Tour de France: Advantage Pogačar, But What Did We REALLY Learn From The First Week?

Welcome to the GCN Racing News Show! This week, the Tour de France ignited on Bastille Day with a Visma | Lease-a-Bike stage win and their attacks on Pogacar. Dan’s here to break down the first 10 days, including Ben Healy’s monstrous performance to take the yellow jersey and the Pogačar-Vingegaard GC battle. Plus, he’s covering the news from the women’s Giro d’Italia and gives a quick recap of the Tour of Austria and Tom Pidcock’s winning return to XCO MTB in Andorra…

⏱️ Timestamps ⏱️
0:00 – Intro: Bastille Day at the Tour de France
0:37 – Ben Healy: beast mode & yellow jersey!
1:00 – Pogacar vs. Vingegaard: the battle for the GC
3:10 – Visma | Lease a Bike strategy & UAE’s challenges
7:33 – Ben Healy’s yellow jersey journey
9:04 – Milan, Vauquelin, and Ineos’s Tour so far
10:46 – Van der Poel’s epic breakaway & Pogacar’s milestones
11:34 – Tour de France classifications update
12:25 – GCN Shop: new merch alert! 🚨
12:52 – Giro d’Italia Women: stages & GC review
16:28 – Giro Women: Gigante is a revelation
17:09 – Tour of Austria: UAE Team Emirates’ dominance
17:49 – Tom Pidcock’s winning MTB return

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Ben Healy’s performance for the yellow jersey was stunning! Which rider or team – outside of the main GC contenders – has impressed you the most in these first 10 days of racing? Share your standout moments! 👇

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Coming up on this week’s GCN racing news show, the tour to France lights up on Bastile Day. Visma Lisa bike win the stage and they start attacking Pagatcha. But what did we actually learn? I’m going to try and decipher what I can from what’s been a fascinating opening 10 days of racing. [Music] This week in the world of racing, we learned that Mariana Voss got herself untied in knots at the Juridalia women last week. She decides to make a mid-ra change of shoes. Unfortunately, she later had to abandon the race due to illness. Get well soon. We also learned that Ben Healey is an absolute beast. He won stage six of the Tour to France, averaging 268 watts, normalized to 329 with a peak 5 minutes at 444. Bearing in mind he probably weighs 60 kg or less. That really is quite something. And he backed that up by going into the yellow jersey today. More on that later on. And finally, we learned that despite losing the yellow jersey, Tade Pagatcha is in the driving seat amongst the GC favorites. And let’s face it, the GC favorites are Pagata and Minugore. I mean, I’ve seen enough to be pretty confident in saying that the rest will be likely fighting out for the last step of the podium. What’s much harder to determine is who is stronger between the two of them. Now, if you looked at the current GC standings without any context from watching the race, it would look pretty clear that Pagata is the better of the two. However, all of that time has come from the individual time trial where Vinegar was a long way from where we and he expected to be. He lost over a minute to his arch rival there. And then the rest of the time has come from bonus seconds. Pagatar so far has taken 26, Vinegar 14. So to this point, not a single second has separated them on the nine road stages that we’ve had. In five of those nine stages, Vineyore has finished on Pigatchar’s wheel and in another a sprint stage, Pagata finished one place behind Vineyore. So they’re basically glued to each other’s wheel and it’s been very difficult to come to any conclusions as to how this race will unfold when we get to the high mountains. Now there have been two occasions where we’ve seen some separation. Firstly, stage four into Ruong in which Pagata had cracked Fineor before cracking himself just a couple of seconds later. Today’s stage was not dissimilar. The final climb wasn’t quite as steep, but Pagata’s attack lasted so long that Vindigor did eventually slip a length or two off his wheel before Pagata came to the end of his own effort and had to sit back down in the saddle. After which, nothing happened and Lenny Martinez of Bahrain victorious took it upon himself to pace both of them to the finish line. And that pace was relatively slow enough to allow the rest of the GC riders apitz roglitch Jorgensson on almost back on terms. But whilst they were at their limit at that point at the finish line, Pagata and Vinegor looked like they’d fully recovered from their earlier efforts. They’re simply a level above anybody else in the race as they have been really for the past four years. Right, let’s rewind a little bit before I continue on. So UAE’s potential strangle hold of the tour to France suffered quite a big blow on Saturday as Juel Almeida was forced to abandon the race. Bagar’s key climbing lieutenant was involved in a nasty crash on Friday to murder Bratannia and despite his efforts to continue, he eventually succumbed to the pain of his injuries. Jack Hey also withdrew at the scene of that same crash. So we wish them both a very speedy recovery. And it also looks like Pavl Civikov is not quite feeling 100%. So on today’s stage, there was a point where Pigatcha was isolated, which is a rarity at this point when the team has so much strength in depth. Now let’s dive into this stage in more detail. Two Vizma Lisa bike riders got themselves into the day’s breakaway on Bastile Day. Simon Yates and Victor Campernut. Were they there to help later or fight for their own chances? Both. As it turned out, Tish Bernote up the pace significantly with around 25ks to go in the main group with Seuss on his wheel, Oscar Hley behind that. And then behind them, Ser basically swung across the road because he couldn’t keep up almost taking Rimco a’s front wheel from underneath him. That caused a split in the group, but Yoi quickly realized they had no need to chase it down at that point. Jorgensson eventually made a move himself and that one was followed by Pagatcha. A kilometer or two later, Jorgensson went again, this time chased down by UAE’s Adam Yates with Pagat Jar on his wheel. So they had it under control, but at the same time, they were certainly under pressure. Without Almeida, their job as a team has become immeasurably harder on stages with that amount of climbing, 4,000 m. Jorgensson went again towards the top of the penultimate climb, once again followed very quickly by Pagata. Now whilst we were yet to see anything from Vindigor, it was there that they’d isolated him. Now with Campernuts dropping back to drive the pace, UAE never got a teammate back to Pagatcha. And that potentially is a sign of things to come at the race. Especially since whilst this was all going on, Simon Yates was dancing his way to his first stage win at the race since he won two in four days in the 2019 edition. uh he came into the race of course having won the duralia and by his own admission he was not expecting any freedom to get his own results here. So can we make anything of the seeming freedom that Vizma have given to riders like Yates? Well to me it does imply that they’re not fully confident in Vinegar’s chances of beating Pagatar this year. I mean there’s every chance that I’m completely wrong on that but if they were I wouldn’t expect them to allow that. I mean, yes, it means they ticked off a stage win, which is still a big thing for them, but it also means that he has expended more energy than he would have done had he not been up the road in that breakaway, but I don’t think we’d have seen anything like that from them in 2022 and 2023, unless it was from Wenard. Now, regardless of whether I’m right or wrong on that, Bisma’s confidence must be increasing with every passing day. Yes, the time trial was a blow, but unlike the Dofane, Pagatra is yet to be able to drop Vinegar for more than a fleeting moment. And it’s also clear that as a team, they are currently stronger than UAE, but strength in depth obviously means nothing if your leader can’t finish it off with a killer blow. Pagatra himself obviously is used to putting out fires on his own, and he might have to do that a fair bit over the remaining 10 road stages of this race. So, that’s about all we can read into things right now, I reckon. We don’t know whether Vinegal has more in the tank and is simply saving it for the stages that in theory suit him more. We also don’t know whether Pagata also has more in the tank. He certainly seems to be riding more with his head and his heart than we’ve ever seen before. He’s maturing as a rider and not using energy where he doesn’t need to. So, it sets up a tantalizing second and third week of racing because it’s left us or at least me guessing what’s going to happen. Now, if we look through their history as rivals, despite finishing one two in the last four editions of the race, they’ve been separated at the end of each one by minutes. So, at some point, it’s likely that one of them is going to crack. We just don’t know who. I’d love to get your thoughts on this. What are your conclusions? What have you drawn from the first 10 days of racing? How are you expecting things to unfold from here on in between the two of them? Let me know in the comments section just down below. Okay, let me wrap up some of the other events from the first 10 days of racing. And I have to start, of course, with Ben Healey. If he wasn’t already up there with the big guys, he is now. So, in the break on stage six, everybody knew that he was the man to watch. But despite that, he just rode away from them. And not only did he ride away, he continued to stretch his lead almost all the way to the finish line. From that, it was clear that it wasn’t just the stage win that he and the team were thinking about, but also a shot at getting into the yellow jersey at a later date. That quest was made a little more difficult after he got caught up behind the crash the following day, losing a minute 45 to Pagatcha, but he didn’t give up. He got into the break today with three teammates who did a sterling amount of work. He made all the right moves within it, and when push came to shove, he drove things on his own without making a single request for help from those on his wheel. And so it’s hard to think of a more deserving recipient of that Mayo in recent years. How he rode and how meticulously he and his team planned everything on those two key stages. He really really deserved that. So he goes into the first rest day with a 29 second advantage over Pagata and given his form, he’s got a great chance at keeping it on his shoulders after Wednesday’s lumpy stage around Tuloo. So well done Ben. Well done EF Education Easy Post. Very impressive stuff. He also currently owns the best young rider jersey because he’s still only 24. Almost hard to believe this is only his third grand tour as a pro rider. Jonathan Milan of Leadal Trek ended what was a six-year drought for Italians at the race. His stage win into Laval on Saturday was the first for them since Venenzo Neily won into Valterin on the penultimate stage in 2019. On Saturday, Malia wasn’t contesting the sprint due to an untimely mechanical. But the following day into Chataroo, he was and Milan didn’t have an answer as Malia kicked to the line, took his second and Sudal’s third stage win at the race. In taking second though, Milan did actually increase his lead in the points competition. Going into the first rest day of the race, he leads Pagata by 64 points. As things stand, I would say he’s the big favorite for that competition. Despite the lack of sprint opportunities over the remainder of the race, most of the intermediate sprints do come quite early. So, with the help of his teammates, he should be able to pick up a fair few points there. Kevin Vulcan has been one of the revelations of the race for Arca B&B hotels. And yes, I do say that despite his stage win last year and his great form leading into the race this year, he’s definitely taken it up a notch, I would say. although he did look like he was in a world of pain towards the end of today’s stage and I’d be surprised if he didn’t ship a substantial amount of time in the high mountains this coming week. Uh meanwhile Inos have been pretty much anonymous at least by their own previous standards. Garant Thomas joined what quickly turned out to be a doomed breakaway on that stage to Mura Bratannia and Aaronman did come very close today but Rodriguez has been struggling and overall they’ve just looked like a shell of their former selves really. Of course, it was a big blow to lose Fippo Gana on the very first day of the race, but even without him, I think they’d have been expecting more than they’ve achieved so far in 2025. Stage nine of the Tour to France yesterday was the second fastest mass start road stage in the history of the race at just a shade over 50 kilometers per hour. Uh, making that even more incredible was the fact that just two riders spent the whole day out front. Matthew Vanderpool and Yonas Rickard of Alpasind Kerning seemed to take the rest by complete surprise when they attacked at the start of the stage and it wasn’t until they’d built up a gap of around 2 minutes that the pelon behind realized it wasn’t just a joke. I’d love to have seen much of Vanderpull win that stage. I’ve got to say he really deserved it there. Meanwhile, Pagatar’s two-stage wins so far at the race mean he’s now on at least one stage in all eight grand tours that he started in his career. They marked his 100 and 101st victories in the pro ranks. His 18th and 19th at the tour to France. Right, I’ll wrap things up at the tour to France with a look at the classifications behind Healey and Pagatcha. Apool sits in third place. His win in the individual time trial got close to the yellow jersey but not close enough. He wasn’t able to follow the two big guns when they attacked today though. Vinegore is fourth at 1 minute 17 behind the rider he’s watching at least which is Pagatcha whilst teammate Jorgensson is a further 20 seconds back in fifth. Vorcal Hley Lipovich Roglitch and Johannes make up the rest of the top 10. And I think all of those rides I’ve just named have the opportunity to slip away without being chased by UEIE or Vizma based on what I saw today. And just finally, the King of the Mountains competition is being led by Lenny Martinez. His 27 points put him 11 clear of Ben Healey with Mike Woods five points further behind that. Right, just before I get on to the next races, a quick nod to the GCN shop. I’ve got a big range of t-shirts available for purchase throughout July. And there’s also a brand new limited edition Camelback bottle available now, too, which looks really cool. If you’re watching on your TV or computer, there’ll be a QR code on screen now that will take you directly to that shop page. or if you’re on your mobile, well, we’ll pop a link in the description below or you can simply head to shop.globalcyclingetwork.com. Okay, I’m going to move on now to the Jira Italia women and pick up where I left off last week, which was after stage one. So, the following day into Appria Lea Henderson took the biggest win of her career so far. In fact, the first world tour win of her career. She went clear from the early breakaway with Dilixy Miamont of Sarah Tisit who she outsprinted at the finish. I’d also put the Brit into the overall race lead in pink jersey 15 seconds in front of Marlon Royster. Lina Viebez was back to winning ways on stage three ending a 10-day drought for her and she also won two days later into Monseliche. The latter was from a small group who’d gone clear in crosswinds which had quite a big bearing on the overall outcome of the race. The day previous Sarah Jaganti of AG Insurance Suda had taken the biggest win of her career, riding away from the likes of Longo Bulgini Royster up the Valdo Biadeni climb and putting 25 seconds into them. She also moved herself up to third place on the general classification and with a genuine chance of actually winning the overall with the mountains that were still to come. However, she was one of those who got caught out on the wrong side of that split on stage five, which was really disappointing for her and for the whole race to be honest. Both Roy though and Longo Bulgini had made the front split as did Anna Thunderbreen of SD works who moved herself up to third overall. Lyanna Lipert of Moby Star took her first victory since last year’s Jira on the stage six outspring Paulina Royakers to the line and then it was on to the second and final summit finish of the race. There UAE and Longo Bulborghini pulled off quite the coup. Leader Trek Shiran Van and Android got into an early move and was actually the virtual leader on the road at a point. Moistar did look have things under control but then UAE went to the front on the descent that led into the final climb up Montene. Now I don’t think their intention was to split it but when they realized that they had they decided to press on. So with the help of Sylvia Persco, a teammate, Longo Bulggini ended that last climb with half a minute advantage over a key rival Royster with a 15k climb to end. It was still to play for, but Longo Bulggini was on an absolute mission. It was absolutely fantastic to watch. So her gap over the pink jersey hovered around 40 seconds for what felt like an eternity. Now she did eventually catch Shiran Vanandro at the front with 5ks to go, but by that point Sarah Gigante had sprung out of the main pelon behind. It was a seriously impressive move. She left everyone floundering in her wake basically. In the space of 3 kilometers, she caught Longo Bulgini and then soon after that she’d attacked her and dropped her solo to a second consecutive summit finish win by 45 seconds, no less. Once Longo Borgghini crossed the line, the clock started ticking. With the bonus seconds, she only needed Royce to be more than 12 seconds behind her to move herself into the race lead. As it was, Royceer lost 32 with Isabella Hongren finishing third and taking those final bonus seconds. It left the Italian champion a 22 second advantage over Royer going into a hilly final day. Lyanna Liper actually took a second stage win there for Moistar, beating Arander Breen to the line. But whilst her teammate Roya finished third, Longo Baggini was on the same time, thus winning the race overall for the second time in her career and the second year in succession. Royster was clearly disappointed not to win, but nevertheless, that is her best result in a grand tour to date. But what can you say about Gigante in third overall? She finished just a minute and 11 seconds behind Longo Bulini. And so despite her two dominant stage wins, she must be wondering what might have been. It does bode very well for her future though. She’s still only 24 years of age. Had iliac artery surgery late last year and that surgery has clearly worked and I’m not sure if she’s currently down to race the tour of France fam awft which is in just a couple of weeks time but based on last week’s performance that would be great to see. I certainly hope she is going to be there. Incidentally she also won the mountains prize at the jur there whilst vz won the points. Antonio Neidmire the best young rider for canyon. I’m going to keep the tour of Austria recap very short as we don’t have footage to show you but UAT Emirates had four rides in the top five on the opening day led home by Phelix Ghartner and that was really quite a sign of things to come. They won the following three stages for EAC del Toro with only Bobby Jungles preventing the clean sweep by winning the fifth and final stage around Feldkirk for Inyos Grenaders. Del Toro also won the overall classification. 29 seconds in front of Archie Ryan of EF with Micah giving UA second rider on the final podium in third. A reminder now you can watch a full season of bike racing live on Discovery Plus and Max including mountain biking. And it’s with that discipline that I’ll finish the show this week. Tom Pidcco made a successful return to Exio by winning the Andura round of the World Series at the weekend. He started a long way back on the grid, courtesy of his lack of racing so far off road this season. By three laps in, he was up to second place, eventually finishing 21 seconds in front of Luca Martin, having sat up towards the line with fellow Brit Charlie Aldridge in third. In the women’s, Samara Maxwell took the win despite two crashes and a puncture on route. Sand Kell was second with Jenny Risf in third. Right then, that is all for this week. I’ll be back next Monday to wrap up the second week of the tour of France, which I cannot wait for. See you then.