Ben Healy is not another Benny Hill but excels in hilly terrain

[Krzysztof_O]

Amazing ride today. Pog basically destroyed everyone except this guy, who still had the will and power to chase at the end. A new star is born, it seems.

 

[Didinho]

What a fabulous way for a breakthrough. Impressive this week.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

Healy in second rank at Amstel - great!

Congratulations to the man - if he goes on like that, they‘ll maybe award him the „Velo d‘or“ this year, won‘t they?!?

I want Healy to win the Ardennes competition now: addition of results in Brabant, AGR, FW and LBL… Healy started with 2+2, so he‘s leading currently…

So, my man, these are for you…:

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BWf-eARnf6U&pp=ygUeaGVhbCB0aGUgd29ybGQgbWljaGFlbCBqYWNrc29u


and

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rjlSiASsUIs&pp=ygUac2V4dWFsIGhlYWxpbmcgbWFydmluIGdheWU%3D
…

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Unexpected and pleasant surprise. I definitely underestimated him before Brabantse Pijl. Looks like he really stepped up.

 

[Escarabajo]

So Healy had Pogacar against the ropes at one point. Just kidding, but almost.

Funny story, I told my wife that he was an intruder in the competition that was a fan of EF and that the organization had not been able to remove from the road. LOL. She kept asking me again and again because She has never seen the guy in her life. And I kept pulling her leg. LOL. Now they used to do that a lot in competitions in Colombia and someone would have to basically remove these riders from the road.

Having said that, I could not believe my eyes when he attacked Pidcock and started to drop the time gap to Pogacar. All of a sudden I saw a grimace in Pogacar's face and I went, oh no no no. Then mister director of the race came to show the time gap to Pogacar implying that someone was pushing harder behind. the rest is history that we all know. Anyway, smart kid and saved a lot of energy by being the big underdog. As he starts being a more targeted rider things will get tougher for him. But excellent performance nevertheless.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Irish Times getting a bit over-excited, he is now apparently a strong contender for an Olympic medal in Paris.

I'd love for my cynicism to be proved wrong, but how does somebody with so little understanding of the sport get to write about it in a national newspaper?

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Irish Times getting a bit over-excited, he is now apparently a strong contender for an Olympic medal in Paris.

I'd love for my cynicism to be proved wrong, but how does somebody with so little understanding of the sport get to write about it in a national newspaper?

Well, the article is about potential medal winners based on recent events, and he is one of 5 being mentioned. I guess in that context you would.

 

[Lequack]

He's turning into a top rider this year.

 

[Potomac]

He vaporized yesterday on the final climb.

 

[rallybanana]

He vaporized yesterday on the final climb.

Healy might be the Bizarro Dan Martin....good at Amstel Gold, bad on the Mur de Huy

 

[Anderis]

He vaporized yesterday on the final climb.

I think he actually gained a few places on the final climb, he started too far back to be relevant.

Not a big surprise, though. La Fleche is a race for explosive climbers, occasionally for exceptionally good puncheurs, while Healy seems more like an all-arounder with good endurance. I've never expected him to do well here.

 

[Potomac]

That bad news is he took 4th ab LBL

That good news is he did not look happy about it.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Strong performance again today. He was probably the second strongest on the hills but was outplayed at the end.

 

[SafeBet]

New beast unlocked. It is now confirmed.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Interesting to see what he does for the rest of the season. I know he’s riding the Giro, but how much form he can carry into that has to be open to question. Presumably he’s now going to be picked mostly for WT races, given his sudden jump to being one of the best riders on the team.

It’s not really clear to me what kind of rider he will end up as, other than of course being good at hilly classics. It seemed that the plan was to develop him as a stage hunter specialising in long range attacks. The team and coaches have to be thinking that more is possible now though.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

2nd in Br Pijl and Amstel and 4th in LBL. Not a bad Ardennes week for him

 

[Anderis]

Either it's because he spends too much energy because of his inexperience, or his sprint will be a very limiting factor to him as it seems he can't outsprint anyone to the line. Actually if you analyse all of his small group sprints from this year, he was last in most of them.

 

[johnymax]

He can become the new Remco. Similar strength and weaknesses shown early. How is he as a TTer?

 

[Anderis]

How is he as a TTer?

Pretty good:

European Continental Championships - ITT 2022 Time trial results

Stefan Bissegger is the winner of European Continental Championships - ITT 2022, before Stefan Küng and Filippo Ganna.

www.procyclingstats.com

Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali 2023 Stage 5 (ITT) results

Mauro Schmid is the winner of Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali 2023, before James Shaw and Ben Healy. Rémi Cavagna is the winner of the final stage.

www.procyclingstats.com

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Either it's because he spends too much energy because of his inexperience, or his sprint will be a very limiting factor to him as it seems he can't outsprint anyone to the line. Actually if you analyse all of his small group sprints from this year, he was last in most of them.

Yeah, certainly at the moment that looks like it’s going to be a problem.

When a young rider suddenly reaches an elite level at a couple of things (in his case hills, endurance) it‘s always interesting to see how much further he can improve and if he can step forward at other things. If he improves at anything like the same rate at longer climbs or tting that would change the options open to him a great deal.

I wonder if EF has already extended with him. And if not, can they do so in the face of interest from the big bucks teams. From a sporting rather than a financial point of view, there can’t be many places where he’d be better off. I absolutely don’t want to see the most promising new hilly classics guy working for rather than against the Demigods.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

He can become the new Remco. Similar strength and weaknesses shown early. How is he as a TTer?

Well he did beat Remco in a TT as a junior...
https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=12151&y=2017&e=04

Pretty strong though now.

 

[Bolder]

Interesting to see what he does for the rest of the season. I know he’s riding the Giro, but how much form he can carry into that has to be open to question. Presumably he’s now going to be picked mostly for WT races, given his sudden jump to being one of the best riders on the team.

It’s not really clear to me what kind of rider he will end up as, other than of course being good at hilly classics. It seemed that the plan was to develop him as a stage hunter specialising in long range attacks. The team and coaches have to be thinking that more is possible now though.

Is he any good at long climbs? I’m somewhat ashamed to admit I hadn’t given him a second thought until he started appearing at the front of a bunch of races this spring.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Is he any good at long climbs? I’m somewhat ashamed to admit I hadn’t given him a second thought until he started appearing at the front of a bunch of races this spring.

I’m not even sure how many times he has raced to try and stay with the favourites on a mountain stage as a pro. I very much doubt if he’s done anything very impressive. As an espoir, his big wins usually came on mountain stages but he was a breakaway stagehunter.

 

[Tim Cahill]

 

[Potomac]

I hope EF can keep him.

Meanwhile I'm very eager to see what he can at the Giro.