Winner of a superb stage 8 on Saturday, Ben Healy’s focus will turn to take the second Grand Tour stage win of his career over the remaining two weeks of the Giro d’Italia.
On Saturday he put in a stunning solo move to become Ireland’s sixth winner of a stage in the race, dropping his breakaway companions 50km from the finish in Fossombrone and racing home almost two minutes clear.
At 22, he made history by becoming the youngest Irish stage winner in the race. He also became the second youngest of Ireland’s nine Grand Tour stage winners, with only Sean Kelly’s 1978 Tour de France stage victory taken at a younger age.
“It’s a massive win for the team and myself. I’ve always been successful in Italy, even before I turned pro. Racing here suits me well,” Healy said after his success, then indicated his ambitions remained high. “There’s a rest day tomorrow, I think I need it! And then another few breakaways would be nice ... try to go for a second stage win.”
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Healy’s EF Education-EasyPost team also indicated that he has further stage ambitions in the Giro d’Italia.
The race’s first rest day is on Monday, with action resuming on Tuesday with a 196km race to Viareggio. The route of stage 10 is hilly early on, potentially paving the way for another Healy breakaway move, although the final 76km is mostly downhill or flat, making a reduced bunch sprint possible.
He may well keep his powder dry until stage 11, which has more potential. Stages 12 and 14 also offer good chances prior to the second rest day on May 22nd.
The Giro continued on Sunday with the race’s second-time trial. Healy held back after Saturday’s efforts but Eddie Dunbar, Ireland’s other rider in the race, had a solid showing. He is a specialist climber who isn’t built for time trials but nevertheless finished a respectable 22nd overall, one minute 30 seconds behind stage winner Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep).
Some links in the chain between @Sammmy_Be and @_BHealyyyhttps://t.co/YvBaBh9NIv via @IrishTimesSport
— Ian O'Riordan (@ianoriordan) October 5, 2020
Evenepoel retakes the overall lead from the Norwegian Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM) and is now 45 seconds ahead of Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers). Dunbar slips one place to 12th overall but is likely to make further advances on the mountain stages. He is riding what is only his second Grand Tour and is targeting a top-10 finish overall. As for Healy, he sits 51st, having deliberately lost time early on in order to be less closely marked by the general classification riders.
Meanwhile, Sam Bennett’s hope for a stage win at the end of the Tour de Hongrie was denied on Sunday when the organisers neutralised the final day of racing. Heavy rain rendered the city street circuit in Budapest unsafe and instead of a 16-lap, 150km circuit, the riders rode half that distance at a processional pace for the fans.
Bennett had finished a very close second on the opening stage and while the following stage sprint didn’t go to plan, he had hopes of taking his second victory of the season on Sunday. He’ll instead have to wait until his next race for that chance.
He finished 64th overall with Ryan Mullen 79th.
