Ben Healy has instantly looked at home having stepped up to EF Education-EasyPost this season and the young Irishman put in his best display to date at the Tour of Norway over the weekend.
Healy (21) went on the attack on both Saturday's and yesterday's stages, displaying the kind of form that suggests it won't be too long before he claims his first victory at this level.
Having made the breakaway on Saturday, he then attacked from it solo with almost 50km to go and very nearly made it all the way. When he was eventually caught, it was only by a general classification select group, led by Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep Alpha Vinyl).
And despite having been clear for the full stage, he surged away from the GC strongmen again with just over 1km to go before finally being recaptured and passed 100m short of the finish line, having to settle for 5th place on the day.
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Yesterday, as the crosswinds split the main field, Healy showed no signs of fatigue following his breakaway efforts of Saturday as he again got up the road. He spent over 100km in a breakaway yesterday before finally finishing 51st, in the remains of the main peloton.
Healy's big weekend | How it unfolded
Saturday's stage took the riders 181.7km from Flekkefjord to Sandnes in southern Norway. While there were nine short and sharp climbs, only two of them were categorised, and three of the ascents were on the finishing circuit in the final 30km.
Healy - who stepped up to World Tour this year from Continental team Trinity Racing - set out his stall very early; joining the attacks straight after the start and soon riding clear in a very large breakaway numbering some 20 riders.
With less than 20km covered, they had a lead of two minutes over the main peloton, containing the team of Evenepoel, who won three of the race's six stages. The 22-year-old Belgian had two men in the breakaway in the shape of Kasper Asgreen and Rémi Cavagna.
With about 95km to go, the lead group had four minutes as Healy and team mate Michael Valgren set about trying to split the large breakaway on the undulating roads and in blustery conditions.
After the EF Education-EasyPost duo had pressed hard on the front, Healy went alone with 91km to go. Though he got clear for a period, French national champion Cavagna went to the front of the group and brought him back, though the Irishman really made him work for it.
That flurry of activity saw the group trimmed as a number of riders were spat out the back. And while Asgreen later tried to split the group, those efforts also failed. However, with 47km to go, Healy was once again on the move off the front on his own.
This time the Irish rider powered clear and he was never seen by the other breakaway men again. He put his head down and went full gas across the top of one of the uncategorised climbs, with the yellow jersey group now just over two minutes back. Though the breezy conditions did not favour a solo move, the very impressive 21-year-old very nearly pulled it off.
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When he initially went, he gained 30 seconds on the chasers almost immediately. But the time he had 20km ridden off the front on his own he had 1:10 on the chasers and just over two minutes on the remains of the peloton containing Evenepoel and the other GC men.
Healy continued to ride very strongly out front solo as the gap between the chasers and the peloton narrowed and the last of them were caught with 16km to go. At that point Healy still had 1:30 in hand, as the bunch was being led by the Ineos Grenadiers team of contenders Ethan Hayter and Lucas Plapp.
With 4.5km to go, Healy was still racing his heart out off the front and still had a gap of 40 seconds on the small peloton. As he hit the final climb of the day, before the descent and then short flat section into the finish line, he still looked full of riding.
On the climb it was last year's Tour de l'Avenir champion, Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team), who attacked from the remains of the bunch. He got clear and brought the best race in the race with him - Evenepoel, Plapp, Jay Vine (Alpecin Fenix) and Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers).
As that group pulled clear, they got to within seconds of Healy and then stalled a little. Healy glanced behind and simply redoubled his efforts with another surge of power. He pulled out the gap again and forced Evenepoel to the front of the chasing group in a final bid to bring back the Irishman with just 1km remaining.
Evenepoel put in such a strong burst behind Healy that only Plapp and Johannessen could hold him. Though Vine battled his way onto the back of them, Sheffield was unable to. The group eventually caught Healy just a few hundred metres before the line and passed him with 100m remaining.
Though Healy was being passed, he did not ease off, ensuring he took 5th; behind Evenepoel, runner-up Johannessen, 3rd placed Plapp and 4th placed Vine. While the win eluded the Irish rider, it was an incredible performance by Healy; up the road for 164km in total and about 47km of that on his own.
Yesterday's stage was 149.3km, starting and finishing in Stavanger; another undulating day in the crosswinds with three small climbs again packed into the finishing circuits at the end.
This time, Healy got clear again, in a seven-man breakaway. They had two minutes of an advantage after just 20km of racing. In that group with Healy were: Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Rhobbe Ghys (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Joshua Gudnitz (Team Coloquick), Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech), Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Fenix) and Louis Bendixen (Team Coop).
With just over 80km to go, they enjoyed a lead of almost five minutes before Jumbo Visma, QuickStep Alpha Vinyl and Ineos Grenadiers all put men on the front of the bunch, ramping up the speed and shredding the main field in the crosswinds.
With just over 50km to go the gap between the trimmed back peloton and the breakaway was well below two minutes, though a crash in the bunch disrupted the chase for a time. That split the main field into four groups, with yellow jersey Evenepoel in the front section, though a regrouping soon took place.
On a late cat 3 climb, with just 7km to go, attacks from the peloton saw it begin to pick up Healy and the other breakaway men, with the last of them recaptured with 2km to go. That paved the way for a sprint finish, from a 55-rider bunch.
It was won by home hero Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) from Ethan Vernon (QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl) and former world champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo). Healy was 51st at 16 seconds, on the wrong side of some small splits in the sprint but having enjoyed a very strong weekend of racing.
He ended the race 22nd overall - some 13:57 down on GC winner Evenepoel after big gaps opened on the summit finish of stage 3. Healy was also third in the mountains classification and seventh in the young rider classification after spending 279km on the attack during the last two stages.
