Ben Healy completed a very strong showing in the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali on Saturday, netting third in the final time trial and finishing third overall.
The EF Education-EasyPost rider is the current Irish national champion and showed superb form in the 18.6 kilometre race against the clock, finishing just 19 seconds off the winner Rémi Cavagna (Soudal-QuickStep) and a mere second off the runner up Michael Hepburn (Jayco AlUla).
That saw him leap three places in the general classification, closing his gap to overnight leader and race winner Mauro Schmid (Soudal-QuickStep) from 44 seconds to just 22.
In addition to finishing third overall in the 2.1 ranked race, Healy was also second in the points classification, fifth in the best climber award and helped EF Education-EasyPost to a dominant win in the teams classification.
Ken Early on World Cup draw: Ireland face task to overcome Hungary, their football opposites
The top 25 women’s sporting moments of the year: 25-6 revealed with Mona McSharry, Rachael Blackmore and relay team featuring
Is there anything good about the 2034 World Cup going to Saudi Arabia?
World Cup 2026 draw: Team-by-team guide to Ireland’s opponents
Healy won Thursday’s third stage, his first victory as a WorldTour professional. He was then sixth on Friday.
His performances in the race are all the more notable as he was out of competitive action with a fractured finger for almost seven weeks, only pinning on a number again this week.
Healy is just 22 years of age and is set for a very bright future.