There are three things that are certain in life: death, taxes and EF Education-EasyPost’s Ben Healy trying to get in a breakaway. He might only be in his third year in the WorldTour peloton, but the Irishman is making a name for himself as an animator of the biggest bike races in the world. There have been a number of times when his fighting spirit and aggressive racing style has paid off: he won a Giro d’Italia stage and came second in the Amstel Gold Race last year after getting in the moves when it mattered.
Healy’s low, focused, aerodynamic position on the bike and his ability to produce measured, sustained efforts make him the perfect candidate for a long range attack. This is how the 23-year-old likes to race: he doesn’t want to follow wheels in the peloton, but belongs out front, trying his hardest to disrupt the control of bigger teams behind him. Healy will risk it all to try and win. But the nature of the sport means that with the wins inevitably also come losses – for every successful breakaway that the Irishman is in, he’ll be in ten more that end up failing.
On stage 14 of this year’s Tour de France, for example, Healy once again mastered the art of getting in the breakaway of the day after a chaotic formation phase. He’d managed the same thing on the gravel stage to Troyes a few days before, and finished fifth on stage nine earlier in the race after a day on the move. As the Tour just ticks over its mid-way point, Healy has spent over 350 kilometres in the breakaway.
“I'm not going to win from the peloton so we want to take every opportunity to try and go for the break as you just never know,” Healy explained after stage 14, a few moments after accepting his award for the day’s most combative rider.
Image: James Startt
Early on in the stage when GC teams like UAE Team Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike allowed a big move to go up the road, it almost looked possible for a rider like Healy to take the win. However, any glimmer of hope was quickly quashed when the distinctive red and white jerseys of Tadej Pogačar’s team took to the front of the race, keeping the break on a tight leash in order to allow their team leader a shot at the stage victory.
“In the end UAE controlled it all day, we went into the last climb with a small gap so we had to go full gas from the bottom to try and hold them off, but they were obviously a lot stronger than me today,” Healy admitted after the stage. The EF Education-EasyPost rider was caught on the final climb of the day by the duo of Adam Yates and Pogačar as they stormed away from the other general classification rivals.
It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last that Healy has had his hopes of victory squashed by the big teams and their superstars in Grand Tours. Part of what makes the Irishman such a good bike rider, however, is that he keeps the faith. Healy understands that the feeling of winning is worth it even if you have to try a hundred times to get there. Others riders might end up frustrated when they are powerless against the might of a squad like UAE Team Emirates, but Healy was admirably optimistic after the finish.
“It is what it is, there’s no favours in bike racing and if I was Tadej, I think I’d do the same,” he laughed.
For Healy, seven chances still remain in the Tour de France for him to roll the dice. After the entertainment he has provided and the strength of character he has shown, Healy is deserving of a reward for his efforts. Whether it will come in this year’s Grande Boucle is unknown, but one thing remains certain: he'll never stop trying.
Cover image: Zac Williams/SWpix
