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

[HelloDolly]

Well he has had little or no support in Amstel , La Flethce and particularly at LBL from the team....Everyone else MIA ...I know Chaves was therabouts at La Fletche but everywhere else Healy was riding alone

Healy had to expend so much energy in positioning alone that it is not wonder he cant sprint although sprinting is not his strong suite

He seems like a tough little *** who can TT ...I quite fancy him as the new Thomas De Gendt

But he can TT pretty well so maybe a GC recruit depends on what he is like over 3 weeks . But I hope not as there are too many riders vying for 8th place in a Grand Tours

 

[happytramp]

Agreed. I'd much rather see him go for a stage win than trying to cling on and grind out a top 10 finish... It's funny, I genuinely have no idea how good he is at climbing.

 

[yaco]

I wouldn't take him to the Giro as i feel his exertions during the spring will affect his performance at the Giro - Better to wait for the TDF or the Vuelta.

 

[Breezy1985]

I wouldn't take him to the Giro as i feel his exertions during the spring will affect his performance at the Giro - Better to wait for the TDF or the Vuelta.

Well doing the Giro doesn't rule him out of the Vuelta

 

[search]

Ben Healy doesn't seem to follow this thread, unfortunately. Before Liège, he had never heard the wordplay "Ben Healy loves hilly classics"

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmlXYgRAyDA


It also works better with a French accent, to be honest. "Healy classics!"

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

He's not Jeff Healey neither
He's able to see moments and seizes them using his capabilities.
Regarding L-B-L I don't think he could've done much different.
His high cadance soft pedaling and seemingly endless stamina to me seems to suit very high mountain acents much better than puncheur classics.

Two months ago I didn't know anything about him
His almost imperceptible entrance as a blind passenger has amazed me just as much as Vingegaard's apperance in his first Tour de Pologne.

 

[Potomac]

HIgh mountain accents?

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

HIgh mountain accents?

Writing on mobile late nights give birth to wonderful new terms

 

[Potomac]

Here's an interesting piece from PCS about Healy and his Giro chances.

Giro 2023; Ben Healy can finish on the podium in Rome

Ben Healy is the revelation of the season so far. Although he booked no major results so far in stage races, we expect he is able to achieve a podium result in the Giro d'Italia.

www.procyclingstats.com

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

He only lost a few seconds to Pogacar and Evenepoel when they attacked in the high mountains of Amstel and Liège. So why not.

 

[Potomac]

They write in that PCS article "..we expect his able to achieve a podium result..."

That is some serious word salad. Expect he is able to? WTF does that mean?

 

[Potomac]

And for the record, I picked Healy to win it in the prediction thread.

 

[tobydawq]

They write in that PCS article "..we expect his able to achieve a podium result..."

That is some serious word salad. Expect he is able to? WTF does that mean?

They are probably a bit better with numbers than with words.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

I guess I‘ve called him Irish De Gendt so he‘ll obviously go and podium the Giro. Let‘s hope the racing isn‘t as bad as 2012.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

They write in that PCS article "..we expect his able to achieve a podium result..."

That is some serious word salad. Expect he is able to? WTF does that mean?

When am I getting job as a cycling journalist ? I think i could do a very good job

 

[HelloDolly]

When am I getting job as a cycling journalist ? I think i could do a very good job

You would only interview Masnada and no other rider

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

They are probably a bit better with numbers than with words.

They would need some funky numbers to juggle with in order to conclude Healy can podium the Giro. Feel free to look up his best climbing results on halfway decent climbs against decent opposition. Lost 11+ minutes to G. Martin in the queen stage of Tour de l'Ain '22. Lost 11+ minutes to Evenepoel on Gaustatoppen in Norway '22. Lost 7+ minutes to Higuita in the queen stage of Romandie '22. Basically their conclusion is based on his increased points (due to results in hilly races) and some TT results. So i'm not convinced they are better with numbers.

Unless by "podium in Rome" they mean he is going to contest the sprint on the final day and finish top 3.

 

[tobydawq]

They would need some funky numbers to juggle with in order to conclude Healy can podium the Giro. Feel free to look up his best climbing results on halfway decent climbs against decent opposition. Lost 11+ minutes to G. Martin in the queen stage of Tour de l'Ain '22. Lost 11+ minutes to Evenepoel on Gaustatoppen in Norway '22. Lost 7+ minutes to Higuita in the queen stage of Romandie '22. Basically their conclusion is based on his increased points (due to results in hilly races) and some TT results. So i'm not convinced they are better with numbers.

Unless by "podium in Rome" they mean he is going to contest the sprint on the final day and finish top 3.

I think their point is that 'first good GC result' is difficult to predict, generally. And that some riders have come out of more of a nowhere than Healy going into the Giro, this year, and done a good GC.

I have really not paid attention to him before March and was a little surprised at how good his TTing is.

Yet, I don't think he will be able to podium...

 

[Samu Cuenca]

The difference between the 2022 and '23 versions of Healy is so immense that it doesn't make sense to use past results as a reference. But with a lot more proven GC riders on the start list, I also very much doubt he'll be able to podium, but stranger things have happened. However there's also a chance that his form has peaked, and he'll be far from his best in three weeks time.

If I were him, I'll target a stage win, and then we'll if he can develop into a GC threat in the future. But if he has the legs, then he should of course just go for it now, cause who knows if he will ever get back to such a level again.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

When am I getting job as a cycling journalist ? I think i could do a very good job

I wouldn't go as far as saying the people beind PCS are journalists.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Just goes to show that you can deduce almost anything using statistics. If they (PCS) threw in some other variables, like, having ever completed a grand tour, I guess the numbers would come out different.
A great website is the spurious correlations one:

where you can clearly see that the number of pool deaths depends on how many movies Nicolas Cage appears in.

 

[Anderis]

They would need some funky numbers to juggle with in order to conclude Healy can podium the Giro. Feel free to look up his best climbing results on halfway decent climbs against decent opposition. Lost 11+ minutes to G. Martin in the queen stage of Tour de l'Ain '22. Lost 11+ minutes to Evenepoel on Gaustatoppen in Norway '22. Lost 7+ minutes to Higuita in the queen stage of Romandie '22. Basically their conclusion is based on his increased points (due to results in hilly races) and some TT results. So i'm not convinced they are better with numbers.

All your examples are from 2022 and Healy has clearly reached another level this spring, because based on his 2022 results you wouldn't have predicted him finishing 2nd in AGR o 4th in LBL either.

Not saying he's gonna be a GC threat, it's a very long shot, but we have very little data of how he's gonna perform on long climbs after he has made his big progress. Statistically, most of the guys who finish high in LBL are able to pull off at least one good GT during their career sooner or later, but he could be one of the exceptions, of course.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

All your examples are from 2022 and Healy has clearly reached another level this spring, because based on his 2022 results you wouldn't have predicted him finishing 2nd in AGR o 4th in LBL either.

Not saying he's gonna be a GC threat, it's a very long shot, but we have very little data of how he's gonna perform on long climbs after he has made his big progress. Statistically, most of the guys who finish high in LBL are able to pull off at least one good GT during their career sooner or later, but he could be one of the exceptions, of course.

It's like saying a guy you don't know could win the Giro. That means there is no argument to be made against him winning the Giro, except that it's bloody unlikely regardless.
He was bad at mountain climbs, he improved at hilly climbs, so now he will be a worldbeater at mountain climbs.

 

[Anderis]

I'm agreeing that PCS analysis has very little substance, I just found your examples to be similar in that regard.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I'm agreeing that PCS analysis has very little substance, I just found your examples to be similar in that regard.

My examples are based on actual real world performances of this same rider of the last year. They are the only examples there are, there simply are no other MT climbs he did any more recent. Unlike PCS, i did not "wish" for them to have happened, they actually did. They are also not cherrypicked, they are the hardest mountain stages Healy did most recently. I am not leaving out any better results to build my case. This year, he did Coppi/Bartali and wasn't even able to beat Schmid on a parcours with 5k climbs. How on earth is he going to podium the Giro?