Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) won GP Industria & Artigianato in Italy yesterday by attacking the select group with just over 14km to go and soloing to the finish line. On a undulating course, Healy showed his usual willingness to attack and, like his stage win at Coppi e Bartali last week, proved too strong for his rivals.
He ran out the winner by 27 seconds from Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Trek-Segafredo). Some 20 seconds later, Mark Stewart (Bolton Equities Black Spoke) led home the remains of the peloton - just 13 riders - for 3rd place.
“This is the way I like to do it. Solo and then you’re sure you’re going to have it,” said Healy after claiming victory in the 200km race, including four passages of the finishing circuit in Larciano with the Fornello climb - 2.7km at 6.4 per cent - each time.
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UAE Team Emirates rider, Diego Ulissi, attacked last time up the climb and when he was still on the front, Healy went. He made his move while the group was still climbing and was never seen by the others again. The 22-year-old opened his race-winning gap despite UAE Team Emirates having four riders in the small chasing group - Ulissi, Davide Formolo, Marc Hirschi and Felix Grossschartner.
"Before the race, when we were looking at TrainingPeaks, we could see that Ben Healy was flying," said EF Education-EasyPost sport director Ken Vanmarcke. "We had several riders that we knew were riding at a really high level and were ready to race.
"These Italian races aren’t always about who has the strongest legs, it’s also about racing and adapting to constantly changing situations. This group was really good at communicating.
"All week, they made sure that they were always communicating with each other and with us. They were on it and they were on a mission so it’s really cool to see the guys win."
