Racing

Tour de France Daily | Stage 18 | Huge team effort keeps Ben Healy in top ten on GC

Harry Sweeny and Alex Baudin push hard for Ben on Queen Stage of the Tour

July 24, 2025

Ben Healy held his top-ten spot on the Tour de France’s general classification thanks to huge turns from Alex Baudin and Harry Sweeny on the Col de la Madeleine and Col de la Loze.

With 5642 meters of climbing en route over three H.C. cols, the Tour’s Queen Stage, in the heart of the Alps, could have broken Ben’s GC. dream, but his teammates refused to bend. Alex and Harry pulled hard for Ben until the steepest slopes of the Col de la Loze, where Ben took over and fought his way to the summit — through a hailstorm — to hold his ninth spot on the general classification.

Alex did well to get up the road at the start. Our Frenchman wanted to attack on his home cols, where he honed his climbing talent and first saw the Tour de France when he was a kid. Alex broke away from the peloton on the Col du Glandon and bridged up to the front of the race to the cheers of tens of thousands of French fans, including his friends and family.

He came over the summit at the front of the race and raced down the narrow, sketchy descent with the breakaway.

On the Col de la Madeleine, the GC favorites attacked from the peloton. When they came past him, Alex realized that Ben was struggling behind. Harry Sweeny was still by Ben’s side, pacing him up the climb. Alex decided to wait. He stopped by the roadside, took a selfie with a fan, and then ripped down the descent with Harry and Ben.

Harry time trialed through the valley to keep the gap to the front of the race in check and then Alex took over, driving up the lower slopes of the Col de la Loze. After he swung off, Ben gritted his teeth and held the pace, grinding through the clouds and hail, to hold onto his GC place.

Read our riders’ thoughts from the finish line of Stage 18 of the Tour de France.

Ben Healy

It was  just an absolute slog of a day for me. I don't think I had the best legs. It was really just thanks to my teammates that they held me in there today and gave me the easiest ride I possibly could do until the Col de la Loze. Then, I just had to hold my effort all the way to the top. Today, I really had to try and switch off the head and set my rhythm and ride my own tempo to the top and just do the best I could. Tomorrow is going to be hard, but I'm going to fight for it.

Alex Baudin

 It was a really, really good day. I had good legs today, so I tried to go in the front and enjoy the racing and be an actor in the race.

The idea was to get in the break and help Ben after the Col de la Madeline in case the GC guys went super hard there, which was the case. Ben struggled a little bit on the Madeline. There was still a big gap between him and the group at the top, so I decided to wait, since I was not in front anymore.

I stopped on a turn in the downhill and took a picture with a fan on the road. It was pretty funny. But then they came pretty fast and we did the downhill full gas and then we did our best to launch Ben into the final climb.

The goal was to reduce the gap on the yellow jersey group. Harry did a TT in the valley, which was really impressive. I had to go full gas on the wheel. Then, I did what I could on the climb.

Ben did really well to manage his effort on the day. Even though he lost time on the Madeleine, he kept his pace on the last climb and caught a lot of guys. I think, in the end, it was a good day for the team.

On a day like this, you need to be strong mentally. The public really, really help. The whole day, I saw people I knew on the side of the road. I saw a lot of friends and family and that really pushed me. I went all in for Ben. It’s so great to work for a leader like him. You know, he is going to do a great result in the end.

Now, I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. It is going to be even more special with the start in my hometown of Albertville.

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