Ben Healy and his EF Education-EasyPost team spent the rest day in Toulouse basking in the bright light and happiness that the Tour de France leader’s jersey brings, thinking about how they can keep it as long as possible as the race heads into the Pyrenees.
Healy caught up with his teammates in a motorway service station late on Sunday night during the long transfer to Toulouse, his post-podium team car catching up with the team bus to combine the American team’s celebrations.
He awoke on Tuesday, realising his performance on stage 10 was not a dream. He is the leader of the Tour de France with the yellow jersey hanging behind him as he, his team, and manager Jonathan Vaughters spoke on the rest day.
“It’s pretty crazy to be honest,” Healy said.
“I think it’s just about settling it in. My social media is blowing up, there are fans in the car park. I couldn’t even get a coffee this morning. I think I’m really starting to appreciate just the size of all of this. I’m just living the dream.”
Vaughters has been here before, navigating the highs and lows of his WorldTour team for almost 20 years, celebrating success and learning from defeat.
“This is a big one,” Vaughters said of leading the Tour de France. “It’s on the podium as far as best days for this team ever.
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“There are very few stages in the history of the Tour de France that went down like yesterday. It does not happen very often that the yellow jersey gets captured in that way. So it’s exceptionally special.
“The whole team was dedicated to this very aggressive, very risky strategy. The guys who got in the breakaway who helped Ben rode their skins off. In the drag race of Harry Sweeny versus Tim Wellens and Niels Politt, I think Harry won by about a minute and a half. It was super impressive, that’s why this is so special.”
Now EF Education-EasyPost has to defend Healy’s 29-second lead on Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), with Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) third overall at 1:29. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) is at 1:49.
“There’s a lot of work to do the next couple of days, but I think we’ve got a crew of guys that are all looking forward to riding on the front of the peloton,” Vaughters said, rousing his troops.
“It’s just going to be fun for us. We’re going to honour the jersey, and we’re going to show off how well pink and yellow actually look together. It’s a trending colour for 2025, right?”
Vaughters is shooting for the Tour de France moon in the hope of landing in the stars. Healy is in superb form and is climbing well, but how will he be able to defend the jersey from attacks from Pogačar and Vingegaard between now and Paris?
“This isn’t to put any pressure on Ben at all, but I don’t mince words,” Vaughters said.
“Do I think Ben can finish in the top 10 on GC? I absolutely do. Could it be the top five? That’d take a lot of special efforts, but there are a lot of little details in this that are still unknown. I think a top five is attainable, and in a very optimistic scenario, you never know where that last spot on the podium is going to end up.
“The Tour is a long race, and sometimes people get sick, and sometimes people have bad days. If you’re going to dream, you might as well dream big. But at the same point in time, if Ben ends up 12th, that’s ok too. Our business is done here. We’re racing for fun now.
“It’s honestly about his athletic performance and how far he can take himself, and just to see what he can achieve, so the pressure’s off. I think the team’s relaxed. When you’re in that position, a lot of times, big things happen.”
Healy is more cautious and realistic than his team manager, but he is up for the fight that lies ahead in the Pyrenees, on Mont Ventoux and then in the Alps.
“Let’s give it a go. Why not?” he said.
“I’m quite interested to test myself and see what I can do, but I’m realistic in what I can do as well. I’ve got to be very smart and push every day and try not to make too many mistakes.”
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