
Ben Healy clinches famous stage win at the Tour de France
The English-born rider, who has represented Ireland for years and qualifies through his Irish father, broke free from the peleton with 40km to go and left the chasing pack in his wake, breezing home to win the sixth stage of this year's Tour by a whopping two minutes.
Competing in just his second Tour, Healy has already joined an illustrious crew of Irish riders to take home stage wins, a list that includes the likes of Dan Martin, Stephen Roche, Sean Kelly and sprint star Sam Bennett, who had been the most recent Irish stage winner with two victories in the 2020 Tour as he took home the green jersey.
Healy rose to prominence at the Olympics in 2024 when he broke free from the pack and hunted down a medal on the streets of Paris before ultimately being hauled in and finishing in 10th place.
There was no such heartache today as Healy hung onto his position at the top of the podium to take home a famous win for Ireland, with fellow Irish rider Eddie Dunbar finishing in fourth place.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

The 42
6 hours ago
- The 42
Ireland complete 5-0 series win over Zimbabwe
THE IRELAND WOMEN'S cricket team have completed a 5-0 series victory over Zimbabwe. After earning a 3-0 T20I series win last week, Ireland won the the first ODI by 97 runs on Saturday. They added a four-wicket victory against Zimbabwe today in Stormont as Orla Prendergast produced a Player of the Match display while Alana Dalzell also impressed. Zimbabwe chose to bat first after winning the toss, going on to post 178 – being bowled out in the 50th over. Captain Chipo Spiwe-Tiripano struck 56 and Modester Mupachikwa hit 45, but disciplined Irish bowling dominated the innings. Advertisement Ireland's Alana Dalzell, who came into the playing team for the first time this summer, struck with her very first ball to push Zimbabwe back. Dalzell finished with 4-36 and proved to be the pick of the bowlers. Lara McBride in her first ODI series also proved very effective, taking with 3-22. Ireland chased down the total in the 40th over for the loss of six wickets. Prendergast led the way with the bat scoring 67 not out, while captain Gaby Lewis contributed 44 as Ireland eased to victory and a 5-0 result across the T20I and ODI series.


The Irish Sun
7 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Broken bones, bloodied noses and never-say-die spirit… and this lot win trophies too – Lionesses are pride of England
STUART PEARCE was lauded for trying to 'run off' a broken leg for ten minutes while playing for West Ham against Watford in 1999. After England's Lionesses successfully defended their Euros crown, Lucy Bronze revealed she had Advertisement 6 Lucy Bronze played throughout the Euros with a fractured shinbone Credit: AFP It's not scientifically true that women have higher pain thresholds than men. But the full-back — whose full name is genuinely Lucy Roberta Tough Bronze — clearly isn't bound by such trivialities as medical science. Keeper Hannah Hampton - who was told she could never be a professional footballer due to an eye condition - is another Lioness who laughs in the face of the doctoring profession. Hampton suffered a nosebleed and played with a tampon up one nostril during the quarter-final victory over Sweden — drawing comparison with Advertisement READ MORE ON LIONESSES England played 360 minutes of knockout football at these Euros and led for less than five of them — roaring back from behind in all three fixtures. So while Joey Barton and a dwindling number of Sid The Sexists on social media continue to howl the word 'woke' at the moon, it's hilarious the Lionesses have triumphed thanks to the attributes traditionally regarded as the strengths of the English men's game. Physical bravery, stoicism, never-say-die spirit. Three comebacks, two penalty shootouts, broken bones and blooded noses. Advertisement Most read in Football Latest England are queens of Europe England legend Lucy Bronze reveals she played Player ratings - see how England's finest in Chloe Kelly steals the show after Eagle-eyed fans stunned at where Joyous CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS And this lot actually win trophies, too. Unlike in the last Euros on home soil in 2022, England weren't the best team in the tournament — that was runners-up Spain. England's Lionesses depart Zurich following their Euro 2025 victory There was some pleasing sour grapery among the beaten finalists about English 'luckiness'. Advertisement But when you keep on doing something over and over again, it can never be down to luck. England prevailed because they were mentally and physically tougher than any other side. They became the first English senior team to win a major tournament on foreign soil and they drew the highest TV audience of the year. Women's football is now an integral part of the national sporting landscape and that is a tribute to everyone who has helped to promote it during the move into professionalism over the past couple of decades. Advertisement There have been elements of positive discrimination in this. For a while, the game was over- exposed by the FA and much of the media, in comparison to the numbers of those who paid to watch it. But anyone uncomfortable with this needs to remember that women's football was banned in this country for half a century until 1971. 6 England celebrate consecutive European Championship wins Credit: Reuters Advertisement 6 Hannah Hampton was told she could never be a professional footballer due to an eye condition Credit: EPA Which sounds as weird as the fact beer was banned in Iceland — the nation, not the freezer shop — until 1989. But it legitimises all of the efforts to grow the women's game, which is now increasingly able to stand on its own feet. European club champions Arsenal have attracted sell-out crowds of 60,000 for matches at the Emirates. Advertisement And, from this coming season, they will hold all of their Women's Super League fixtures at the club's stadium, which will boost their average gate of 29,000. Watching a women's match live is a family-friendly experience, with the anger and hatred of the men's game largely absent. The game is different, the atmosphere is different, comparisons are tiresome and needless. Nobody feels the need to distinguish between men's and women's events when tallying up the gold medals won at an Olympics. Advertisement Keely Hodgkinson didn't have to suffer any sniping that she wouldn't have qualified for the men's 800m final when she won gold in Paris last summer, because women's athletics has been established over decades. Women's football is reaching a similar status. 6 Sarina Wiegman made it consecutive Euros wins Credit: AP And manager Advertisement After a promising start, Neville quit in 2021 after a run of seven defeats in 11 matches. The women's game will never be patronised in such a way in future. As part of this process, BBC TV pundits have sounded less like cheerleaders than in previous women's tournaments. And there wasn't much media soft-soaping of the Lionesses when they opened their Euros campaign with a deserved defeat by France. Advertisement This is as it should be. We are talking about elite international competition, not a school sports day. Chloe Kelly — the scorer of England's final winner against Germany three years ago, as well as the clinching penalty in Sunday's shoot-out in Basel — 6 Chloe Kelly scored the winning penalty Credit: EPA 6 Kelly was criticised by Spanish media for the cockiness of her celebrations Credit: Getty Advertisement But there is nothing nicey-nicey about her on the pitch. Criticised by Spanish media She marked England's latest success by sniping at critics on social media. And all of her team-mates will have similar stories. Advertisement Some of them started out at a time when the idea of girls playing football was seen as unusual. Such ideas are fading into distant history. Kelly, Hampton, Bronze and Co are rarely referred to as 'trailblazers' and 'pioneers' any more, because the trailblazing and pioneering has been done. Now they are simply regarded as habitual winners and champions. Advertisement NEW DRAMA THIS sort of thing isn't supposed to happen to Newcastle United anymore. The club's Saudi takeover should have ended the days of a star like Alexander Isak demanding a move. Should we be pleased Profit and Sustainability Rules have hampered the Geordie Arabia revolution? That depends if you're more bothered about the competitiveness of a title race or the widespread human-rights abuses of those bankrolling the club. Advertisement STICKY WICKET ENGLAND'S bowlers managed just two wickets in the last 142 overs of the drawn Fourth Test against India. The series has been compelling at times but the combination of flat batting tracks and a schedule with little breathing space, means both teams will be dead on their feet heading into Thursday's decider at The Oval. As in every other sport, there is little thought for player welfare when there are TV schedules to be packed. SPURRED OFF TOTTENHAM'S Europa League success, and subsequent Champions League qualification, was supposed to make them a des res for players in this summer's transfer market. Advertisement Yet their failure to land two leading targets, Morgan Gibbs-White and Bryan Mbeumo, shows there are no longer any easy pickings when attempting to raid Premier League rivals. Especially when you finished last season in 17th place. AUSSIE WHINES SO SWEET AUSTRALIAN rugby union may be down at heel, with the British & Irish Lions' tour Down Under far lower in profile than most such trips. And yet the series win by boss Andy Farrell and his crew, secured by a mighty comeback in Melbourne, remained a reason to be cheerful. Advertisement Because there is nothing so magical in sport than the sound of whingeing, defeated Aussies. SMALL WONDER I SPENT my Friday night in Ballybofey, Co Donegal which, with a population of around 5,000, is reckoned to be the smallest town in Britain and Ireland to host league football. Ballybofey's Finn Harps drew 2-2 with Roy Keane's ex-club, Cobh Ramblers, in an entertaining and refreshingly honest match. Also, you could pop to the local at half-time for a pint of the black stuff without anyone checking your ticket on the way back in. Advertisement

The 42
8 hours ago
- The 42
Veteran Dutch rider Vos takes overall leader's jersey at Women's Tour de France
VETERAN DUTCH RIDER Marianne Vos took the overall leader's jersey in the women's Tour de France after finishing second behind compatriot Lorena Wiebes on the third stage. Three-time former world champion Vos, 38, moved six seconds ahead of Mauritius' Kim Le Court in the general classification after a flat 163.5km ride from La Gacilly to Angers in western France. France's Olympic cross-country champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot completed the top three, 12 seconds behind, with last year's Tour winner Katarzyna Niewiadoma fourth. Ireland's Lara Gillespie finished in 22nd place while Mia Griffin came home in 31st, and Fiona Mangan was 71st. Mangan leads the way for the Irish in the general classification in 102nd place while Gillespie is 112th with Griffin two places back. Advertisement The trio have made history for Ireland by becoming the first women to represent the country on the Tour de France. One-day expert Vos has made an impressive start to this year's edition of the Tour, having won Saturday's opening stage in Vannes. Despite her incredible list of achievements, including 2012′s Olympic gold, the women's Giro d'Italia and countless Classic success, she has yet to win the Tour, but wore the yellow jersey in 2022 for five days. The end of the stage on the banks of the Loire river, best known for wine production, was marred by a crash as pre-stage favourite Demi Vollering fell. Vollering, who finished second overall last year, remains fifth in the overall standings despite the incident. After the crash, two-time former European champions Wiebes, 26, held on to secure her fourth Tour stage win, adding to her 15 success so far this season. Tuesday's fourth of nine stages on the fourth edition of the women's Tour is another flat ride, stretching 130.7km south from Saumur, also on the Loire river, to Poitiers. – © AFP 2025 Additional reporting by Sinéad Farrell