Tour de France 2025: Ben Healy fires his weapon in Normandy

Suddenly, on a low wall in Clécy (Calvados), an inscription reads: "War on War." The Tour de France riders probably didn't see it. Or they didn't pay attention. Traveling between Bayeux and Vire on Thursday, July 10, they were precisely in the process of crossing swords to try to join the breakaway. The sixth stage was one of the rare ones promised to the adventurers, those couriers who fear neither kilometers nor slopes, as long as they can cover them with their noses in the wind. Slopes, in Normandy? Yes, and not just a few. Between the hedges of the Bessin or the fir trees of Petite-Suisse, the road never stopped kicking. A stage to drive a spirit level crazy. "With 3,500 meters of elevation gain, there's a chance of seeing a race of movement," local Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet predicted before the start of the Tour. We were not disappointed.

Sometimes, war takes on the appearance of justice. The day's winner, Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), after a solo 40-km ride, was also one of the very first attackers. He had kicked off hostilities with another usual