Aero sunglasses and cut-off skinsuit sleeves – Ben Healy’s aero tricks for breakaway speed at the Tour de France

Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) used race craft, guile, technical optimisations and of course, power to claim a solo victory on stage 6 of the Tour de France on Thursday.

The day’s breakaway took a long time to wrench itself free of the peloton, and it took a lot of power and effort for the eight-rider move to establish a lead which then began to grow.

Healy eventually launched a well-timed attack with 42km still to ride, and piled on the effort under a burning French sun, finally crossing the line to win with a gap of 2:44 over 2nd place Quinn Simmons (Lidl Trek).

Healy has built a reputation in recent years as a rider who takes advantage of every possible aerodynamic and technical optimisation he can. Yes, other riders in the bunch do the same, but it’s something that seems to have stuck when it comes to Healy.