The Tour de France has been an unqualified success for EF Training-EasyPost thus far, with Ben Healy the star of the group. After taking a spectacular solo victory on stage 6, he swapped the American group’s iconic pink equipment for the maillot jaune after making the breakaway on stage 10 on Monday.
After his teammates dragged Healy at the remainder of the day’s breakaway over the hills of the Massif Central, Healy did sufficient to carry off the pursuit of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Staff Emirates-XRG) by 29 seconds.
With the remaining day approaching Tuesday and a flat stage on Wednesday, the Irishman ought to be capable of stay in yellow till not less than Thursday, when the Tour de France reaches its first main summit end at Hautacam because the race reaches the Pyrénées.
It is EF Training-EasyPost’s second style of yellow one 12 months after Richard Carapaz took the yellow jersey in Turin on stage 3 within the 2024 Tour de France.
Taking the maillot jaune once more unleashed loads of feelings on the group bus ready. Workers hugged and swapped high-fives, whereas group supervisor Jonathan Vaughters, who was within the group automotive with directeur sportif Tom Southam, admitted he shed a tear. Tour de France glory is the payoff for months and years of arduous work by everybody within the EF Training-EasyPost group.
“I’d have shed a few tears all the identical if I used to be watching at residence, I nearly did simply now, I nearly choked up there, however you did not discover,” Vaughters stated after arriving on the group bus.
He was absent when Healy received stage 6 however witnessed the suspense and overwhelming pleasure of success on stage 10 from the entrance seat of the group automotive.
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“It was tense in there for a very long time, at one level we needed to make a definitive name for the stage or if we had been going to gamble all of it and go all in for the yellow jersey,” Vaughters defined.
“This was the posh of getting received a stage as a result of we stated – we have received a stage so let’s attempt to get the yellow.”
Healy started the stage 3:55 down on Pogačar however was the digital race chief within the last two hours of racing. The hole got here down as Visma-Lease a Bike led the chase after which Pogačar attacked on the ultimate climb. Fortuitously, the Slovenian appeared joyful for Healy to take yellow and eased the tempo within the last kilometre.
“We had been simply taking a look at time gaps, taking a look at our watches, simply any data we may get from wherever, actually nervous. We had been fairly rattling scared when Visma started accelerating the race,” Vaughters stated.
“UAE – they had been using a tempo however I do not suppose they had been overly fussed about giving the jersey away. Visma – I do not precisely ever perceive what Visma does however they had been doing one thing, making an attempt to do away with Pog. It did not work, shock. And that introduced the hole down and so we had been fairly nervous.”
EF Training-EasyPost’s technique began by stacking the breakaway with Neilson Powless, Harry Sweeny, Alex Baudin and Healy making the decisive 28-rider assault.
“We knew we had been going to be actually good this deep into the race, so we simply stated, hey let’s simply mild it up, have enjoyable, stress’s off, we have already received a stage and see the place that will get us,” Vaughters stated.
“It was stunning, everybody deserves huge kudos for this, the 4 guys who made the break, clearly: Harry Sweeny, was the MVP of the day, he was in all probability price two minutes of that hole, it was an unbelievable effort. Alex Baudin completed off the job after which in the end Ben needed to journey the final 15 kilometres by himself as a result of no person was serving to him.
“To have that psychological fortitude, and maintain it collectively and never explode, it is a actually distinctive effort. Only a few riders on the earth can really do this prolonged effort.”
Vaughters’ organisation has worn yellow earlier than and received main Classics. Carapaz’s spell lasted only a day in 2024, whereas Thor Hushovd led from stage 2 to stage 9 when the group was backed by Garmin-Cervelo, however this one was totally different for Vaughters.
“This one is way more significant as a result of the fellows right here now are actually individuals who’ve come up by our system,” Vaughters stated.
“The older [2011] crew – hell, I raced with half these guys, so it was a extra tense surroundings. However these guys I consider them as my youngsters and that clearly makes it a lot significant when your youngsters pull off one thing huge like this.”
Healy can also be in the most effective younger rider’s white jersey. The group’s first objective is to maintain yellow on the rolling stage round Toulouse.
“Let’s examine daily. Toulouse is sophisticated in that last, it’s extremely messy, loads of quick sharp climbs, useless turns into them,” Southam warned.
“We clearly need to maintain the jersey as far and so long as we are able to. So we’ll work in the direction of that, the hole’s not large and Pogačar is Pogačar. It places us able the place we’ll need to defend a jersey fairly deep into the Grand Tour, which is uncommon and fairly cool.”
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