Key Takeaways: Tour de France Stage 6

Breaking down what we learned on a hard stage through the rolling hills of Normandy at the 2025 Tour de France

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After forcing himself into a star-studded breakaway following a fast and furious multiple hours of all-out racing, Ben Healy lit up the rolling green hills of Normandy on Stage 6 of the 2025 Tour de France with a trademark daring long-range solo attack that created just enough hesitation in his breakaway companions to allow him to blow open the time gap and soar to his first career Tour stage victory. In the peloton behind, the GC contenders continued to jostle, with Tadej Pogačar and his UAE team’s clever plan to shed three leaders’ jerseys challenged by Jonas Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike team. However, in the end, the fascinating tactical battle was settled by a single second, with Mathieu van der Poel, who made it into the breakaway before cracking in the final run-in, rolling over the line with just enough buffer to take the race lead from Pogačar by a single second heading into tomorrow’s GC showdown on the Mûr-de-Bretagne.

Stage Top Five:
1) Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) +0
2) Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) +2’44
3) Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) +2’51
4) Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla) +3’21
5) Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) +3’24

Current GC Top Five:
1) Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0
2) Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates XRG) +1
3) Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +43
4) Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) +1’00
5) Jonas Vingegaard (Visma–Lease a Bike) +1’14

Stage 6 Race Notebook

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145.3km: After Jonathan Milan takes maximum points at the early intermediate sprint point (and overtaking Tadej Pogačar in the Green Jersey Classification), the fight for the early breakaway begins in earnest. However, no group has the right combination of riders, which causes the battle to last for hours over the early rolling terrain, making the pace incredibly hard for the peloton. With no riders clear yet, UAE’s Tim Wellens jumps clear at an early KOM point to take two points and overtake his teammate Pogačar in the competition, meaning that if he can give away the Yellow Jersey, he can avoid the post-race podium ceremony and get back to his hotel to begin recovery.

143km: With a strong group, including Ben Healy, Quinn Simmons, and Mathieu van der Poel, finally clear, Visma deploys some interesting tactics by having Matteo Jorgenson attack, forcing Pogačar to follow. This increases the pace, which increases the chances that the breakaway will be brought back, meaning Van der Poel won’t be able to take the Yellow Jersey from Pogačar.

130.7km: This acceleration from Jorgenson stirs the pot to an extent that the peloton gets within five seconds of the breakaway. Michael Storer and, interestingly, Simon Yates from Visma bridge across.

118.5km: With the gap still at a bridgeable 26 seconds, Visma continues stirring the pot by having Victor Campenaerts drive a small group off the front. This creates an opportunity for Arkéa-B&B’s Kévin Vauqelin, a dark-horse GC threat, to jump across and get into the breakaway. UAE, not wanting Vauquelin to get into the breakaway and take a large chunk of time, is forced to chase, which goes directly against their wish for Van der Poel riding clear and into the race lead.

42.5km: With the gap finally established and the peloton 4 minutes back, Ben Healy, who had done a great job of saving energy with his ultra-aero position and judicious pacemaking, attacks the rest of the breakaway on a downhill stretch of road (when they least expect it).

42.4km: Due to the fast downhill road, Healy’s gap isn’t large, but with so much fatigue already in the rest of the break’s legs due to the fast start, they struggle to peg it back immediately.

27.2km: This fatigue in the group allows Healy to turn a slight single-digit second gap into nearly a minute in just a few kilometers. Recognizing the danger of Healy having this much time, Quinn Simmons attacks with Michael Storer and attempts to bridge the gap. However, even when they hit tough uphill sections, they can’t make a dent in Healy’s lead, with the Irishman continuing to pile on time with every pedal stroke.

Healy Finish: By the time he gets to the base of the final climb, the long-range attack specialist has a 2.5-minute gap, which allows him to cross the finish line for his first career Tour de France stage win, with the largest margin we’ve seen at the Tour since 2021. Simmons sprints in for an impressive second 2’44 later, with Storer taking third, and a cracked Van der Poel finishing 3’58 down.

500m: On the final climb, Visma continues to pressure Pogačar by increasing the pace, presumably in a last-ditch attempt to maintain the race lead. Notice how Vingegaard, and everyone else, is sprinting out of the saddle, but Pogačar (in second) remains seated, looking relaxed.

GC Finish: At the finish line, a frustrated Pogačar appears to get to the front to cross the line first to make a statement, but, in doing so, nearly keeps himself in Yellow. However, it is later revealed that Van der Poel takes the race lead by a single second.

Three Key Takeaways