Racing
Squad used uphill time trial as an opener for tomorrow’s Tour de France battle royale over the Tourmalet
July 18, 2025
After two days in the yellow jersey, and with two monumental stages in the Pyrenees coming up, our squad used the stage 13 time trial up Peyragudes to consolidate their efforts thus far and sharpen their legs for the mountains ahead.
Harry Sweeny showed that he is in flying form and has recovered well from the huge turn he did yesterday for Ben. Harry came over the summit of the 10.9-km climb in 15th place. Big Rig’s engine is revving up.
Ben Healy danced up the Peyragudes to the roar of the tens of thousands of new fans he has made over the past week. He may not be in the yellow jersey anymore, but he is determined to race this Tour all the way to Paris. The weather in the Pyrenees is about to turn wet and cool and Ben likes the look of the stages coming up.
Tomorrow, we take on one of the hardest in the race. Stage 14 is a Tour de France classic, crossing the Col du Tourmalet, Col d’Aspin, and Col de Peyresourde, before the summit finish up Luchon-Superbagnères. With over 5000 meters of climbing en route, it is going to be brutal.
Read our riders’ thoughts from the summit of the Peyragudes.
Harry Sweeny
I was kind of umming and awwing, but then big boss said I should go full gas, so I went full gas. That ‘no-chain’ day I had at Suisse wasn’t what I had today. I don’t really operate too well on rest days, so there wasn’t really much to lose by going hard anyways. It took me a little while to get going this Tour, to be honest. I was hoping to hit the ground running, particularly after the first day of the crosswinds, but I didn’t really have the legs I was hoping for in the days after that. Now, I have found my legs. I had a reason to go hard with Ben, and I’m pretty happy with what we’ve accomplished so far.
We are going to take our days easy when we can and hard days when we need to. There are a few days coming up that suit us really well for the breakaway. I think we still have a lot left to show. We’ve got a lot still to give in the rest of this Tour, so I’m excited to see what we can do.
Neilson Powless
The climb was really nice until the last 500 meters. The last 500 meters was just like hitting a wall. I was pushing 450 watts just to keep moving. For the GC guys at the end of a full-gas time trial, that hurt the legs for sure.
I just tried to keep it at a steady tempo and not go over my limit and just mentally prepare myself for the next few days.
The fans were a bit more relaxed than they were yesterday, but there were still plenty of people out there.
With it being a mountain TT, it’s a long day out for them. It was a nice crowd, cheering us on. I threw a bottle to one of the kids up the climb, and he was stoked.
So, it was a good day!
Ben Healy
My TT was pretty nice actually. I got to take it a bit steady. We said yesterday that if I want to look for some more stages rather than a GC, I need to lose a bit of time and rest on the TT. This was the perfect way to do it. The crowds were amazing. It’s pretty incredible to see the number of people that are out the road. It’s a bit of a mission for them to get out here, so it’s cool to see everyone out. A hard day’s rain is coming tomorrow. You know what that means.