Ben Healy loses Tour de France lead after brutal day in the Pyrenees

The 24-year-old, who twice in the past week made history, first as the first cyclist from the Black Country to win a stage of the Tour before then grasping the overall lead, was unable to match the pace of the favourites as the race entered the high mountains.

Healy was dropped on the first big climb of the day, the category one Col de Soulor, a seven-and-a-half mile ascent which rises to an altitude of nearly 1,500 metres.

With the race then going up the even more fearsome Hautacam there was no hope of recovery, with Healy eventually coming home more than 13 minutes behind stage winner Tadej Pogacar, who reclaimed the yellow jersey he had lost to the Wordsley rider on Monday. 

There is no disguising the fact it was a painful day for Healy, who clearly paid for his history-making efforts early in the race.

Some consolation came from the fact no-one else was able to stay remotely close to the blistering pace of Pogacar, who finished more than two minutes ahead of the next best rider, Jonas Vingegaard, and is now firmly in pole position to add a fourth Tour title to his CV. 

“Chapeau (hat tip) to Ben Healy and (his team) EF Pro Cycling,” said a gracious Pogacar afterwards. “They fought to defend the jersey really hard.”

Healy, who plummeted to 11th in the overall rankings, may now get the chance to target more stage wins later in the race.