Ben Healy lit up Stage 10 of the Tour de France, vaulting
into the yellow jersey with a fearless breakaway ride that left EF Education–EasyPost
boss Jonathan Vaughters on the verge of tears.
“I would have shed a couple of tears all the same if I was
watching at home,” Vaughters admitted at the team bus. “I almost did just now,
I almost choked up there, but you didn't notice.”
Though Simon Yates claimed the stage win, Healy’s effort was
the story of the day. He powered through the final 15 kilometers, dragging the
break with him, chasing time gaps, not rivals,and became the first Irishman in
38 years to wear the maillot jaune.
EF had a choice to make mid-stage: protect energy or go all
in. “It was tense in there for a long time,” Vaughters said. “At one point we
had to make a definitive call for the stage or if we were going to gamble it
all and go all in for the yellow jersey.”
With a stage win already in the bag from Healy on Stage 6,
EF decided to roll the dice again. “We said – we’ve won a stage, so let’s try
to get the yellow.”
What followed was chaos: rival teams turned the screw, time
gaps fluctuated, and nerves frayed. “We were just looking at time gaps, looking
at our watches, just any information we could get from anywhere, really
nervous,” said Vaughters. “We were pretty damn scared when Visma began
accelerating the race.”
Healy had no help in the closing stretch. “Ben had to ride
the last 15 kilometres by himself because nobody was helping him,” said
Vaughters. “To have that mental fortitude and hold it together and not
explode—it’s a truly exceptional effort. Very few riders in the world can
actually do that extended effort.”
Harry Sweeney was singled out as the day’s MVP. “He was
probably worth two minutes of that gap,” said Vaughters. “Unbelievable effort.”
The team’s pride is rooted not just in the result, but in
the riders themselves: “This one is much more meaningful because the guys here
now are really people who've come up through our system,” Vaughters said.
“These guys—I think of them as my kids, and that obviously makes it much more
meaningful when your kids pull off something big like this.”
Healy now leads both the general classification and the
young rider standings. The challenge is keeping it.
“Toulouse is complicated in that final,” said DS Charlie
Southam. “It’s very messy, a lot of short sharp climbs, dead turns into them.”
“We obviously want to keep the jersey as far and as long as
we can,” Southam added. “The gap’s not massive and Pogačar is Pogačar. It puts
us in a position where we’ll have to defend a jersey quite deep into the Grand
Tour—which is unusual and pretty cool.”
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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- the 'No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines' comment was unfortunately a bit off. didn't you just boast about your principles in the comments section of another article?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- Are you MrMauMau 2.0? Nothing you are saying is really relevant. Vaguely connected, but irrelevant. The conversation is whether Schreiber impeded Brand or not.
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
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parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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