Ben Healy has enjoyed the first rest day of the 2025 Tour de France with the yellow jersey on his back, and looks set to keep it until at least Thursday, when the race enters the Pyrenees.
Healy’s success was built on an audacious stage win to Vire Normandie on stage 6, after which he kept his general classification gap to Tadej Pogačar to a manageable level.
He then set out in search of another stage win on Bastille Day – but fate (plus accommodating tactics from the main GC players) had an upgrade in store as he switched focus once taking the yellow jersey became a realistic prospect.
Generally regarded as a breakaway specialist who zeroes in on specific stages, Healy has earned a reputation as one of the most detail-oriented riders in the pro peloton, with tech tricks up his sleeve maximising his chances of success.
Here’s how he set himself up for success before he’d turned a pedal stroke on Bastille Day.
Helmet choice
Healy is notorious for donning a time-trial style helmet in road races.
For his stage victory on stage six, he wore the POC Procen Air, clearly feeling that the aerodynamic gains of its larger shape and ear covers outweighed the decreased ventilation and increased weight.
It’s hard to argue with that logic given the result, with the helmet still providing essential ventilation through its manipulation of the Venturi effect (whereby a low-pressure area behind the helmet effectively ‘pulls through’ higher pressure air from the front).
That said, when he claimed the yellow jersey on stage 10, Healy chose to wear the Cytal Carbon – a more traditional aero road helmet, which features far larger openings for ventilation, on a day when temperature regulation was paramount for the eight categorised climbs.
“Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need… roads”
Healy has also played with his eyewear choices during the race, we presume for more than purely aesthetic purposes (albeit he's cutting Doc Brown, Back to the Future vibes, I think).
He claimed yellow wearing the POC Elicit Toric sunglasses, which – while distinctive-looking and lightweight – are fairly standard fare. Handily, on the day, these left a sizeable gap between the brow of the Cytal Carbon helmet and the top of the lens, likely improving cooling.
The Procen Air lid usually sports a dedicated visor for aerodynamics, but while he’s used this before, Healy instead opted for POC’s Propel sunglasses, tucking the arm socks under the ear covers.
In theory, this may have offered Healy a little extra ventilation, or it may simply be personal preference.
Either way, Healy’s aero-tuck riding position is important here, his dropped head helping to give him a more TT-like riding position, and reducing his frontal area while pushing off the front alone.
Aero still matters in the mountains
When taking yellow on the mountainous stage 10, Healy could have chosen lighter climbing wheels. Instead, though, he stuck with the Vision Metron 60 SL wheels, with 60mm-deep rims, when he could have chosen the shallower 45mm-deep alternatives.
The conundrum of aerodynamics versus weight has long been posed, but Healy clearly felt the 100g claimed weight penalty was a worthwhile trade-off for the improved air management the deeper rims should offer.
Remember, Healy is widely listed as weighing around 65kg, and at 175cm tall squeezes onto a size-51cm Cannondale SuperSix Evo Lab71 – a bike that shouldn’t struggle to hit the UCI’s 6.8kg minimum bike weight limit.
As a result, it’s quite possible that the deeper, heavier wheels were an automatic choice, given the likelihood the bike could have been close to the weight limit with them.
Even if the bike was in the region of 7kg, though, the aerodynamic benefit of the more aerodynamic rims may still have been the faster choice overall.
Skinsuit mods
Healy generally opts to wear a skinsuit in road races, like many other pros, preferring the more slippery aerodynamics attributed to their one-piece design.
His suit of choice for his tilt at stage 6 was the Rapha Pro Team TT Aero suit, which features waffled fabrics and taped seams for optimal aerodynamics. This is available only in a long-sleeve variant.
Compare this to the choice made by teammates Alex Baudin, Neilson Powless and Harry Sweeny, who opted for the Pro Team Blaero and Pro Team Roadsuit. These come with short sleeves.
You will, of course, note that Healy’s TT Aero suit also has short sleeves, thanks to judicious use of scissors to cut the arms to size. It’s unknown whether Healy had tested the concept before the race to see if the modified skinsuit was, in fact, faster than the native short-sleeved suits – but in the search for every small gain, it’s not unlikely, while improving cooling.
It’s worth noting that Healy’s suit might be a prototype version, given it had pockets sewn on, as opposed to the commercially available suit, which has a sewn-in number pouch.
Also, don’t underestimate the power of psychology here – if Healy believed it was faster, all things being equal, that might have conferred a small (if largely intangible) benefit.
The man isn’t a heathen, though: he was sure to keep the national bands marking him out as a former National Road Race champion.
For stage 10, Healy switched to the Rapha Pro Team Summer Roadsuit, complete with native short sleeves, probably for its improved ventilation.
Hydration
Hydration is a key component of performance, and judging by the salt marks deposited on the legs of his skinsuit, it’s fair to say Healy’s dialled in his hydration strategy with his team.
Of course, it’s impossible to know Healy’s exact requirements, but it’s worth bearing in mind that everyone’s salt balance is different – one rider can sweat far more or less than another, and with different concentrations of salts (considering the body’s natural homeostasis and in-moment hydration level).
It’s likely that Healy and his EF Education-Easypost team’s nutritionists carry out daily assessments of the conditions expected during the race, underpinned by an understanding of Healy’s general sweat rate, to inform their fueling and hydration strategies.
Optimal positioning
Healy’s riding position is optimised for aerodynamic efficiency, exhibiting the kind of aero tuck that most everyday riders can only dream of.
He’ll often choose to ride on the tops, with elbows at 90 degrees and forearms almost parallel to the floor.
Also note how his hands effectively rest on the cantered-in lever hoods, to allow his wrists and lower forearms to rest on the Vision handlebar. Importantly, this doesn’t contravene the UCI’s outlawing of the ‘puppy paws’ posture, given Healy grasps the hoods.
This helps reduce his frontal area by tucking the arms inside the silhouette of his torso, while his shoulders are shrugged to further cut his profile in the wind.
Time trial tyres
Tyres have been a hot topic in recent years, and Healy has opted to use Vittoria Corsa Pro Speed TLR rubber.
These feature Vittoria’s well-regarded 320 TPI (threads-per-inch) cotton casing, but are lighter and faster than the all-round Corsa Pro TLR tyres, thanks to reduced puncture protection.
It’s a well-trodden path now, but most pro riders tend to opt for more fragile tyres rather than all-rounders, reasoning that the rolling resistance gains are worth the added risk of puncturing – especially when a wheel swap is just a moment away for a high-profile rider such as Healy.
Aero socks and shoes
Healy uses Nimbl Ultimate Air lace-up cycling shoes and Rapha aero socks.
The socks feature trip lines, which help to create a turbulent boundary layer of air over the lower part of the leg, enabling it to slip through more easily.
The lace-up shoes are an interesting choice – Healy could be capitalising on the theory that laces are a more aerodynamic option versus using Boa dials (something Specialized agrees with). These are said to weigh only 334g for the pair in a size EU43.
This, of course, comes with the inevitable downside that Healy can’t tighten them on the move. Given he’s a relatively small rider, he might not feel he needs to because of his power output.
However, there are those who would argue that laces offer greater levels of comfort versus Boa dials, which Healy may appreciate.
Waxed chain
In the search for every mechanical gain, Healy has also been using a waxed chain.
Waxed chains are generally regarded as offering the least friction of all drivetrain lubrications, albeit they are notably more labour-intensive to apply (and strip and re-apply).
Spare a thought for Healy’s mechanic, then, although we’re sure it’ll all have been worth it when he lines up for stage 11 in the yellow jersey.
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