On the first day of rest, Ben Healy has the yellow jersey. Irish determination is clear, but what happens next is uncertain: does he really have what it takes to win the 2025 Tour de France?

Obviously one of the knights of the first 10 days, Healy He brought to life the largest race in the world. The Irishman lived up to his reputation as a tireless striker, always ready to impose himself.

It took only six stages to find the opening. The day after the time trial, he participated in a division of strong knights who were given a ticket, and then bid farewell to his attackers, setting away with 40km to go. No one would see the car again, then he raised his arms to Vire-Normanandie.

It was a great reward for one of the most attacking knights in Peloton. Often in attack, rarely rewarded. So far, his main victory was the eighth phase of Giro D’Italia 2023, and of course, it was won solo. This came shortly after a second place in the Amsi Gold race and a fourth in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Already an excellent collection of endings.

But while he had chosen several stages in secondary tournaments since then, he had not found his way to win the world tour until the Basque tournament in April. And even when you arrive at Tour de France in good shape, there is no guarantee of a stage victory, especially given the big competition in the Grande Bouke.

However, he undoubtedly took advantage of a blow to luck when his teammate Richard Carapaz was forced to withdraw due to illness.

Third in Giro D’Italia and the Polka-Dot jersey in the 2024 Tour de France, Ecuadoran could have aimed at each of these results, but its absence reorganized the cards for the US team. Without any real general leader, Ef Education-Easypost presented a stable team in which Healy seemed to be the best knight.

This undoubtedly explains why his team did not hesitate to call the services of Harry Sweeny AND Alex Baudin When he split in phase 10 on Monday. Both teammates did a phenomenal job throughout the day, but he was not sparing his efforts, keeping all other favorites to take third place, simply losing in a stage victory.

But of course, the target was different: Healy did the job to get the yellow shirt. With less than four minutes to Tadej Pogacar In the general ranking at the beginning of the scene, the target was accessible and was won. At the cost of a great effort, of course, but now that he has it and will surely keep it for at least 48 hours, it’s time to play the favorite game of Lovers Tour de France: Can he win the Grande BUCLE?

‘No’ is the first answer that comes to mind. It is difficult to predict victory, or even a podium end in Paris, for a knight who has never proven himself enough in the mountains.

Last year, he did not better than the 16th place at the end in Plat d’Atet. However, he was in a different role then, focusing solely on stages fighting, and still should not be a general contender of the classification.

After he received the yellow jersey, the status change was already clear in his statements: “From now on, I will focus on the overall classification, respecting the yellow shirt and try to keep it as long as possible.”

However, this optimism should be tempted. Apart from the lack of references in the high mountains, his team does not appear to be cut for this objective. Baudin and Sweeny are friends of the Valiant team, who will undoubtedly be in great service to it but the rest (Vincenzo albanese, Neilson without dust, Kasper Asgreen AND Michael Valgren) are not necessarily cut for mountains.

And, of course, there is the level question of Healy himself.

We cannot imagine he is at the same time as Tadej Pogacar or Jonas Vingegaardwho remain overwhelming favorites. But objectively speaking, the third place is still a lot of opportunity. Even if Remco ERSEPOEL It remains the number one candidate for this last podium place, no one is completely impressive at this early stage of the race.

So what is a realistic objective for the Irishman? There is no reason why he should not be involved in the battle for the podium. And with extra energy that a yellow shirt can provide (there were so many examples, such as Thomas Voeckler In 2011, to mention but one of the most popular), and with only 27 days races on his feet in 2025 before the tour began, it is easy to imagine – and we have already seen – that his condition is optimal.

At the age of 24, and with a construction that looks optimal on paper (5’9, 65 kg), we could witness Ben Healy’s explosion. 38 years after Stephen Roche, can we see another Irish in the Hall of Fame?

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