Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) may have spent Sunday in bed after his epic ride to 4th place at Strade Bianche the previous day, but the Irish rider was well and truly awake for the opening TT yesterday at Tirreno Adriatico.
He admitted the full-gas 13-minute ride, on a completely flat course, was a shock to the system after the five-hour battle over the white roads into Siena 48 hours earlier. But he was content with his 20th place; the opener to what is the first major stage race of his career where he is targeting general classification.
"I'm over the moon with 4th at Strade and I'll definitely be back for more another year as well," he said of putting in one of the best performances of his career, finishing behind podium finishers Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) and Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
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Healy joked it was "pretty difficult" to switch from classics mindset on Saturday to such a short sharp TT yesterday, adding Sunday "was a day in bed for me and thankfully I just about came around for today".
"It was pretty horrible, it's just flat-out, 13 minutes of pain. And I definitely still felt it in the legs after Strade, I really had to dig deep there I think," he said of 20th place in the Tirreno TT, some 47 seconds down on stage winner Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers).
"I'm satisfied with that, not my best, best TT but for sure a solid one. This is the first time really going for a GC in a big stage race. And I'd be really happy with the top 10 overall, that would be the goal for this week."
