Yates wins stage 10 of the Tour de France, giving Healy the new leader.

Britain's Simon Yates won the first mountainous stage of the Tour de France yesterday, while Ireland's Ben Healy took solace in the yellow jersey.

Healy was nominated as the day's most combative rider after taking the lead on stage 10, but Yates, who won the Giro d'Italia last month, timed his breakaway perfectly on the final climb to win a stage for the third time.

“It’s been a long time, but I didn’t really expect many opportunities here,” said Yates, a teammate of two-time champion Jonas Vingegaard.

“We came here completely focused on Jonas and the general classification, so the stage developed in a way that allowed me to be there for the stage. I took advantage of it with both hands,” Yates said.

Dutch cyclist Thymen Arensman finished nine seconds behind, while Healy finished third, 31 seconds behind Yates.

Three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar finished further back, along with his main rival Vingegaard and French rider Lenny Martinez, by a margin of four minutes and 51 seconds. This meant that Healy, who won his first stage on Thursday, took the overall lead, 29 seconds ahead of Pogacar.

“It’s a fairy tale,” said Healy, the fourth Irish cyclist to wear the yellow jersey.

Remco Evenepoel was third, 1'29" behind, and Vingegaard was 1'46" behind in fourth. "I'm still behind and I have to make up time at some point," said Vingegaard, who remained positive that Pogacar wasn't too far ahead. "So far, I've been able to follow all of his attacks, which I wasn't able to do at the Critérium du Dauphiné," Vingegaard said, referring to the event leading up to the Tour.

“I think this shows that I'm at a better level now than I was at the Dauphiné.”

Stage 10 took the riders on a grueling 165.3-kilometer route through the Massif Central, the mountainous region of south-central France. The course began in Ennezat and featured seven category two climbs before concluding with the ascent to Puy de Sancy—the highest peak in the region—after 3.3 kilometers of an 8% gradient. Today will be a rest day.