"He’ll just enjoy every moment in this jersey” – Dan Martin beams as Ben Healy makes yellow jersey history at the Tour de France
Cycling
Ben Healy has
made history at the 2025 Tour de France, becoming the first Irishman in 38
years to pull on the yellow jersey. After winning on stage 6, and making the
breakaway on stage 10, Healy now leads the general classification outright, an
astonishing rise for the EF Education–EasyPost rider.
Healy’s
performance on Stage 10, where he finishes third behind the winner Simon Yates,
was enough to vault him into the race lead. The last Irishman to wear yellow
was Stephen Roche in 1987.
Former pro and
five-time Grand Tour stage winner Dan Martin was in awe of Healy’s effort.
“I think the
fact he dragged those (other breakaway) guys the last 25k and still finished
3rd on the stage, it shows the form that he’s in… He’s the guy in form,” Martin
told ITV.
Martin recalled
catching up with Healy after his Stage 5 victory, describing Healy as stunned
by what he’d accomplished, “I managed to get to him after the finish in between
podium and doping control, and he was like, speechless… ‘what just happened’
basically. And then to do this…”
EF Education – EasyPost,
the same team where Martin began his pro career, earned praise for how they set
up the move that ultimately led to yellow.
“I’m really
happy for the team… They always seem to go beyond expectations and manage to
pull something out of the hat. And I’m sure they had that all planned this
morning, to try and do that (take yellow). Putting four guys in the break, it
started from that moment. And (Healy) managed to finish it off, somehow.”
Martin
emphasized the unique quality of Healy’s riding style and ability, “I couldn’t,
definitely, do what he does. These long breakaways, this ability to maintain a
super aero position and a high power output for so long, it’s just incredible.
He obviously trains that ability.”
Now leading the
Tour going into the rest day, Healy has a chance to enjoy the moment.
“I just hope he
gets to enjoy the rest day being in the yellow jersey… We’ll see if he does a
recovery ride in the jersey, I probably would, being honest,” Martin laughed.
Looking ahead,
the challenge is keeping yellow once the race heads to the mountains.
Read also
“Obviously he
doesn’t have much advantage over Tadej Pogačar, and we’ve seen how strong him
and Vingegaard are at the moment. They took a minute out of Ben on the last
climb (today), really playing cat and mouse.”
Still, Martin is
confident Healy will make the most of it, “He’ll just enjoy every moment in
this jersey, I know he will… And he’ll just savour it as it might never happen
again, he’s got to enjoy it.”
Fin MajorCycling Journalist
Fin Major is a UK-based writer at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2024. He is the site’s main writer for FAQs and evergreen explainers and has written around 2,000 pieces for the platform. Alongside this work, he focuses on in-depth analysis and covers the biggest races on the calendar, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, providing clear context around performance trends, tactics, and key storylines.
In his reporting, Fin uses reputable data sources such as ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available. Outside of writing, Fin is an active cyclist, which supports his practical understanding of the sport and its demands.
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