By Shane Stokes
Aggressive in his major outings with new EF Education-EasyPost team, Ben Healy has received a big thumbs up from management within the squad. Christened mini-De Gendt by team boss Jonathan Vaughters, a comparison with long-distance breakaway specialist Thomas de Gendt, he has been given a glowing appraisal by director sportif Tom Southam.
“Ben has performed fantastically for us so far,” Southam told stickybottle. “Neo pros aren’t as far away when they come into WorldTour teams these days. Ben has already shown himself well… it’s not only the fact that he’s there in the races and he is competitive and he’s able to do things, but he’s got a great attitude towards racing. He’s a real racer, and having young guys like that is a pleasure to work with.
“He wants to be aggressive. He wants to attack. He’s not fazed by ‘I shouldn’t do that, or I shouldn’t do this’. He’s not obsessed by looking at his numbers. He just wants to be in the race and giving it a crack. All the reports so far have been really positive. He’s a good kid to work with, and he’s an exciting rider for us.”
The 21-year-old was away for much of the day in the prestigious Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on February 26th. He attacked in the early stages with seven riders, pressed on later with three of them and was then strong enough to go with a number of fresher riders who got across.
They were reeled in with 16 kilometre remaining but, despite so many kilometres off the front, Healy had enough left in the tank to finish in the main bunch. He then went up the road again the following day in Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne and while he was ultimately hauled back and lost time, he showed great character in shrugging off the previous day’s fatigue.
“He wasn’t just in the break at Het Nieuwsblad, he was there right until the very end,” Southam said. “And then even when the break was caught, he managed to stay in the bunch over the Bosberg. So it’s not just a matter of just going into early breaks and hanging out there. He’s been one of the strong guys in it. So we can see that he’s also got an engine in there too, which is great.”
Southam, a former professional with Team Barloworld and Rapha Condor, said that Healy’s aggression the following day was also noticed. “It would have been so easy for him not to do that,” he said, referring to his attack in Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne.
“He still would have got a pat on the back for the for the weekend, saying ‘you had a good day on Saturday, but you’re tired on Sunday.’ But he was still prepared to go and race again. And honestly, the break at Kuurne…I mean, I think he was tired, and Julius [Van Den Berg, a teammate also in the break] didn’t quite have the legs. But had there been a bit more manpower there, that could that could have gone to the line.
“Taco Van Horn [one of the strongest in the move] didn’t race the day before, because he wanted to go on the break there. Ben didn’t have that luxury. But he’s hopefully seeing that by being aggressive, he can put himself into winning situations in bike races very quickly.”
Healy went closer to taking a victory in Milano-Torino on March 16th. Initially led out for several minutes by teammate James Shaw, the duo attacked with just under 17 kilometres to go. Healy saw on Shaw while the initial gap was established and then continued alone, building a 15 second gap over the hard-chasing peloton.
The sprinters’ teams eventually hauled him back but in staying out front until slightly over four kilometres to go, he showed how well he is settling into WorldTour-level racing.
“That’s not an easy thing to do, even if you do get caught,” Southam notes. “It’s hard to hold off the bunch. The bunch isn’t just letting you out there at that part of the race.
“Secondly, it takes a real character to be prepared to go and do that sort of ‘doomed’ move. A lot of guys as a neo-pro would be a bit shy to try and put their ass on the line there. But he did, and James Shaw was involved as well. They could easily have rolled over in that race…we didn’t have a top line sprinter, and there were proper sprint teams. But he was prepared to go and get what he could out of it, which was great.”
As recently as yesterday, Healy was up the road again in a major pro race. He spent a prolonged period off the front on the final stage of Circuit Cycliste Sarthe. And while that group was caught, the Irishman has now put in an extended strong run already this year.
He looked like he was in art school or something
Healy came to international prominence in 2019 when he won a stage in the Tour de l’Avenir. Just 18 years old, he was the youngest-ever stage winner in that event. He then built on performance in 2020 when he triumphed on a stage of the prestigious Ronde de l’Isard and then took both the Irish national road race plus the under 23 time trial titles.
Last year he put in a storming performance in the Giro Ciclistico d’Italia (Baby Giro), finishing second by just fractions of a second in the time trial, netting third the following day and going close to a stage win on other occasions. He finally nabbed the victory he was chasing on the last stage, going clear in a three-man break and leaving his two breakaway companions in the closing kilometres to cross the line 38 seconds clear.
He also finished second in the points classification and a fine 12th in the overall standings. Several weeks later, he sat inside the top ten for much of the duration of the Tour de l’Avenir before eventually slipping back overall.
EF Education-EasyPost was watching his performances and announced in October that it had signed him on a two year contract. According to Southam, the process of working out what kind of rider he is going to be is an ongoing one.
“We’re still finding out and he’s still finding out,” he said. “He can obviously do a good time trial. He missed out on winning the TT at the Baby Giro last year by…I think it was a second. He should be able to go over not all climbs but most climbs. He also likes to race and he doesn’t mind getting his getting his elbows out.
“What we’re trying to do with him, basically, is put him into a lot of different races, which he’s got an open mind to. He wants to do that himself, because he wants to learn himself what type of rider he is. This first phase was all about just giving him the exposure to the racing and seeing where he is good and where he is comfortable. And then focusing further from there.”
In the meantime, the team is starting to get some sort of an initial impression. “In the short term, with the time trialling and with his bunch ability, there’s a guy who could potentially perform in either one day races or shorter stage races, which I think will be the sort of goal in the near future. And then from there, we’re going to see how he develops.”
EF Education-EasyPost is known as being an eclectic team, comprising individuals who have other interests and personalities rather than being stereotypically one-dimensional athletes. There have been many examples of that in the past and, according to Southam, Healy fits right in.
“He’s cool. I caught up with him in the winter. He wasn’t a guy who came across immediately…well, when I saw him, I didn’t think, ‘oh, there’s a bike rider.’ He looked like he was in art school or something.
“I like that. Our team likes that. So he’s got character. He’s got other stuff going on. And yeah, he seems like a really interesting guy. I think a great addition for this team. There’s definitely a lot of character there.”
What’s encouraging is that the team seems to be very careful about not doing too much too soon. Asked why his aggressive showings hadn’t led to him being selected for the Milan-San Remo team, for example, Southam said that other riders had been lined up already for the event. But another consideration with his programme is to achieve a balance and not do too much too soon.
“We’ve already put him into a number of races that he wasn’t originally down for, with sickness and stuff,” he said. “So we also have to be careful that we don’t just ram him against the wall, keeping a mind to his future. It’s great that he’s enthusiastic, and that he is excited, but it doesn’t mean that we should put him in every big race and hammer him.”
