Ben Healy's reputation as one of the most exciting prospects in pro cycling was further enhanced by the tenacity, and power, of his performances over the last three weeks at the Tour de France.
The Irishman, who will next be in action at the Olympic Games road race in Paris, said he is "really, really proud" of his performance in France, where he was a constant on the attack.
And though he faded a little in the last few stages, the EF Education-EasyPost rider, competing in his first Tour, has now revealed he came down with sickness - as did many of the riders on the race - as the third week wound its way to the finish in Monaco on Sunday.
"On a personal level, I'm really, really proud of where I got to and how I raced this race. Unfortunately, I got a bit sick in the last week, but sometimes you can't help that. I was still able to help the team where I could. Overall, it was a really good race," said Healy.
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"We came into it with Richie (Carapaz) not really knowing where he was at, which made for a last minute switch up in plans, but everyone really just bought into the plan. Every day, we had a different leader.
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"On some levels, that actually helps a lot, because everyone knew they were going to get their chance. If you did your job for this guy, this guy's going to pay you back. That really, really helped this team bond.
"It was a different sort of way to race and that really helped us. Everyone was fully committed every day. By the end, Richie was flying. We all came together and that helped him get his stage win.
"My favorite memory is coming across the line and hearing that Richie won. I’d had a pretty tough day that day and was really slogging it home. We had lost the radio connection over the mountain so we didn't know if he’d won or not.
"And then people started chanting to me and Neilson. We were like, “Richie, has he done it or has he not?” When we finally found out, it was just this massive relief.
"We'd been fighting for this for almost three weeks at that point. That he could finally pull it off was just an amazing moment for the whole team."
