Ben Healy and Tour de France breakaways have become a match made in heaven. His escape efforts have so far earned him a stage win, a stint in the yellow jersey, top 10 on GC, and on Tuesday, a runner-up spot on Mont Ventoux.
Of course, second on the stage and a most combative rider’s award wasn’t what the EF Education-EasyPost rider was looking for, but it marked another ultra-strong day in what has been a hugely impressive race.
After being in the day’s early, big break, Healy pushed on as the group got smaller and smaller, and was part of the trio that forged on up to the race lead when Enric Mas (Movistar) was away solo on Ventoux.
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He was beaten by Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep) for the win, but moves up to ninth on GC and can celebrate another day of showing his abilities.
“I think I played it really nicely in the break and never really touched the wind once until Ventoux,” he said of his day. “I hit Ventoux and I wasn’t really sure how my legs were. I took it steady at the bottom and kind of went at a nice pace. It’s an hour-long climb. Then, I started to realize I was actually feeling really good today and we definitely could race for the win.”
However, once getting into the winning move, Healy didn’t quite have the jump to escape in the finale, nor win the uphill sprint to the line.
“Unfortunately I wasn’t quite able to distance the other guys on the last half of this climb. Maybe I should have judged my effort a little bit differently because for sure I had super legs,” he said.
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“I just did a little bit too little too late, I think, because this top section is a bit shallower and the headwind was just too hard to break Valentin today. I tried to get a jump on him in the finish, because I knew he was more explosive than me on a finish like this. I did my best but didn’t quite get him.”
Solidifying his place in the GC is probably a minor consolation for not winning on the Tour’s most iconic mountain, but it was a gain nonetheless.
“A bit of both to be honest,” he said about whether his plan was going for the win or time gains. “I think I’m in the position where I can play for GC and the stage win, with such big times gaps on GC.
“I just wanted to follow the moves and not really be attacking and if a big group did go, then I was always ready for that. Then I could play the card for both.”
Many thought Ventoux wouldn’t be a day for the breakaway – including EF Education-EasyPost – but in the end, the GC teams let the escapees play, and EF read the situation right to have Healy up there.
“On paper we hadn’t marked this down as a day where there would be an opportunity for us,” Sports Director Tom Southam explained.
“We went into the stage thinking it would be more for the heavyweight GC guys. But then this morning, late on, we got the feeling that it would be worth Ben being there if the breakaway group was big, and we could get there without much effort, because UAE might let the guys in the top ten on GC but far back on time go.”
Let them go they did, and so whilst Healy may be keen to show off his “super legs” once again, breakaway victory on Ventoux may have cut the chances of another win for the escapees in this final week, as Tadej Pogačar tried to leave a dominant mark on the race.
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