Undoubtedly one of the riders of the first 10 days, Healy brought the world's greatest race to life. The Irishman lived up to his reputation as a tireless attacker, always ready to impose himself.
It took him just six stages to find the opening. The day after the time trial, he took part in a breakaway of strong riders who were given an exit ticket, and then bid goodbye to his fellow attackers by going off on his own with 40km to go. No one would see the machine again, then he raised its arms in Vire-Normandie.
It was a fine reward for one of the most offensive riders in the peloton. Often on the attack, rarely rewarded. Until now, his main victory was stage eight of the Giro d'Italia 2023, and of course, it was won solo. That came just after a second place in the Amstel Gold Race and a fourth in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Already a fine collection of finishes.
But while he had picked up a few stages on secondary tours since then, he hadn't found his way back to victory at World Tour level until the Tour of the Basque Country in April. And even when you arrive at the Tour de France in good form, there's no guarantee of a stage win, especially given the huge competition on the Grande Boucle.
Nevertheless, he undoubtedly benefited from a stroke of luck when his teammate Richard Carapaz was forced to withdraw due to illness.
Third in the Giro d'Italia and the polka-dot jersey in the 2024 Tour de France, the Ecuadorian could have been aiming for either of these results, but his absence reshuffled the cards for the American team. With no real overall leader, EF Education-EasyPost presented a steady team in which Healy appeared to be the best rider.
This no doubt explains why his team didn't hesitate to call on the services of Harry Sweeny and Alex Baudin when he broke away on stage 10 on Monday. The two teammates did a phenomenal job all day long, but he wasn't sparing with his efforts either, holding off all the other favourites to take third place, just missing out on a stage victory.
But of course, the objective was different: Healy did the work to take the yellow jersey. With less than four minutes to Tadej Pogacar in the general classification at the start of the stage, the objective was achievable, and it was won. At the cost of a great effort, of course, but now that he has it and will probably keep it for at least another 48 hours, it's time to play the favourite game of Tour de France lovers: Can he win the Grande Boucle?
'No' is the first answer that springs to mind. It's hard to envisage victory, or even a podium finish in Paris, for a rider who has clearly never proved himself enough in the mountains.
Last year, he did no better than 16th place in the finish at Plat d'Adet. However, he was in a different role then, focusing only on fighting for stages, and has yet to be a general classification contender.
After he took the yellow jersey, the change in status was already clear in his statements: "From now on, I'm going to concentrate on the general classification, out of respect for the Yellow Jersey, and try to keep it for as long as possible."
Nevertheless, this optimism needs to be tempered. Apart from the lack of references in the very high mountains, his team doesn't seem cut out for this objective. Baudin and Sweeny are valiant teammates who will no doubt be of great service to him, but the rest (Vincenzo Albanese, Neilson Powless, Kasper Asgreen and Michael Valgren) are not necessarily cut out for the mountains.
And, of course, there's the question of the level of Healy himself.
We can't imagine him being on a par with Tadej Pogacar or Jonas Vingegaard, who remain the overwhelming favourites. But objectively speaking, third place is still very much a possibility. Even if Remco Evenepoel remains the number one candidate for this final podium spot, nobody is totally impressive at this early stage of the race.
So what's a realistic target for the Irishman? There's no reason why he shouldn't be involved in the battle for the podium. And with the extra energy that a yellow jersey can provide (there have been so many examples, such as Thomas Voeckler in 2011, to name but one of the best known), and with only 27 days of racing in his legs in 2025 before the Tour started, it's easy to imagine - and we've seen it already - that his condition is optimal.
At 24 years of age, and with a build that looks optimal on paper (5'9, 65 kg), we could well be witnessing the explosion of Ben Healy. 38 years after Stephen Roche, could we see another Irishman in the Hall of Fame?