{"id":2044773,"date":"2026-07-14T12:52:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T09:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2044773"},"modified":"2026-07-14T12:52:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T09:52:43","slug":"ace-attacker-healy-revs-up-as-tour-temperatures-start-to-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2044773","title":{"rendered":"Ace Attacker Healy Revs up as Tour Temperatures Start to Fall"},"content":{"rendered":"
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.<\/p>\n
Soaring temperature and repeated heatwaves have pummeled the Tour de France. While some riders have coped fine, others have been less fortunate.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely not just me,\u201d Healy told Velo<\/i> on Monday\u2019s rest day. \u201cAfter the breakaway fight yesterday the peloton was just 40 riders. That\u2019s pretty unusual with such shallow gradients in the start.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was always a hard fight, but for it to be 40 guys, there\u2019s a lot of people suffering that that wouldn\u2019t normally be.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of complaining about the heat in the peloton.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Statistics from the race show a nine degree Celsius (17 degree Fahrenheit) jump in average temperature when compared to 2025.<\/p>\n
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Veteran journalist Jeremy Whittle wrote about it in his dispatches for Fausto Magazine<\/i>. \u201cIn 30 years, I have not experienced a Tour with such sustained high temperatures,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s exactly what Healy didn\u2019t want.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s convinced he\u2019s in very good form but, because of the heat, his characteristic flair has been absent.<\/p>\n
In fact he\u2019s got a best stage placing of just 61st this year and is way back in 106th overall.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a huge difference for a rider who captured a stage plus ninth on GC last time around.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously it\u2019s not been the best Tour for me so far,\u201d he admitted. \u201cBut I just have to accept where I\u2019m 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\u2019re forecast to, I\u2019m going to be there and going to be racing for a win.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThis week has kind of been just managing the energy and really not trying to cook myself before the better days to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
A host of riders hampered<\/h2>\nBen Healy and the rest of the EF Education-EasyPost team had a zany jersey for Monday\u2019s rest day (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The question of heat, of course, does not just concern Healy.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t great for a pro career, or learn to live with it.<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s a difficult one, that,\u201d he answered. \u201cI really hope not, but it definitely is a possibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m 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\u2019s more extreme methods, or maybe it\u2019s just about some long term exposure to racing in heat. I\u2019m sure there are going to be ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words, missing the race isn\u2019t an option.<\/p>\n
This year Healy thought he had done enough. He underwent the same heated indoor training sessions he described to Velo<\/i> back in 2024, took a multitude of hot baths and spent weeks after the Dauphin\u00e9 training in the Mallorcan sun.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the European heat wave, and I was riding 40 degrees every day there,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that really put me in a good place, a better place than I ever have been in the heat.<\/p>\n
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\u201cBut still not quite good enough to race in this Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s been a big, big frustration, but things might be about to change.<\/p>\n
Storms on the way<\/h2>\nHealy won a stage and wore yellow last year, but hasn\u2019t yet shown the same flair. He says heat is to blame (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The Tour de France seems set to explode in activity in the days ahead.<\/p>\n
Many forecasts show a drop in temperatures, with rain and thunderstorms on the cards at times for areas the race will visit.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s stimulating news for those who have been hampered thus far.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Healy is predicting he will be one of those, so certain he is that his form is actually there.<\/p>\n
But, given how things have gone so far for him, how assured can he be about that?<\/p>\n
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\u201cI did all the work that I needed to do,\u201d he answered. \u201cMy body composition\u2019s in a really good place right now. It\u2019s just the feeling that I always have when the heat\u2019s there. I just feel really dulled. At the Tour, even if it\u2019s just a percent or two, it affects you.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need to be at 100% to be in the mix here. It\u2019s something that I\u2019ve just felt on repetition, and for sure, it\u2019s the heat.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is, he said, the reason why he has such big swings in performances. It even affected him at a key point last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe day that I lost yellow was really the only super-hot day in the Tour,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve almost got a similar sensation to that now.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019 teams have largely been able to contain the attacks, although breakaways did fight it out for the win on stages 4 and 9.<\/p>\n
A flurry of activity would do a lot to spice up the race. It would even ramp up the pressure on Poga\u010dar\u2019s own squad.<\/p>\n
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Big drama in the days ahead? That\u2019s precisely what everyone wants to see.<\/p>\n
Sniffing out the right move<\/h2>\nHealy wore the Maillot Jaune for the first time in the 2025 Tour de France (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Predicting exactly when individual riders will get into the day\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Still, Healy has certain stages in mind this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally, from Thursday till Sunday there are some pretty hard stages. Friday to Sunday, any one of those could be a day for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then even in the mountains, if a breakaway goes, I\u2019d still be able to back myself, I think.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can pick the ones that suit me the most. But sometimes it\u2019s the most unexpected times that actually pop up, and you\u2019ve got an opportunity.<\/p>\n
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\u201cVentoux 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\u2019ve just got to be ready for these ones that that suit me, to bide my time and just take the opportunities when they come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given his near miss on Ventoux last time around, could Alpe d\u2019Huez be to his liking?<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely, it\u2019s a pretty iconic stage. And if it\u2019s possible to go for, then I definitely will,\u201d he pledged.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s encouraging for him is that he feels he\u2019s been hoarding energy each day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s weird. I start the stage feeling really good, and I\u2019ve always got one or two really good efforts in in me. But then I\u2019m just not recovering from those efforts. That\u2019s obviously because of the heat.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I\u2019m given time to cool down and refine myself, I\u2019m in a groupetto but I\u2019m feeling really good. I\u2019m actually sat there pretty comfortably, and able to ride in, just saving my energy.\u201d<\/p>\n
That all adds up over time and will, he hopes, unlock the very best version of himself<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt was the first rest day that I\u2019ve got to in a Grand Tour where I haven\u2019t been completely cooked,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I\u2019m hoping that allows me to go a bit deeper in the next two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
With other heat-phobic riders potentially feeling the same way, things could get a lot more dramatic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285193985.jpg”] Shane Stokes Updated July 14, 2026 07:27AM 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2044773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2044773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044773\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2044773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2044773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2044773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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![\"Healy](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285323449.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
![\"Healy](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2225566845.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")