‘Unbelievable’ Tour de France stage win fulfils lifelong ambition for Ben Healy
EF Education-EasyPost fulfil their Tour de France ambitions at the first time of asking, Healy pulling off a well-planned but characteristically gritty performance on the Normandy roads
Ben Healy is well known for his aggressive style of racing and his breakaway wins, but his win at the Tour de France on Thursday was far from unpredictable, at least for the EF Education-EasyPost team, for whom it was their principal target.
Part of an eight-man breakaway, which took forever to get away and even longer to establish itself, Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) attacked with 42km remaining of the 201.5km stage between Bayeux and Vire Normandie. Like so many professional riders, the victory was the fulfilment of a lifelong ambition.
“I grew up watching the Tour and one day wishing I could maybe even be there, so to be here is an achievement and to win a stage is so amazing,” he said after the race. “It’s unbelievable and really what I’ve worked for, not just this year but the whole time, it’s really, really incredible, hours and hours of work from so many people, and to pay them back today is really amazing.”
Stage six had been EF’s first target stage, the team almost treading water on the previous days, waiting for their opportunity, and both Healy and Alex Baudin had been earmarked to take their chance, but it was the former who was either initiating or infiltrating every move that went up the road.
“I just switched on from the start,” Healy continued. “Maybe I spent a bit too much trying to get into the break, but that’s the way I do things, and we really had to work for that gap, it was on the pedals all day.”
Only after 56km did it go clear, but even then, it was only with around 75km remaining that the gap became anywhere near comfortable.
“I knew I had to get away from the group, and then I picked my moment, I think I timed it well and hopefully I caught them by surprise a little bit, but I knew what I had to do, just head down and do my best right to the finish.”
Finding the place to attack was a real example of teamwork, with sport director Tom Southam in the car behind guiding his rider.
“Because of the strength of the climbers in the group, we wanted to go somewhere that wasn’t on a climb,” Southam explained. “Even if he could have ridden them off the wheel, we didn’t know, but I had every confidence that he had the strength to go from wherever we chose. We chose the spot and he went for it and that was that.”
If any rider personifies the EF Education-EasyPost ethos, it's Healy, his aggressive, unpredictable style perfectly reflecting the pink-clad squad’s approach. It’s not luck though, even his style has undergone some revisions in pursuit of Thursday’s win in what is only his second Tour de France.
“Last year was a real eye-opener and really made me believe that I could do it,” he said. “[He had to] knuckle down and do the hard work and try to refine my racing style, as well lots of race footage watched and it all paid off today I think.”
