Stage 6 DS Insights Review
Tour de France 2025 – Irish Eyes are Smiling
📍 Route: Bayeux → Vire Normandie
🗓 Date: 10 July 2025
📏 Distance: 201.5 km
⛰ Terrain: Hilly with 6 categorized climbs and a steep uphill finish (700 m at 10%)
📍 Region: Swiss-Normandy
🔥 Breakaway Drama
An aggressive 8-rider move broke clear early featuring:
Ben Healy, Quinn Simmons, Mathieu Van der Poel, Michael Storer, Simon Yates, Harold Tejada, Will Barta, and Eddie Dunbar.
With 42 km to go, Ben Healy launched a daring solo attack. The disorganized chase behind gave him breathing room, and he held off all pursuit to claim a gutsy solo victory—his first at the Tour de France.
🏆 Stage 6 Podium
- Ben Healy (EF Education–EasyPost)
- Quinn Simmons (Lidl–Trek) +2′44″
- Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) +2’44”
🥊 Most Combative Rider: Ben Healy (EF Education–EasyPost)
⛰ KOM Points: All uncontested and taken by Healy from the break
🔝 General Classification – Top 5 After Stage 6 (Verified & Corrected)
| Pos | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mathieu Van der Poel | Alpecin–Deceuninck | 21h 52′ 34″ |
| 2 | Tadej Pogačar | UAE Team Emirates | +0′01″ |
| 3 | Remco Evenepoel | Soudal–QuickStep | +0′43″ |
| 4 | Kévin Vauquelin | Arkéa–B&B Hotels | +1′00″ |
| 5 | Jonas Vingegaard | Visma|Lease a Bike | +1’14” |
🎽 Jersey Standings – After Stage 6
- 🟡 Yellow Jersey: Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin–Deceuninck) – 21h 52′ 34″
- 🟢 Green Jersey: Jonathan Milan (Lidl–Trek) – 112 pts
- 🔴 Polka Dot Jersey: Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) – 7 pts
- ⚪ White Jersey: Remco Evenepoel (Soudal–QuickStep) – 21h 53′ 17″
🏆 Team Classification
- Team Visma | Lease a Bike – 65h 39′ 59″
- UAE Team Emirates – +4′45″
- Groupama–FDJ – +10′48″
- Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale – +11′10″
- Arkéa–B&B Hotels – +12′42″
🎙 Directeur Sportif Tactical Takeaways
✅ EF Played It Perfectly
EF Education–EasyPost executed smart tactics. With Healy in the break, they sat back, controlled the peloton, and let their man up the road do the damage.
❌ Break Lacked Cooperation
Simmons, Storer, and Van der Poel didn’t organize a unified chase. The result? Healy built his gap and made it stick. A textbook example of how hesitation can cost a stage.
🟡 Van der Poel Seizes the Day
Though not the strongest climber, Van der Poel took a strategic leap by riding ahead of Pogačar. He now wears yellow by just one second—a bold move that paid off big.
😴 GC Teams Were Passive
Healy wasn’t a GC threat, so the main contenders sat tight. But their conservative tempo riding allowed MVDP no more than a 1 second advantage on GC.
⏭ What’s Next?
Van der Poel holds yellow. The GC contenders are bunched tightly. Stage 7 will likely see a battle for control—and for every second. The difference in Paris could be decided by moves made now. This is a stage finish that suits Van der Poel, however, after the efforts of yesterday, let’s see if he has recovered to enough to be in the final running for stage honours.
