Ben Healy has missed a chunk of racing due to a crash injury but now he's back and ready to go, with eyes fixed on the Tour de France (Photo: Gabriele Mancini-Mirror Media)
Almost two months since he last raced, Ben Healy is returning to action for EF Education-EasyPost at Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - formerly Critérium du Dauphiné - for the next week.
"I’ve not missed any prep, and I’m good to go for the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and then, of course, the Tour de France,” said Healy, who should at least feel fresher now than he may have done if he had not been forced onto the sidelines for so long.
He crashed, during a TT recon, at the start of Itzulia Basque Country (2.UWT) on April 6th. And though he continued in that race, and proved very aggressive through the week, he was later diagnosed with a non-displaced sacral fracture after an MRI.
That meant he missed the Ardennes, which was a major blow for him and his team. But he will start his first race back today, Sunday, and can hopefully hit the ground running.
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He has already completed an altitude camp with his team mates, before a short break at home in Andorra, and sounds bullish as he prepares to pin on numbers again.
“My training resumed pretty quickly after what would have been the Ardennes, and since then it’s been smooth sailing," he said of getting back to it in late April-early May.
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"Missing those races was a disappointment, but if there’s a silver lining, it’s that April was probably a better time to have my reset before building towards the Tour."
Healy added he will take to the next week of racing with a relaxed attitude and without putting too much pressure on himself. He would first assess his form and take it from there.
“Always, for me it’s hard coming into a race after a block without racing, but I’ll be taking it day-by-day and seeing how I come through by the end," he said.
"There are no crazy ambitions for the week ahead, so it’s also about putting me in the best possible shape for the Tour.
“We got a really nice team with a few of the guys already enjoying top-tens in WorldTour stage races this season. We’ve got a strong squad for the team time trial as well, and I’m really looking forward to it".
Healy goes into the race as part of a strong team line-up, which has a number of options, for both stage wins and a general classification ride.
Also in the EF Education-EasyPost team are: Alex Baudin, Georg Steinhauser, Michael Leonard, Alastair MacKellar, Sean Quinn, and Max Walker.
Frenchman Baudin (25) was 6th at La Flèche Wallonne (1.UWT), 9th overall at both Itzulia Basque Country (2.UWT) and Paris-Nice (2.UWT). German Steinhauser (24) was 3rd overall at Paris-Nice (2.UWT) and best young rider.
