The reason was simple: Ben Healy's riding style was just like van der Poel's—he'd throw everything he had into it.
When he attacked, he didn't give a damn if anyone behind him would work with him. He'd just go hard, and keep going hard, until he was utterly spent.
This gutsy riding style, limited as it was by his own strength, rarely succeeded, but it sure won him a lot of fans.
After all, who doesn't love a true warrior?
After Ben Healy and his companion broke away, the race entered the climb on the sixth lap. Van der Poel, who had been biding his time in the peloton, saw that the Belgium Team's domestiques were dwindling and that they were still unable to close the gap to Huang Chong's group. Finally, he could hold back no longer and decisively launched an attack from the main group.
Evenepoel, Jorgenson, and the others still didn't respond to van der Poel's attack.
Instead, Onley from the British Team responded.
