The first brutal day of reckoning in the Hautes-Pyrénées has ended with Ben Healy losing his leader’s yellow jersey in the Tour de France by just over 13 minutes.
That outcome was decided long before the last suffocating climb on stage 12 to the ski resort on Hautacam, where the honours of the day were won by Tadej Pogacar in his typically obliterating solo style, the defending Tour champion from Slovenia regaining his race lead in the process.
Healy finished the day 13 minutes and 38 seconds behind Pogacar. The 181km from Auch to Hautacam, high above Lourdes, finished on the mountain which has a history of shaking up the Tour. No hiding, no bluffing, and no waiting around this time.
Healy was visibly suffering well in advance of all that on the Col du Soulor, the first big climb of the day with 56km to go. Despite support from his team EF Education–EasyPost, with Harry Sweeny doing his best to keep Healy in touch, the pace set by Visma-Lease a Bike split apart some of the main contenders, with the searing heat not helping matters.
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At the summit of the Col du Soulor, Pogacar had already regained that race lead, passing that point two and-a-half minutes ahead of Healy, and from there it was a case of damage limitation for the Irish rider.
The long day in and out of the saddle finished on the 13.5km stretch up Hautacam, featuring an especially brutal 2km of 10.8 per cent uphill gradient, coming when only halfway up. Healy was already four and-a-half minutes down on Pogacar as the last climb began.
Pogacar’s UAE-Team Emirates started pressing the pace from there, and just 2km into the climb Pogacar took off, quickly dropping his Danish rival Jonas Vingegaard. Pogacar displayed no ill-effects whatsoever from his high-speed crash 4km before the finish of Wednesday’s stage in Toulouse.
At the finish line on Hautacam, Pogacar had a massive two minutes and 10 seconds to spare on the exhausted Vingegaard, with Healy eventually coming home 13:38 behind, dropping out of the top 10 to 11th in the general classification, and with that ending his two memorable days in the yellow jersey.
It was Pogacar’s third stage win of the Tour so far, and he now leads the race by 3:21 ahead of Vingegaard. It was on Hautacam where Vingegaard sealed his 2022 victory over Pogacar, those roles likely being reversed this time, even at this point in the race.
“We did superb job,” Pogacar said. “The team rode really well. Chapeau also to Ben Healy and EF. They were trying to defend the jersey, and they showed a really big spirit. Also, Uno-X were fighting for their own GC.
“It was a hard day for everybody but in the end, we were super strong. We had this stage in mind for a long time, and we did it.
“I knew the first time I rode Hautacam, when I did recon, that it was a super nice climb. I was always looking forward to riding this climb and then it was in the 2022 Tour de France. I was looking forward to today and then all the people were coming to me to say, ‘This is the revenge time, blah blah blah’.
“Then, when we approached the bottom of the climb, it was just the reverse story of a few years ago, one Belgian on the front and our team on the front. Really, I’m super happy to take time and to win on this climb.”
By his own admission, the 24-year-old Healy, riding only his second Tour, had never faced a day like this before in the race for the GC. By the summit of the Col du Soulor, Healy had already dropped back to fifth, 2:22 behind Pogacar, with Vingegaard up to second at that point.
“I’m super grateful to everyone today,” Healy said. “We did the perfect race, wanted a big break, and just show ourselves at the front, which is what we did.
“Harry [Sweeny] was up there as well, really saved me a lot of time today, but yeah, just got cooked out there a little bit.
“But it was absolutely incredible, I’m 13 minutes behind, but I reckon I got the biggest cheer out of anyone. So just thank you to anyone who’s written my name, or cheered me on, it’s just amazing.”
Healy had started stage 12 leading the GC by 29 seconds from Pogacar of UAE-Team Emirates. After enjoying those two memorable days in the famed yellow jersey, Healy’s quest to try win it back begins with a succession of daunting stages – Friday’s mountainous time trial of 11km, before Saturday’s stage 14 from Pau to Luchon-Superbagnères, which includes the Cols de Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde.
After his storming ride on Bastille Day, Healy’s third-place finish on stage 11 saw him become only to fourth Irish rider to be awarded the yellow jersey in the now 112 editions of Tour de France, and the first since Stephen Roche wore it for three days during his outright Tour win in 1987.
Shay Elliott also held the race lead for three days back in 1963, as did Seán Kelly for one day in 1983.
Healy also lost his race white jersey awarded each day to the best younger rider aged 25 or under, with Remco Evenepoel of Soudal Quick-Step moving back in front in that classification.
