Thymen Arensman narrowly missed securing a stage win in his Tour de France debut on Monday. The Dutchman finished second in a challenging mountain stage, behind Giro winner Simon Yates. Ben Healy claimed the yellow jersey.
Arensman and Yates were part of a breakaway group of 29 riders on the French national holiday, Quatorze Juillet. The two climbers battled on the final climb to Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy, with the British rider from Visma-Lease a Bike winning. Arensman finished nine seconds behind.
Healy finished third, 31 seconds behind, and took the lead in the general classification from Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian finished with Jonas Vingegaard, 4 minutes and 51 seconds behind Yates, while Healy was 3 minutes and 55 seconds behind. The 24-year-old climber from EF Education-EasyPost is the first Irish rider to wear the yellow jersey since Stephen Roche in 1987.
Visma-Lease a Bike tried to put Pogacar under pressure in the finale, but the first mountain stage of this Tour did not create any time differences between Pogacar and Vingegaard. Remco Evenepoel lost six seconds to the two top favorites. In the overall standings, Healy leads Pogacar by 29 seconds, Evenepoel by 1 minute and 29 seconds, and Vingegaard by 1 minute and 46 seconds.
The riders will have the first rest day of this Tour on Tuesday. The race continues on Wednesday with a hilly stage around Toulouse. After that, the peloton heads into the Pyrenees.
Arensman is attentive and joins breakaway of 29
Arensman predicted before the stage that 90 percent of the peloton would want to be in the breakaway on Monday. The course, with 4,500 meters of elevation gain and seven category two climbs, was inviting for attackers. Plus, it was the French national holiday and the last stage before the rest day.
The 25-year-old Arensman was attentive in the Massif Central and joined a breakaway group of 29 riders. Visma-Lease a Bike sent Yates and Victor Campenaerts ahead as domestiques for leader Vingegaard. UAE Team Emirates decided, as usual, to have their helpers ride at the front of the peloton for Pogacar.
The breakaway’s lead steadily increased to nearly six minutes, despite the work of UAE. Frenchman Lenny Martinez took the opportunity to collect mountain points and take the polka dot jersey from Tim Wellens. The 22-year-old climber follows in the footsteps of his grandfather Mariano Martinez, who won the mountain classification in the Tour 47 years ago.
Yates immediately attacks on final climb
Martinez didn’t have enough energy left to go for the stage win. Arensman remained at the front in the finale. The Dutchman started the penultimate climb, the Col de la Croix Saint-Robert, with Yates, Healy, Michael Storer, and Ben O’Connor with 15 kilometers to go. Healy was virtually in the yellow jersey at that moment and did a lot of work at the front.
At the foot of the final climb (3.3 kilometers at 8 percent), Yates took advantage of all that work. The Giro d’Italia winner accelerated and O’Connor followed. Arensman gritted his teeth and rejoined, but had to let go briefly after a second acceleration from Yates.
Arensman kept Yates in sight, but couldn’t catch the Brit. Yates took his third stage win in the Tour, after two victories in 2019.
So it was a good day for Visma-Lease a Bike, although Vingegaard didn’t manage to put Pogacar behind. The Dutch team did try, with Sepp Kuss and Matteo Jorgenson accelerating several times from the group of favorites. Pogacar didn’t budge, although he did lose the yellow jersey.