The Irish star won in typical Ben Healy fashion, with an unstoppable solo attack 42km from the finish in Vire Normandie.

Ben’s incredible win was based on more than just one brilliant attack. He was the first rider to go clear from the peloton at the start of the day, and although his early efforts were thwarted by a very aggressive day of racing, the Irish rider wasn’t going to throw in the towel, and he was again on the move when the day’s key breakaway formed after 130km of pulsating racing.

Ben collaborated with his breakaway companions for much of the undulating stage, swapping turns and keeping the yellow jersey peloton at bay as the break crested several small climbs.

Then, with 42km to go, Ben struck for home with one of his traditional power play attacks, and when he put the hammer down, he quickly showed the rest of the break a clean pair of heels.

His initial gap of 20 seconds grew to almost a minute on the Côte de Saint-Michel de-Montjoie and on the final categorized climb of the Côte de Vaudry, Ben firmly established his winning margin, despite a desperate chase from those behind.

With each pedal stroke, Ben drew more time, and on the final rise to the line, he had the chance to savor his first-ever Tour de France stage win as he crossed the line solo with his arms aloft and an almost three-minute gap to the next rider on the road.

Read what Ben and Neilson had to say about today's win.

It’s unbelievable. It’s really really incredible and hours and hours from so many people, and to pay them back today it’s just really really amazing.

Last year was a real eye opener and it really made me believe that I could do it, and just knuckle down and do all the hard work, try to redefine my racing style. [I watched] lots of race footage watched and and it really paid off today I think.

I switched it on from the start. Maybe I spent too much energy trying to get into the break, but it’s just the way I do it and once I was in there we really had to work hard for that gap. We were on the pedals the whole day and I knew I needed to be away from that group, pick my moment and I think I timed it well. I think I caught them by surprise a bit as well.

Then I knew what I had to do, just head's down and do my best ride to the finish.

It suited me down to the ground. It’s a stage I circled in the book since the start and to do it on the first one it feels really really amazing.

I grew up watching the Tour and one day wishing I could maybe one day be there, so to even be there is an achievement, so to win a stage is just so, so amazing.

It was a little bit of disbelief at the beginning because we heard he had a two-and-a-half minute gap and we just could not believe that because even in the peloton we were all suffering a bit from how hard the day was but Ben was off the front, pushing wind, taking chunks of time out, so it was just incredible to hear the performance he was putting on out there. This why our team came to this race – to win stages – and goal achieved. Motivation and confidence are super high and we’re going to enjoy the celebration tonight.

It was pretty insane. I think everyone that jumped, it took ten minutes at least to recover from it. He was just in front the entire time. Loads of guys were trying to go after him but everyone was just exploding behind, trying to close the gap and it was only a 10 second gap. You could see him, you could almost touch him in front. He was just going so quick that nobody could make a dent. It’s just a testament to the athlete that he is and the motivation he had was really incredible. He just backed himself 100 percent and he seemed like he was just the strongest rider in the race today. He won, so of course he was.

It is the first time that I have been a part of a grand tour stage win, at the Tour de France as well. I have no words to be honest. I think Ben was the strongest guy in the race today and he deserved it so much. There were so many times where a lot of guys would've given up and he kept believing and just destroyed the peloton. It’s out of this world. The fact that the peloton split into about three pieces, just for the break to form tells you everything you need to know about how hard it was.

I asked Tadej. I said, “Be honest with me; did you struggle at all today?” And he told me that he hit his max heart rate in the beginning. So there you go.

Hearing that Ben was up there was fantastic. Listening to Tom on the radio, he was really on it, trying to find a good place for Ben to go. The whole team was super on it today. It was fantastic. It was a super, super hard start and Ben was on fire from the beginning. He made it stick. I don’t think that there was a move without Ben in it. That was super impressive.

We will carry this momentum into the rest of the Tour. I've done quite a few Tours now and getting that first one is super important for the morale of the team. Getting it already on stage six is fantastic.

Ben was so strong. He was in every breakaway that attacked. He went so many times. I can’t even describe it. Right now, I think he's more the only guy who is able to do this right now. He just has this special thing. It was just awesome.

That was pretty special. To win alone like that — everybody in the group was thinking, ‘Ben is going to go first.’ So, we had to find a way for him to get him away. And he went bang on time.

You could see, once he was going, he was really going, and he did an amazing one. From the start, he was one of the first attackers. At the first intermediate sprint, he was right there when it went. He was on it all day. He was really good. He made the break and then it was a huge fight to make it stick. It was 90 kilometers before the break went. It took a long, long time. The group was full of high quality riders. The one thing we had going was that Van der Poel could take a jersey, which meant people would look at him. We had to leverage that and get Ben in front. The world knew that Ben was going to go, and we got the moment right.

We looked for a technical part where he could get an advantage. I’d already looked this morning for Ben Healy places and found one.

Once I got up to him, he wanted to be updated as to what was happening behind, which was the main thing for him, and then a bit of encouragement, some swearing.

That was a big one, a beautiful win. Ben basically wasn't in the peloton after the sprint. That was 22 kilometers in, and I think the break finally stuck just before kilometer 100. That's already a big effort. And then to leave riders of that caliber behind him and ride off on his own, it is just an exceptional effort.

We were talking about it this morning with Tom and Andreas, about where the different options to attack were. Obviously, you don't know how the race is going to play out, but what we needed was a place where he could sneak off before a climb so that the riders behind him would hesitate because they would want to save energy for the climb. It's easier said than done. This win is a huge relief and one of very few opportunities we had. We've got one and now we can race as if we can’t lose.