Stage 6 Tour de France Summary

Stage 6 of the Tour de France was difficult. It had almost 12,000 feet of climbing. Stage 6 had six mountains and was the second-longest stage of the tour this year. The stage had a long breakaway that was successful, which happens about 10% of the time. With about 26 miles left in stage 6, Ben Healy, an Irish rider who was in the breakaway, rode away by himself in a gutsy move. Do you root for bicycle racing breakaways to be successful?

Stage 6 Of the Tour de France Summary

The winner of stage 6 was Healy, who was voted the most aggressive rider in stage 6. He was in the breakaway and rode away from them in the breakaway, which, of note, had two Americans in it. Healy had never won a stage in the Tour de France before. He was dominant. American Quinn Simmons was second. Michael Storer was third. Eddie Dunbar was fourth. Simon Yates finished fifth in Stage 6. Mathieu van der Poel was sixth in the stage, but that may not have been good enough to take the yellow jersey.

The overall classification is very close. van der Poel is in the overall lead by a second over Tadej Pogacar. Renco Evenepoel, with his outstanding result in the individual time trial, is third. Kevin Vauquelin is fourth. Jonas Vingegaard is fifth. American Matteo Jorgenson is in sixth place overall. Healy skyrocketed to eighth place with his great performance in stage 6.

Famous Riders

Readers who may be new to the month-long Tour de France obsession should know these famous riders. There are more, of course, but it is good to know your history.

Eddy Merckx

Merckx is a Belgian former professional road and track cyclist who is the most successful rider in the history of competitive cycling. His victories include an unequalled 11 Grand Tours. Five Tours de France, five Giro d’Italias, and a Vuelta a España. He also won all five Monuments, set the hour record, won three World Championships, and every major one-day race other than Paris–Tours. It is fair to wonder how he would have done on this stage 6.

Greg LeMond

LeMond is an American former road racing cyclist. He won the Tour de France three times and the Road Race World Championship twice. He was the first American to win the Tour de France, and he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal yesterday. He won his first Tour de France in 1986.

Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong achieved international fame for winning the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005, but was stripped of his titles in 2012 after an investigation found that Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs over his career. As a result, Armstrong is currently banned for life from all sanctioned bicycling events. He did lie about using performance-enhancing drugs, but everyone in his races used them as well. He is a warrior and still an athlete. His seven Tour de France wins are the most ever.

Chris Froome

Froome is a British professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for the UCI ProTeam Israel–Premier Tech team. He has won seven Grand Tours. Four editions of the Tour de France (in 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2017), one Giro d’Italia (2018), and the Vuelta a España twice (2011 and 2017). He has also won several other stage races and the Vélo d’Or three times. Froome has also won two Olympic bronze medals in road time trials, in 2012 and 2016, and took bronze in the 2017 World Championships.

Conclusion

Stage 6 was grueling, but there was some great intrigue in it. Everyone thought that van der Poel, who was in the breakaway, would try to win the stage. The fact that he is in the breakaway means he is going to regain the yellow jersey if the breakaway stays away. It is fair to wonder why Pogacar let him go, though it seems clear he was prepared to give up the yellow jersey because he did not want to have his team defend it. Stage 7 of the 2025 Tour de France is 197 kilometers and goes from Saint Malo to Mûr-de-Bretagne.