Irish road race champion Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) has taken a big win and the yellow jersey at the Tour de Luxembourg, where he attacked from a very long way out and had the legs to drive it all the way to the line.
The racing - run off in wet conditions on an undulating finishing circuit in Vianden - was all-out and saw the field split to pieces in the final 40km, with Healy attacking at about the 34km point on a climb and simply overpowering everyone else in the race.
A small select group was pursuing Healy for a long time, with Archie Ryan, riding for the Jumbo Visma World Tour team this week, attacking from it and going head-to-head with Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) off the front of the chasers.
Advertisement
While those three looked like the strongest in the chase group, the attack that got clear from that group was comprised of two men; Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) and Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech). However, the combined efforts of those two big name riders could not get Healy back over the last 15km.
Incredible win - and yellow jersey - at #SkodaTour for Ireland's Ben Healy pic.twitter.com/AMCI9wgBix
— StickyBottle.com ? ? (@sticky_bottle) September 22, 2023
The Irish rider had jumped away, on a climb and in the pouring rain, with 34km remaining. He initially caught early breakaway man Bastien Tronchon (AG2R Citroën Team), who stayed with Healy but was unable to work with him. When Healy caught the French rider, they were less than 15 seconds ahead of the front of the peloton.
Related News
The Irishman tried to encourage Tronchon to work, but when he was unable Healy continued to drive away at the front and soon dispatched his breakaway companion when the road kick up on the penultimate passage of the climb through the finish area, opening a gap on everyone else behind him.
And though Healy pulled out a gap of over 40 seconds on the group containing most of the big names, when the two chasers - Hirschi and Tuens - got clear they got Healy to within 20 seconds. However, Healy held them off - remaining strong on the late climbs, including right up to the finish line to win the queen stage and take the race lead.
In the end, Hirschi managed to drop Teuns, with the Swiss rider taking 2nd place, 15 seconds behind Healy. Teuns was 3rd, just three further seconds back. Then came a four-man chase group, led in by Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) some 37 seconds down on Healy, and with Ireland's Ryan in tow.
McNulty finished in 5th, just behind Gills, followed by Ryan and then Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar Team). And while yellow jersey Søren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) did well on the final lap - when there was a regrouping behind Healy and the two men chasing him, the Danish rider slipped back again on the late climb to the line, finishing in 45 seconds and in a group with Carapaz and Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma).
After three stages - and with 23.9km to come tomorrow - Healy now leads the race overall from Hirschi, who is at 19 seconds, and Teuns, at 24 seconds. Healy will fancy his chances of putting more time into that duo in the TT and now looks very good for a tilt at winning this race overall.
More to come.
