulled to the left and accelerated, the eight others dithered as the distance widened.
For Pogacar, allowing the Dutch powerhouse to sneak into the escape meant he lost the overall lead.
Once Healy had broken away, even Van der Poel sat up, saving energy, possibly for the run up the Mur de Bretagne — scene of his 2020 triumph to seize the tour lead he kept for eight days.
Behind him Pogacar and arch-rival Jonas Vingegaard battled up the final 10 per cent slope, but van der Poel regained the lead by the narrowest margin.
‘Vauquelin-mania’
After an all-day effort, American champion Quinn Simmons came second, and Michael Storer put Team Tudor on the tour podium for the first time in third.
The day started at Bayeux, renowned for its tapestry of the 1066 Norman conquest of England, but also the birthplace of burgeoning French star Kevin Vauquelin.
The Arkea rider, 24, was toast of the town as he left in third position on the tour, just 59 seconds adrift of Pogacar and ended in fourth overall at one minute.
Ahead of the stage he hailed “the roads where I grew up and learned to love the hills”.
At the finish line, he spoke of “goose bumps” as the fans cheered him along, with local media speaking of “Vauquelin-mania”.
After six days of racing in the north of France, the tour heads west with a 197 kilometre run from Saint Malo over rolling hills in Britany, finishing atop the steep climb called the Mur-de-Bretagne.
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