Van der Poel takes yellow jersey by a second after chaotic day in the breakaway; Healy wins stage in typical Healy style

After the exciting finishes of stage two and stage four, it was time to punch hard again on Thursday. The 201.5-kilometer stage from Bayeux to Vire Normandie had an explosive finish, giving the punchers who had already shown themselves several times in this Tour de France another chance.

It was a turbulent start, with the intermediate sprint already coming up after 22.2 kilometers. In the run-up to the sprint in Villers-Bocage, Biniam Girmay let his team do the work, but it was Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) who took full advantage. Second place went to Van der Poel. The Dutchman showed his ambitions for the green jersey after his teammate Jasper Philipsen dropped out on Monday.

The intermediate sprint, therefore, was the point at which the first riders chose to attack. Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) took off, but behind them, many riders wanted to join the pair. The pace was high, so Healy and Simmons did not gain much of a lead.

On the Côte du Mont Pinçon, the first climb of the day, we even saw riders drop out. With just under 170 kilometers to go, it was already enough for Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek), while Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) was also dangling at the back. Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) and Victor Campenaerts (Visma | Lease a Bike) made the move to the front on the uphill sections, but their lead was only about fifteen seconds. As a result, everything came back together at the top.

Wout van Aert also wanted to be part of the breakaway, and the Belgian rider from Visma | Lease a Bike managed to do so. Together with Pablo Castrillo (Movistar), he had a nice gap, but when the second climb of the day began, that was the end of that story. It made for a remarkable sight on the Côte de la Rançonnière, as we saw all the big names at the front with 145 kilometers to go. At the top of the climb, the peloton seemed to have thinned out to a group of about forty riders, but later on, quite a few riders rejoined the pack.

Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) was even dropped on the climb but returned not long after. Fifteen riders then broke away thanks to van der Poel, after which the peloton seemed to settle down. However, Visma | Lease a Bike had missed the action, allowing the Killer Bees to make another attempt. Van der Poel had broken away with Healy, Tejada, Simmons, and Will Barta (Movistar), but the peloton closed in on the five riders.

Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla) closed the 15-second gap to the leading group in one go, but Visma | Lease a Bike was not satisfied with that either. Simon Yates pushed hard at the front and brought the peloton a lot closer again. Michael Storer (Tudor) then managed to join forces with Yates to make the crossing. Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) tried again, but Pogacar was determined not to let the white jersey slip away.

UAE Emirates-XRG seemed to want to let the group go again, perhaps to hand over the yellow jersey, but Visma | Lease a Bike did not seem to agree. The yellow and black team continued to cause chaos and then sent Campenaerts forward again. The eight riders at the front now had a half-minute lead, but the peloton was anything but static.

With almost 100 kilometers to go, there had not been a moment of peace, but UAE finally took the lead of the peloton. Was it finally over with the attacks? Certainly not. More riders tried their luck on the left and right while the eight riders in front still had a lead of only 25 seconds.

However, it was all in vain. For the first time, the lead of the eight riders at the front increased to over a minute while UAE set the pace at the front of the pack. The battle seemed to be finally over. What a crazy opening phase we had seen! The lucky breakaway riders were Van der Poel, Healy, Simmons, Tejada, Barta, Storer, Dunbar, and Simon Yates. The Dutchman was the best placed, 1.28 minutes behind the yellow jersey.

For a moment, the yellow jersey team seemed to be able to maintain a gap of around a minute and a half, but the group at the front was then given an extra minute. That meant that van der Poel was virtually in yellow, while the rest of the breakaway riders were only racing with the stage victory in mind.

The leading group gradually pulled further ahead, and it looked very much like Van der Poel would at least regain the yellow jersey. The Irishmen Dunbar and Healy were also busy fighting for the mountain points, with the Jayco AlUla rider narrowly beating his compatriot on the third climb of the day. Storer then joined the battle and was the first to reach the top of the fourth climb ahead of Dunbar.

Let the final begin: that must have been what Healy was thinking with 42 kilometers to go. The Irishman took off on a flat section and quickly built up a 20-second lead over his breakaway companions. It was a true Healy moment, as the EF Education-EasyPost rider had already completed a 56.7-kilometer solo breakaway earlier this year in the Tour of the Basque Country. In the 2023 Giro d'Italia, he won a stage with a 50-kilometer solo breakaway.

Although it was one against seven, it was the Irishman who continued to pull away. With thirty kilometers to go, the gap was three-quarters of a minute, but at that point, there were still 1,000 meters of climbing to go. In any case, it would be at the expense of cooperation between the other breakaway riders as they suddenly began looking at each other. Van der Poel logically wanted to keep up the pace with an eye on the yellow jersey. However, it was Simmons and Storer who broke away on the penultimate climb. They were still less than a minute behind Healy.

With fifteen kilometers to go, the Irishman from EF Education-EasyPost continued to pull away and looked set for another impressive solo victory. Van der Poel, in turn, still had more than four minutes on Pogacar, which meant that the yellow jersey seemed all but certain.

Healy's lead kept growing, making the stage victory on top of the final climb a done deal. For van der Poel, in addition to regaining the yellow jersey, there was also an important battle to be won in the fight for the green jersey. If the Dutchman finished at least sixth, he would also be the new leader in the points classification.

The latter would be a challenging task, as van der Poel seemed to be struggling on the climbs. In the peloton, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) needed a bike change, but he was still well behind Healy. The Irishman crossed the finish line after a magnificent 42-kilometer solo ride, claiming the tenth victory of his career.

For van der Poel, his tenth yellow jersey was waiting for him at the finish in Vire Normandie. The Dutchman struggled in the end, after which it was time to wait for the sprint between the favorites behind him. It turned out to be a very close finish, with van der Poel ultimately taking the yellow jersey by just one second!