By Shane Stokes
New Irish professional Ben Healy has reflected on his U23 career and says he has set his sights on taking an aggressive approach in the coming years. In a wide-ranging interview he told stickybottle that tapping into his natural attacking style is his ambition heading into the WorldTour.
“That’s what I would like to do for the next couple of years. Just take the opportunities where I can, and have the freedom to be able to do that,” he told stickybottle. “And hopefully pull off a few stage wins here and there.
“I guess where my success has come from is medium mountain [terrain], hard long days. I feel like that’s something that is only going to get better. But at the same time, I want to get stuck in into everything and see where I end up. I feel like where you are successful is kind of what you focus on, isn’t it?
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“So yeah, if I’m still successful in the pro peloton at doing what I have been doing, then I feel like I’ll be maybe a bit of a Thomas De Gendt-type rider. But maybe I could turn into a GC or Classics guy. Who knows?”
Healy came to international prominence in 2019 when he won a stage in the Tour de l’Avenir at just 18 years of age. That saw him become the youngest-ever stage winner in that event, a prestigious race regarded as the youth version of the Tour de France.
Healy then built on performance that last season when he triumphed on a stage of the prestigious Ronde de l’Isard and then took both the 2020 Irish national road race plus the under 23 time trial titles.
This season Healy’s top result was victory on the final stage of the Giro Ciclistico d’Italia in mid-June. He had gone close to success on several other stages, and pulled off the win at the final opportunity.
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.
Healy’s natural ability and flair for attacking racing was rewarded in October when the EF Education-Nippo team announced that he had signed a two year pro deal. He is Ireland’s latest WorldTour pro and will make his debut early next year.
“The first contact from the team was through my management,” he explained. “I think they first showed a strong interest in me before the Baby Giro. I was kind of biding my time a little bit. After the Baby Giro it was still a team that interested me quite a lot. There wasn’t much racing and I kind of made the decision that yeah, this was the team that I was looking for.”
EF Education-Nippo [previously backed by title sponsors Garmin and Cannondale] signed fellow Irish riders Dan Martin and Ryan Mullen to their first pro contracts. It is known for an aggressive approach to racing, something which syncs well with Healy’s style.
He reveals he had other options at the time but ultimately opted for the US squad. “I was quite fortunate on that side of things. I certainly couldn’t have gone to any team I wanted, but I definitely had a nice pick.
“I think the interest was down to a bit of everything, really,” he said. “I guess it shows a consistency year on year, and that l’Avenir wasn’t just a fluke. There was definitely interest at the end of last year as well. It [the team’s interest] was kind of a bit of everything; the win at the Baby Giro this year obviously helps as well.”
That's racing… sometimes you can't have it all
Looking back at the season as a whole, the 21 year old can be satisfied with the final outcome, but also acknowledges that he didn’t achieve all of his targets. He said that when he looked at the calendar at the start of the year, targeting a strong week of Classics races was a big ambition. “The next big goal was about the [Baby] Giro, and the third big goal was world championships,” he said.
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“The Classics was a write off because of Covid. I was flying when we hit the Baby Giro. I came close to three stage wins…there are three I look back on that I could have won, but I got a one in the end.
“I was also going for the overall but there were a few things here and there that didn’t quite work out for me. Still, I learned from that so that’s the important thing. And I still had really good form there and obviously managed to win a stage.”
The second half of the season was quieter, in terms of results achieved. He did ride aggressively in many races, including the Tour of Britain, and was prominent on the final stage. He was part of a breakaway which was whittled down to just four riders, but these were hauled back four kilometres from the end.
He went on to the world championships, finishing 31st in the under 23 time trial and 100th in the U23 road race. He ended the season with fourth and seventh in the time trial and road race respectively at the Irish national championships.
He had hoped for more, but was hit by bad luck after the Tour of Britain.
“Coming into the kind of second half the season, the worlds was the next big goal,” he explained. “And obviously nationals off the back of that as well. But I got pretty sick travelling to worlds. That kind of wrote it off for me, to be honest. I was debating whether I should start or not, but I just got hyped for it.
“I did the best I could, but I have a picture of my bike from the TT, just covered in sick. I had picked up a bit of a heavy cold. I was proper bunged up. I wasn’t throwing up the rest of the time, but I really exerted myself in the TT. I guess being in that TT position as well just made me throw up.
“Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to race but I was there and, being selected, I didn’t want to take the opportunity from someone and not actually be able to race myself.”
Although he wasn’t in the ideal position in terms of form, he decided to head to Ireland to try to retain his road race title. “I couldn’t have not gone to Nationals,” he explained. “I wanted to at least try and defend my jersey. I kind of got over the illness but I just didn’t particularly have the best legs. But that’s racing, isn’t it? Sometimes you can’t have it all.”
Stepping up and settling in
When Healy spoke by phone to Sticky Bottle, he said he had had a good off season and was now in Girona searching for an apartment for next year.
Things were a little frustrating at that point. “We are in contact with a few estate agents at the moment. But from what everyone says, the market is just awful,” he said. “It is pretty difficult to find something, but I hope we will get something eventually.”
Once he does, he will likely thrive in the Catalunyan town. It is a hotbed of pro riders, with many big names from the men’s and women’s pelotons basing themselves there.
EF Education-Nippo’s service course is also based in the town and while Covid meant that there was no official pre-season get together, being there meant that he was able to meet up with some of the coaches and mechanics he will be working with next season. He also got set up on the new bikes he will use.
Healy said that the first official team camp will be held over a couple of weeks in January. He’ll meet the full squad there and also get an idea of his racing schedule from team management.
Once he’s up to speed, he’ll aim to continue on the same attacking style of racing he has become known for. There will be a steep learning curve in moving from under 23 race to the WorldTour, but he appears to be approaching things in the right way.
“The goal is just learning from all the older guys here and getting stuck into a bit of everything. I think that’s my aim for the next couple of years.”
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