By Shane Stokes
After stunning 2nd places in both Brabantse Pijl and Amstel Gold Race, and in advance of Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Ben Healy’s coach has spoken to stickybottle about his year-on-year progress and suggested there is a lot in the tank in terms of improvement and results.
Jacob Tipper said while Healy was 2nd last weekend in Amstel Gold Race - riding so well at the end of six hours of the hardest racing - he couldn't recall the 22-year-old ever doing a six-hour training ride, apart from at some team camps. He added that was a crucial detail, showing that Healy was not a rider who was training like a professional as a junior with no room to increasing his training load and improve.
Interestingly, because Tipper has been with Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) since he was a youth rider, he has been able to see how he has progressed compared to riders like Tom Pidcock and other big name pro riders who all competed in the same races when they were U16s and juniors.
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“We started working together in June 2016,” Jacob Tipper told stickybottle. “Ben was top age U16 at the time racing crits and MTB. He was a good rider but unlike (Tom) Pidcock, (Lewis) Askey, (Dan) McLay etc, he hadn’t been especially successful up to this point. Just a good young rider enjoying the sport.
“Since then his progression has just been amazing, and constantly had me wondering if I had set him too much winter training. He would just seem to take enormous steps up every year but then, thankfully, to my delight would still continue to progress through the season, and not just leave all his form at the local (early season) reliability trials.”
Healy gave a clear glimpse of his potential in 2019 when the-then 18 year old became the youngest-ever winner of a stage in the Tour de l’Avenir. The following year he won a stage of the prestigious Ronde de l’Isard and became elite Irish road race champion. He also set the fastest time in the national time trial champs but had to make do with the under 23 prize due to rules then in place which blocked Espoir riders from winning the elite gold medal.
In 2021 he was first, second and third on stages of the prestigious Giro Ciclistico d’Italia, or Baby Giro, and secured a pro contract with the EF Education-EasyPost team.
He had a very solid first season in 2022, riding aggressively in many events and going close to victory in a number of those races.
This year has seen a clear jump up in level, with his results including a stage of Coppi e Bartali and a solo win in the GP Industria & Artigianato – the first two victories of his pro career – plus those runner-up slots in Brabantse Pijl and the Amstel Gold Race. The latter was particularly impressive as he finished just 38 seconds behind the double Tour de France champion and current world number one Tadej Pogačar.
So what work did Tipper do with him in the off season to help him get to where he is now?
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“The same work we do every year, just a little bit more and a little bit better,” he said. “I was always confident Ben would continue to progress out of juniors and U23 because unlike some of his rivals he still studied A levels. He did a lot of training but nothing maximal. There has always been room in his programme to grow, whereas you see some athletes already doing crazy hours at 18.”
He sees further room for improvement in the months and years ahead.
“Ben just got a podium at one of the hardest races in the world after six hours of racing, yet I don’t think I’ve ever actually set him a six hour ride yet, although he has done a few on team camps. It’s just been about providing Ben the stimulus to keep progressing and balancing that into the season. EF have also been very supportive of this.”
Indeed Tipper says that Healy’s team has confidence in their collaboration and takes a ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it approach.’
“A key bit of advice was, ‘keep doing what you’re doing. The biggest mistake we see is someone turn World Tour and suddenly completely change their training.’
Healy will compete in the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday and then concentrate on getting ready for his the first Grand Tour of his career, the Giro d’Italia in May.
He has said that a stage win in the latter race is a major target for him, something that seems well within his capabilities on current form.
Longer term, Tipper adopts the same position as the EF Education EasyPost team, wanting to follow a ‘wait and see approach’ rather than pigeonhole the young rider.
“I’m of the belief that the concept of rider type has changed a bit lately in the sport,” Tipper said. “It’s not just about having some special key characteristics, unless you’re a sprinter. It’s just about having a phenomenal aerobic system or mad gas, as I would like to refer to it as.
“The best riders can do it all now - climb, TT, Classics…they just have these incredible engines. And with Ben this is still just something we are continuing to work on.
“There will be some nuance towards specific events and there will be a direction that may suit Ben best in the future that we will put a bit more emphasis on. But right now we are leaving the door open to explore different avenues. He’s 22 and has the potential for more, so right now we aren’t set on any specific direction.”
Given Healy’s all round abilities and his year-on-year progress, that seems a wise and encouraging course of action.
