Tadej Pogacar has said he hopes Ben Healy “feels tired” ahead of the duo’s upcoming battle over the yellow jersey, after the EF Education-EasyPost rider became the first Irishman in 38 years to wear the maillot jaune.

IN JUNE 2020 in the south Limerick hillside village of Knockaderry, a slight framed English accented Irish man smashed a field of the country’s best home and international cyclists to take the national title.

Ben Healy and his EF Education-EasyPost team spent the rest day in Toulouse basking in the bright light and happiness that the Tour de France leader's jersey brings, thinking about how they can keep it as long as possible as the race heads into the Pyrenees.