Ace Attacker Healy Revs up as Tour Temperatures Start to Fall

He went into the Tour de France intent on repeating his success of last year but, like many, heat has been kryptonite for Ben Healy.

Soaring temperature and repeated heatwaves have pummeled the Tour de France. While some riders have coped fine, others have been less fortunate.

“It’s definitely not just me,” Healy told Velo on Monday’s rest day. “After the breakaway fight yesterday the peloton was just 40 riders. That’s pretty unusual with such shallow gradients in the start.

“It was always a hard fight, but for it to be 40 guys, there’s a lot of people suffering that that wouldn’t normally be.

“There’s a lot of complaining about the heat in the peloton.”

The Tour has always tussled with the thermometer but things have stepped up a notch or ten of late as a result of climate change.

Statistics from the race show a nine degree Celsius (17 degree Fahrenheit) jump in average temperature when compared to 2025.

Veteran journalist Jeremy Whittle wrote about it in his dispatches for Fausto Magazine. “In 30 years, I have not experienced a Tour with such sustained high temperatures,” he stated.

That’s exactly what Healy didn’t want.

He’s convinced he’s in very good form but, because of the heat, his characteristic flair has been absent.

In fact he’s got a best stage placing of just 61st this year and is way back in 106th overall.

That’s a huge difference for a rider who captured a stage plus ninth on GC last time around.

“Obviously it’s not been the best Tour for me so far,” he admitted. “But I just have to accept where I’m at when the conditions are like this. The heat has always been a pretty big Achilles Heel for me. It just is what it is. I know if the temperatures drop, which I think they’re forecast to, I’m going to be there and going to be racing for a win.

“This week has kind of been just managing the energy and really not trying to cook myself before the better days to come.”

A host of riders hampered

The question of heat, of course, does not just concern Healy.

There are many other good riders in the peloton who have been at a fraction of their usual level as a direct result of the conditions.

That’s not such a big deal at any other time of the year. The Vuelta, for example, can be a real slog down south but riders can always choose not to do it.

But when the biggest, most important contest in the sport is being run off in such Saharan conditions, there are two options. Swerve the race all together, which isn’t great for a pro career, or learn to live with it.

Yet climate change increases the likelihood that this weather pattern could persist into the future for the Tour. Could that make it a less viable target for him?

“It’s a difficult one, that,” he answered. “I really hope not, but it definitely is a possibility.

“I’m just staying hopeful that I am making steps in the heat year on year. If it is guaranteed to be like this every year, then maybe we just need to look at a different approach to heat work. See if there’s more extreme methods, or maybe it’s just about some long term exposure to racing in heat. I’m sure there are going to be ways.”

In other words, missing the race isn’t an option.

This year Healy thought he had done enough. He underwent the same heated indoor training sessions he described to Velo back in 2024, took a multitude of hot baths and spent weeks after the Dauphiné training in the Mallorcan sun.

“It was the European heat wave, and I was riding 40 degrees every day there,” he said. “I think that really put me in a good place, a better place than I ever have been in the heat.

“But still not quite good enough to race in this Tour.”

That’s been a big, big frustration, but things might be about to change.

Storms on the way

The Tour de France seems set to explode in activity in the days ahead.

Many forecasts show a drop in temperatures, with rain and thunderstorms on the cards at times for areas the race will visit.

That’s stimulating news for those who have been hampered thus far.

Riders who have been stymied by the conditions will be desperate to prove their worth, and will hit the turbos once the mercury nudges downwards.

Healy is predicting he will be one of those, so certain he is that his form is actually there.

But, given how things have gone so far for him, how assured can he be about that?

“I did all the work that I needed to do,” he answered. “My body composition’s in a really good place right now. It’s just the feeling that I always have when the heat’s there. I just feel really dulled. At the Tour, even if it’s just a percent or two, it affects you.

“You need to be at 100% to be in the mix here. It’s something that I’ve just felt on repetition, and for sure, it’s the heat.”

It is, he said, the reason why he has such big swings in performances. It even affected him at a key point last year.

“The day that I lost yellow was really the only super-hot day in the Tour,” he said. “And I’ve almost got a similar sensation to that now.”

The prospect of he and other riders suddenly coming alive in week two is a tantalizing one. Thus far UAE Emirates-XRG and the sprinters’ teams have largely been able to contain the attacks, although breakaways did fight it out for the win on stages 4 and 9.

A flurry of activity would do a lot to spice up the race. It would even ramp up the pressure on Pogačar’s own squad.

Big drama in the days ahead? That’s precisely what everyone wants to see.

Sniffing out the right move

Predicting exactly when individual riders will get into the day’s breakaway is always a tough task. The Tour is organized chaos, a swirl of tactics and terrain, of alliances and rivalries, of mishaps and mayhem.

It can takes dozens of kilometers for breakaways to form, if indeed they do form, and in that time rider after rider will play their card, dipping into their reserves.

Still, Healy has certain stages in mind this week.

“Really, from Thursday till Sunday there are some pretty hard stages. Friday to Sunday, any one of those could be a day for me.

“And then even in the mountains, if a breakaway goes, I’d still be able to back myself, I think.

“You can pick the ones that suit me the most. But sometimes it’s the most unexpected times that actually pop up, and you’ve got an opportunity.

“Ventoux last year was never a really big goal for me, but in the end, it turned out to a stage where I almost won. I’ve just got to be ready for these ones that that suit me, to bide my time and just take the opportunities when they come.”

Given his near miss on Ventoux last time around, could Alpe d’Huez be to his liking?

“Definitely, it’s a pretty iconic stage. And if it’s possible to go for, then I definitely will,” he pledged.

What’s encouraging for him is that he feels he’s been hoarding energy each day.

“It’s weird. I start the stage feeling really good, and I’ve always got one or two really good efforts in in me. But then I’m just not recovering from those efforts. That’s obviously because of the heat.

“Once I’m given time to cool down and refine myself, I’m in a groupetto but I’m feeling really good. I’m actually sat there pretty comfortably, and able to ride in, just saving my energy.”

That all adds up over time and will, he hopes, unlock the very best version of himself

“It was the first rest day that I’ve got to in a Grand Tour where I haven’t been completely cooked,” he said. “So I’m hoping that allows me to go a bit deeper in the next two weeks.”

With other heat-phobic riders potentially feeling the same way, things could get a lot more dramatic.