Tour de France: Healy wins hilly 6th stage, Van der Poel takes yellow jersey from Pogačar
A boy waves a French flag as the pack rides during the sixth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 201.5 kilometers (125.2 miles) with start in Bayeux and finish in Vire Normandy, France, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey crosses the finish line during the sixth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 201.5 kilometers (125.2 miles) with start in Bayeux and finish in Vire Normandy, France, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Ireland's Ben Healy celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the sixth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 201.5 kilometers (125.2 miles) with start in Bayeux and finish in Vire Normandy, France, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Ireland's Ben Healy celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the sixth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 201.5 kilometers (125.2 miles) with start in Bayeux and finish in Vire Normandy, France, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Belgium's Wout van Aert, left, and Spain's Pablo Castrillo Zapater ride past fields of wheat during the sixth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 201.5 kilometers (125.2 miles) with start in Bayeux and finish in Vire Normandy, France, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A boy waves a French flag as the pack rides during the sixth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 201.5 kilometers (125.2 miles) with start in Bayeux and finish in Vire Normandy, France, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey crosses the finish line during the sixth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 201.5 kilometers (125.2 miles) with start in Bayeux and finish in Vire Normandy, France, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Ireland's Ben Healy celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the sixth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 201.5 kilometers (125.2 miles) with start in Bayeux and finish in Vire Normandy, France, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
VIRE NORMANDIE, France (AP) — Irish rider Ben Healy won a hilly sixth stage of the Tour de France after a long solo breakaway on Thursday and Mathieu van der Poel took back the yellow jersey from defending champion Tadej Pogačar by one second.
American rider Quinn Simmons finished 2 minutes, 44 seconds behind Healy in second place and Australian Michael Storer was 2:51 back in third spot.
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Van der Poel finished eighth, and Pogačar was a little further back in ninth.
Stage 6 took riders over 201.5 kilometers (125 miles) from Bayeux to Vire Normandie, featuring six minor climbs before a sharp uphill finish with a 10% gradient.
The Slovenian star accelerated at the end of the stage but could not quite do enough to stop the yellow jersey going to Van der Poel, who is not considered a race contender.
Two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard finished 10th, just behind Pogačar, and is fifth overall.
The route favored allrounders and an experienced-looking eight-rider breakaway, including Stage 2 winner Van der Poel and Giro d'Italia champion Simon Yates, pulled away from the yellow jersey group around three-time Tour winner Pogačar.
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Riding through rolling countryside they opened up a four-minute lead with 40 kilometers to go, which is when Healy decided to go for the stage win and pulled away from his rivals, who could not follow.
Friday's stage is also hilly
Stage 7 is 197 kilometers long, starting from the port city of Saint-Malo and finishing with a climb up Mûr-de-Bretagne in Britanny's picturesque Côtes-d'Armor department.
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