Warriors, rivalry and rising stars: Tour de France week 1 in review - Domestique Debrief

Eleven days after the Grand Départ in Lille, the Tour de France’s peloton finally reached the first rest day in Toulouse yesterday. Though the high mountains are yet to arrive, the battle for GC has already unfolded in the hills of northern and western France and the battle for yellow should see the best riders reach an apex of performance in the next few days.

Before the departure of this 112th Tour de France, many experts were agreeing on one thing – the first week could be the opportunity for Jonas Vingegaard and his team to make Tadej Pogačar lose time before the mountains. Indeed, despite several stages finishing on short hills, an effort where the world champion is king, Visma | Lease a Bike seemed like the stronger team for those hills and for the wind in comparison with UAE Team Emirates-XRG and, despite Pogačar’s evident strength, hope was allowed for the Bees. In addition, the time trial of the Critérium du Dauphiné that saw Vingegaard finish above his rival gave hope to the supporters of the Dane, in view of the fifth stage in Caen. 

The Dutch team tried to put Pogačar in difficulty as early as the first stage, when they created a break in the peloton that made riders such as Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič lose time. On the hillier roads, we saw Matteo Jorgenson, the double winner of Paris-Nice, attacking several times, always followed like a shadow by the world champion, who seemed not to be destabilised at all. During the ITT in Caen, Vingegaard’s ambitions for the yellow jersey took a hit with the Dane finishing only 13th on the day, losing more than a minute on his main rival. 

With the double Tour de France winner 1’17” behind Tadej Pogačar after the first week, it would be easy to think that the Slovenian is heading straight for his fourth success at La Grande Boucle. However, despite not being able to put his rival into difficulty, Jonas Vingegaard managed to keep up with Pogačar on very punchy efforts, not losing any time other than bonifications. The mountains and their longer slopes could be a benefit for the Dane, who will be able to count on his teammates. On the other hand, UAE Team Emirates has suffered at the beginning of this Tour de France, with the loss of João Almeida due to a crash and the sickness of Pavel Sivakov, as both of these riders were supposed to be a support for their leader during the long mountainous ascents. 

The first real answer on Vingegaard’s capacity to overcome Pogačar will be evident on Thursday, when the peloton will arrive in the Pyrenees with the finish at the top of Hautacam.

Ever since his arrival in the professional peloton in 2022, EF Education EasyPost’s Ben Healy has been one of the most interesting riders in the WorldTour, with his long solo breakaways and his atypical style on a bike. Seeing him in yellow for a few days will shine even more light on a rider that definitely deserves it.

The cycling world discovered Ben Healy in 2023, after his incredible Amstel Gold Race. At a time when Tadej Pogačar was already marching on the Ardennes Classics, this young Irish rider astonished everyone by resisting the Slovenian, finishing only 38 seconds behind him on the line after a wonderful solo effort. Since then, the peloton is aware of how dangerous the man from Kingswinford can be in a breakaway, especially after his beautiful win in Fossombrone at the 2023 Giro d’Italia, after another 50-kilometre solo. 

After a first Tour de France last year where he did not manage to raise his arms despite multiple breakaways, Ben Healy came back in 2025 with huge ambitions. He took to the breakaway on the road leading to Vire on stage 6 with one objective in mind – winning. After a fierce battle for the break, the Irishman surprised his companions by attacking with 40 kilometres to go, once again beginning one of these solo raids that he loves so much. While his former breakaway colleagues looked at one another, Healy increased his gap until the finish, crossing the line with 2’44” of advantage over his closest competitor. 

If anyone thought that Healy would be satisfied with his victory and would just sit back for a few days, they did not know the nature of the guy. Indeed, after three stages where the men from the peloton took the win, the 24-year-old saw another opportunity for a breakaway on stage 10. Along with 27 other riders, he managed to escape the peloton and he asked his three teammates in the group alongside him to pull, the yellow jersey in sight. Indeed, his success in Normandy also saw the Irishman come back on GC, sitting only four minutes behind Pogačar. 

After yet another monstruous effort from him and all his team throughout the day, Healy managed to keep a sufficient gap to the world champion to assure himself of wearing the precious jersey on Wednesday. A first for Irish cycling since 1987 and a win for the defenders of the romantic mode of cycling, that Healy represents very well.

After a Giro that saw him quit the race early, Primož Roglič took the start of this Tour de France without a team built around him. Indeed, Ralph Denk’s men chose to bet on the sprint of Jordi Meeus, bringing only three climbers to France. One of these climbers could become a threat for Roglič’s leadership, as Florian Lipowiz is currently sitting ahead of the Slovenian. 

After his amazing Critérium du Dauphiné that saw him finish third, in front of Remco Evenepoel, the German rider sent a strong signal to his team – his podium at Paris-Nice was not a one-time performance and he is able to compete with the best when the road rises. 

After the first week, both leaders of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe sit in the top 10 on GC, as they both lost time during the first stage. With only seven seconds of difference between them, it seems that the sport directors of the German team will have a crucial choice to make in the days to come. Between the experience of Roglič and the current form of Lipowitz, the collective of Ralph Denk’s team could very well see at least one of its riders finish in the top five in Paris. 

It was one of the key questions before the start of this Tour de France. Could the changes of the Points classification rules allow Tadej Pogačar to add another jersey to his collection? Indeed, with the increase to the number of points awarded during hilly stages, the Slovenian sits second in the ranking, only 64 points behind Jonathan Milan.

Though it’s highly likely that Pogačar will score points again in the upcoming days, it seems that the sprinters will have to wait until stage 17 in Valence to be able to express themselves once again. Even worse, the addition of the Butte Montmartre for the final stage in Paris could prevent them from sprinting for the win on the mythical Champs-Élysées, making stage 17 possibly the final sprint of the Tour.

Pogačar’s threat in the green jersey competition is also an explanation for the tension during intermediate sprints. Indeed, the sprinters need every point they can get and that could cause crashes, as happened on stage 3 with Jasper Philipsen. It will be interesting to see if ASO backpedals on those scale changes in the future because if not, it could mark the end of the history between sprinters and the mythical green jersey.

Definitely the two surprises of the beginning of this Tour de France, Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Oscar Onley (Team Picnic-PostNL) are both sitting in the top 10 of the general classification after the first week of racing – but how far can they go?

After his win on stage 2 of last year’s Tour in Bologna, Vauquelin became a fan favourite in his country. Though the native of Bayeux did not manage to end the terrible 18-year streak without a WorldTour stage race for France at the Tour de Suisse, his second place was very encouraging for the Tour. The Arkéa rider fulfilled the expectations by following Visma’s acceleration on stage 1 before posting four top-10 finishes in the following six stages, including a fifth place in Caen during the ITT.

Being the highest placed French rider on GC is not an easy task, especially given Vauquelin also has the pressure of the future of his current team on his shoulders – general manager Emmanuel Hubert is still seeking sponsorship as I’m writing these lines. After a long first week that ended in a loss of time yesterday on the occasion of Bastille Day, Kévin Vauquelin still sits sixth on GC and it will be interesting to see how he holds on in the mountains. 

If finishing in the top 10 in Paris seems complicated for Vauquelin, he could very well do it by escaping later in this Tour de France, benefitting from the huge gap on GC between the top two and the rest. Whatever the ending is for the rider from Normandy, he definitely won the hearts of his compatriots even more, and the passage through his city in front of his fan club will remain one of the memorable moments of this Tour.

Similarly to Vauquelin, another young rider is currently sitting in the top 10 of the general classification, a bit unexpectedly. Of course, Oscar Onley is very well known by cycling fans all around the world thanks to his third place at this year’s Tour de Suisse or his stage win at the Tour Down Under last year. However, seeing him compete with the best climbers of this Tour de France is a small surprise.

After losing time during the first stage after Visma’s acceleration, Onley put his punchy qualities to use in Boulogne-sur-Mer and Rouen, climbing into the top 10 on GC. The Scottish rider also shone on the slopes of Mur de Bretagne, finishing third behind Pogačar and Vingegaard and proving his qualities on short efforts. The first real test of this first week on Monday saw the 22-year-old fighting once again with the best outsiders of this Grande Boucle, finishing right behind Remco Evenepoel. 

The performances of Vauquelin and Onley during this first week of racing are a confirmation of the level reached by these two young riders and it will be very interesting to see them compete in the mountains in order to play for a good general classification. The white jersey could also become an objective for the Frenchman and the Scot, despite the presence of Evenepoel and Lipowitz.