Ben Healy has been named, as expected, in the EF Education-EasyPost team for the Giro d'Italia, which gets underway on Saturday. And while the Irishman was always expected to slip into a domestique role in his Grand Tour debut, his status in the sport - and in his team - has been significantly upgraded with his performances over the last couple of months.
He goes into the Giro as part of a team that includes some big name Grand Tour riders - Hugh Carthy, Rigoberto Urán, Alberto Bettiol and Magnus Cort among them. But Healy, still aged just 22-years, will now also have the chance to aim for results of his own.
He has shown in recent weeks he is a master on the attack in the hardest races. And with his ability on the climbs and in the TT, he can expect to do very well over the next three weeks. The only downside of his recent success is he will be more heavily marked in his Giro, though that is unavoidable.
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“For sure a stage would be super nice,” Healy said as he faces into a race where his appetite for aggression should get him into a potentially stage-winning position once than once in the next three weeks.
“I need to see how the legs respond after the Ardennes. I think there are a few nice stages. Obviously, we have got a good team, and I will take the opportunities when I can get them.”
Healy started his recent run of form with a stage victory, 3rd in the TT and 3rd overall at Coppi e Bartali. The day after that race concluded in March he won GP Industria & Artigianato (1.Pro). He went on to place 5th overall at Région Pays de la Loire Tour (2.1), and then came the results that really put him on the map.
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He placed 2nd in De Brabantse Pijl (1.Pro) in the middle of last month and was 2nd at Amstel Gold Race just days later, dropping Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) as they chased eventual winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates). And in Liège-Bastogne-Liège (1.UWT) the weekend before last, Healy placed 4th.
Healy will also have Jonathan Caicedo, Alexander Cepeda and Stefan de Bod as team mates on the Giro, with Carthy and Úran set to spearhead the team's general classification challenge. Úran has been 2nd overall at the Giro twice and was also runner-up at the Tour de France, in 2017. Carthy was 3rd overall at La Vuelta in 2020.
Team directeur, Matti Breschel, said he wanted his riders to approach the race "with humility and a bold attitude" as they aimed high on the roads of Italy. “This is one of the strongest teams that we have ever brought to the Giro," he said.
"Hugh is really strong and Rigo is really on it. We have tons of experience. It is going to be a very honest race. We will have to fight every day to achieve something. You never really know what is going to happen. It is a super, super tough course, but it is tough for everybody. I like that challenge."
Breschel added Úran "brings in a lot of x-factor" to the team, though EF Education-EasyPost was also confident for Carthy's chances and believed Healy could best target success, in the shape of a stage win, by going in breakaways.
"There is this aura around him that makes people calm in a way, because we have always been able to rely on him," Breschel said of Colombian Úran, who he believed would have a positive impact on all the riders in the team through the race.
"He doesn’t say much, but when he does, people listen. I expect a lot. He is really focused and really on it. He wants to finish his career on a top, top level. That is the reason he wanted to do the Giro. He said it himself. He is super ready. And that will ease the pressure.”
