It was a day to remember for Ben Healy as the EF Education-EasyPost rider finished third on stage 10 into Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy and moved into the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, becoming only the fourth Irish cyclist in history to do.
"It's a fairytale. If you told me this before the Tour, I wouldn't have believed you. To wear the yellow jersey is incredible, and beyond belief," Healy said in a post-race interview.
Healy joins a short list of riders to have worn the yellow jersey at the French Grand Tour, joining Stephen Roche (1987), Seán Kelly (1983), and Shay Elliott (1963).
"It's pretty crazy footsteps to follow and I'm just super proud to represent Ireland and wear the yellow jersey for them and hopefully I can do it some justice."
He started the day in 11th place in the GC standings after the first nine stages, positioned at 3:55 seconds down on overnight leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
After emerging among the day's 29-rider breakaway along the 165.3km race from Ennezat to Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy in Massif Central, he then moved into the virtual race lead with just under 70km to go, building on that advantage all the way to the final climb of the day.
There was little reaction from Pogačar or GC rival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), whose teammate Simon Yates was in the breakaway and attacked his companions to secure a solo victory.
But the neutralised race among the GC contenders behind the breakaway meant that Pogačar ended up crossing the finish line 4:51 down on the stage, putting Healy in yellow by 29 seconds.
It's already been a memorable race for Healy, 24, who won stage 6 into Vire Normandie and is not only leading the overall classification but also the best young rider classification ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep).
But he said that he was surprised the UAE Team Emirates-XRG let the breakaway go on a decisive mountain stage at the Tour.
"I have some good legs at the moment. UAE surprisingly let a big break go up the road, and we had four guys in there. I've got to say a massive thank you to Harry Sweeny and Alex Baudin today; they were just incredible, and I am just so glad that I was able to finish it off at the end."
Asked if he was focused on the general classification now that he is leading the Tour de France, Healy said, "You have to respect the jersey and I'm in quite a nice position now to try and hold on for as long as possible."
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