King Edward’s own only one minute from World Championship immortality?
Zurich, Europe and the rest of the cycling world witnessed greatness on September 29th. The Swiss capital was blessed with a spectacular, but not surprising, Tadej Pogačar victory. Crossing the line, he joined the legendary Triple Crown club - victory in the Tour de France, Giro D’Italia/Vuelta a España and UCI World Championships Road Race victories in the same year. This exclusive club has only two members: the legendary Eddy Merckx and Irish hero Stephen Roche.
The whole worlds’ lens was zoomed into Pogačar, the three-time Tour champion, as if he had ridden the whole stage alone. Just 60 seconds later, wearing the emerald-green jersey of the Republic of Ireland, the former King Edward VI College student Ben Healy came in 7th.
Nicknamed “the Miner”, Ben Healy grew up minutes away from Stourbridge Town Centre in Kingswinford. He was able to qualify to race for the Republic of Ireland due to his grandparents being from Cork. Healy, a breakaway specialist, has already achieved what most junior riders can only dream of: two-time National Road Race Champion, National Junior Time Trial Champion, and top ten appearances in the Olympic and UCI Road Race Championships, all completed before the age of 25.
Out of all of these accomplishments, what happened on the 13th of May in Fossombrone I believe is the sign of something great to come. In central Italy, leading the peloton on the roads of the Marche region, a place which has no shortage of religious buildings, the clouds parted for Healy to take his first Grand Tour stage victory in the flamingo pink kit of EF Education (EFE). The peloton left Terni at 11:10 am, but the key moment was Healy’s breakaway with 40km to go, a glance behind and he would spot the chasing pack over a minute behind. Healy took a commanding, statement victory, finishing with the biggest winning margin in the race since 2018. After the race, Healy spoke to BBC Sport, saying "On the first little dig, I could see that I went solo and just pushed on to the finish from there.” On one of cycling’s biggest stages, the man born just outside of Birmingham had out-fought and out-smarted Tour de France podium sitters.
Healy joined EFE in 2022, and ever since then it has seemed like a match made in heaven. Following the English-born Healy’s Italian Job, his sights were set on the Tour de France the next season. The Tour is generally considered to be greatest test of endurance and sheer determination in the sporting world. Given the prestige of the event, a professional cyclist not at the tour isn’t worth knowing about. Only one Irish cyclist has ever won the 21-stage massacre of tyres (790 will be used over the three-week race) - the legendary Stephen Roche in 1987. Healy didn’t quite sketch his name into the history books, but took a combativity award on stage 14 for competing in the most duels in the stage. His next aim must be a stage win.
This early building block will be exactly what EFE brought Healy in for. Headquartered in Colorado, EFE have a winning history most other professional cycling teams can only dream of. Ryder Hesjedal joined EFE in 2008. The Canadian went from no Grand Tour Stage wins before EFE to Giro D'Italia champion in 2012,even if he admitted to doping in his career. Healy has done a step better with a stage victory in his second year. If Healy can progress like the Canadian at EFE, we soon may be talking about the former King Edwards student as a grand tour winner.
Whether he achieves a grand tour championship or not is purely up to the dedication of the Irishman. But what is for certain is that what Healy has already accomplished at his age is nothing short of brilliant. With the resources of a proven winning team like EFE, I’m sure that there will be more golden moments like the one in Fossombrone.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/65584611