Healy defends the tour at Tour de France to keep yellow

Ben Healy will wear the yellow jersey again on Thursday at the Tour de France after defending his lead on an incident level 11.

The defending champion Tadej Pogacar suffered a 5 km long end, shortly before a demonstrator disturbed the sprint finish when Norway's Jonas Abrahamsen won his first victory of the tour level.

Healy was in the peloton and crossed three minutes later over three minutes after a clumpy and relatively short 156.8 km loop that started in Toulouse.

Pogacar followed after he had touched the bikes with another driver, but was quickly equipped and the peloton decreased so that the entire favorite of the race follows again.

Healy said that he had a short conversation with the two-time tour champion Jonas Vingegaard, who was considered the title as Pogacar's main competitor for the title, and both agreed that they should wait for the Slovenian.

“Thanks to the peloton in front, they actually waited, obviously the race was more or less back there, but they could still have taken the time,” said Pogacar.

“Really great respect for everyone. Thank you for your support, people.”

Healy, the fourth Irish cyclist who carries the yellow jersey, keeps his 29-second lead without difference from yesterday for the top 10 in general classification.

“It was pretty stressful,” said Healy afterwards. “The team did a super job, even when I missed a separation early. From then on we were on the ball all day.

“There were a few attacks towards the end, but I could stay with the group. I am really glad that I managed to capture yellow on another day.”

When the stage came to its dramatic conclusion, a demonstrator who carried a T-shirt read “Israel from the tour” and waved a Palestinian Keffiyeh scarf landed to the last episode, just 50 meters from the line.

He was quickly attacked by a security officer when Abrahamsen displaced Swiss national champion Mauro Schmid in a two-man sprint for victory.

The 12th level on Thursday brings the first high mountain showdown of the tour with a summit finish on the legendary Hautacam.

After Healy had created a typical aggressive display last Thursday to win his first win in Tour de France, Healy took the initiative again on Monday to take third place on the Bastille Day phase and sensationally wrestle Pogacar's GC lead.

All eyes are directed to Pogacar after today's crash, whereby Healy hopes to extend his time in possession of the time Le Maillot Jaune.

“I'm optimistic,” he said. “I think it will be a rather difficult fight to capture yellow, but I'll really fight until the end. Hopefully I'll have a few super legs tomorrow.”