Ben Healy holds on to yellow jersey after 'stressful' Tour de France stage
Black Country cycling hero Ben Healy retained his overall lead and yellow jersey after battling through a “stressful” stage 11 of the Tour de France.
The 24-year-old from Wordsley, riding in the iconic yellow jersey for the first time on an historic day for West Midlands cycling, finished among the group of favourites after a frenetic 98-mile loop around Toulouse which saw second-placed rider Tadej Pogacar suffer a dramatic crash.
Healy, who grabbed the overall lead from Pogacar in heroic fashion on Monday, was roared on from roadside by proud parents Bryan and Lisa, while his girlfriend Martha and pet dog Olive were also in attendance.
But what was expected to be a relatively routine stage, before the race heads into the high mountains of the Pyrenees on Thursday, proved to be nothing of the sort.
Instead of an anticipated bunch sprint, the race was split into pieces by a series of attacks.
After briefly getting caught the wrong side of a split in the opening miles, Healy was able to stay with the group of favourites for overall victory which included three-time champion Pogacar.
The latter then hit the deck inside the final five miles but was able to get back on his bike as the rest of the group sat up, in an act of sportsmanship, to allow him to catch up.
They eventually crossed the line nearly three minutes behind Norwegian stage winner Jonas Abrahamsen, with Healy maintaining a 29-second lead over Pogacar heading into the Pyrenees.
“It was stressful, I can tell you that,” said Healy afterward. “The stage just kept on going.
“There was a massive fight for the break and I missed the first split, because I honestly wasn’t expecting it to go that crazy so early.
“But the team did a great job to bring me back and from then on I just followed everything.”
Healy, who last week became the first Black Country cyclist to ever win a stage of the Tour, even went on the offensive when he and Jonas Vingegaard attacked their group with 30 miles to go, before being quickly reined back in.
The former Halesowen Cycling Club ace, who is the first Irish rider to wear yellow since Stephen Roche in 1987, admitted he then had to dig deep up the final climb of the day, Pech David, a short 800 metre ramp with gradients in excess of 15 per cent.
“Things were more controlled before this last little kicker before the climb,” said Healy.
“I definitely had a tough moment there but I dug in deep to hold on to the line and stay in yellow."
