Jonathan Vaughters, the boss of Ben Healy's EF Education-EasyPost team, has likened Ben Healy to its former star team leader, Rigoberto Urán. Like the now retired Colombian, Vaughters said Healy had a way of leading a group of riders meaning they can't wait to bury themselves to help him.
"They don’t work for (Healy) because he's the best, and they have to... because that's what you're paid to do. No, they want to help him," said Vaughters.
"Those guys want to throw it on the line for Ben. They're almost anxious to sacrifice themselves for him. So, he is in the luxurious position of not having to push for that leadership. It comes to him naturally."
When Healy won stage 6 of the Tour to Vire Normandie, attacking the breakaway and riding over 40km solo to the finish, Vaughters said it took the pressure off the team. They raced more freely, with less anxiety, resulting in the second big reward just days later; Healy taking the yellow jersey on stage 10 and holding it for two days.
Advertisement
He believed that having held the race lead at the Tour - "the most important thing you can do in cycling" and a "career-defining moment" - Healy's place in the sport changed.
"Ben went from being a really exciting rider who had won a stage - everyone kind of knew he was capable of that - and a super breakaway specialist, and with great long-lasting power, to Ben the superstar, because he was in the yellow jersey. All of a sudden, Ben's dog was a superstar."
As well as the stage 6 win and the stint in yellow, Healy was also 3rd on stage 10 where he took yellow, after a 150km breakaway. He was then 2nd on stage 16 to Mont Ventoux; beaten in the sprint for victory after a 93km escape.
And on stage 19 to La Plagne he climbed with the general classification group to finish 8th. He was 9th overall, won the combative award on three stages and was the super combative rider overall on the race; a €20,000 prize that came with a trip to the final podium in Paris.
Should Healy become a GC rider?
Related News
So, having been able to go and go, deep into the third week of the race - and clearly being able to climb - should he aim for the general classification on the Tour and other races?
Vaughters isn't sure, either way. He pointed out Healy is an attacking all-or-nothing rider. If he wasn't riding GC, he could race like that and perhaps fail, only to try again days later. But if he was riding GC, that came with a day-after-day "grinding pressure" that was the opposite of his racing style, where the priority was not to lose time rather than go on the attack.
Vaughters pointed out when Healy had tried to rider GC - at Tirreno Adriatico and Tour of the Basque Country this year - he suffered a bad day, with significant time loss, only to bounce back. And that bounce back at Basque Country saw him attack the last three days in a row and win a stage with a spectacular solo move.
"Ben has historically suffered a little bit with that kind of grinding pressure," Vaughters said. "Every single time we've experimentally tried to race him as a GC rider, he usually has one day where he just kind of explodes and can't handle it. And then a few days later, he ends up being the strongest rider in the race.
"At the Tour, we saw the first evidence that maybe he won't struggle as much with that kind of day-to-day pressure in the future. He was able to deal with it.
"Maybe Ben can be a GC rider in three-week tours, but he has to do it in the Ben Healy way. (That) might be going out and gaining 10 minutes one day and then losing 10 minutes the next, but being on par anyways."
Vaughters said Healy was the only rider in the top 10 in the Tour who rode the race by gaining and losing time on different days. And it was possible he could target a Tour GC by sticking to that style.
But trading the current style of racer Healy is - taking big wins with aggression - for a conservative rider for the sake of finishing 5th in the Tour would be a "bad trade".
Vaughters also revealed Healy's main goal for the second part of the season is the UCI World Road Championships in Rwanda.
"Ben is very focused on the world championships and we are supporting him as much as we can for that," he said. "Obviously, he will be racing for Ireland there, but we're trying to support him in his effort to get ready for the world championships as much as possible."
