Ben Healy's watts in Montreal ahead of the World Championships - Inside the Irishman's power as he bids to upset the odds
Cycling
An inside look into Ben Healy's power data showed the phenomenal strength of the Irishman at the GP de Montreal on September 13th. Attacking from the peloton, he went solo with 20 kilometres to go before being caught by the favourites.
Paul Seixas's final lap attack saw him and Isaac del Toro lead the race into the finale before the UAE Team Emirates- XRG rider took the win in a sprint to the finish line.
In a dress rehearsal for the rainbow jersey race, the Irishman seemed to be coming into form at exactly the right time as he demonstrated similar form to his performance at last year's World Championships that saw him take the bronze medal.
The analysis of his GP de Montreal showed that Healy recorded 334 watts of normalised power over five hours and 13 minutes, spending 70 minutes above his functional threshold power.
Ben Healy
World Championships course set to be longer
With the World Championships course offering an additional hour of racing, despite slightly less by ways of elevation gain, it is set to offer a slightly more challenging course and one that could suit Healy well.
In longer races, the Irish rider has demonstrated that he comes into his own when other riders seemingly fade, and his numbers from Montreal reflect just that.
With the Ireland National Team, Healy has full leadership and three riders in support. Jamie Meehan, Ryan Mullen and EF Education-Easy-Post teammate Darren Rafferty make up the team's selection.
Healy suited to a harder race
EF Pro Cycling’s technical innovation strategist Jacob Tipper believes that Healy is capable of more than his Montreal performance, given that he will have two weeks of training under his belt.
“Worlds is normally a durability race, which is why it tends to favour certain riders well. It will be interesting to see what the influence of the increased length with less climbing at the Worlds is going to be,” Tipper said.
“Ben should be in a better place. He’ll be less affected by jet lag with some more good training in his legs.”
Read also
Remco Evenepoel is the big favourite in Montreal, but faces stern competition in Paul Seixas and Isaac del Toro as the main riders to beat. However, multiple nations and riders come to upset the odds, including Healy.
Tom Pidcock leads the Great Britian team, Mathieu van der Poel fronts the Dutch challenge while the USA, Italy, Australia and others bring multiple leaders and strategies likely to put pressure on Belgium and France during the race.
Gavin QuinnCycling Journalist
Gavin Quinn is a cycling journalist and ultra-distance cyclist with a BA in Journalism from Dublin City University. Formerly the Press & Communications Officer for Cycling Ireland, Gavin has worked inside the national team at the World Championships and has reported for the Irish Mirror, Mirror UK, and The42.
His expertise is backed by elite-level access, having interviewed stars like Sam Bennett and Ben Healy, as well as immense personal endurance. In 2025, he completed a 12,000km solo cycle from Ireland to Vietnam, following a 4,600km tour across Europe. From the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix to the gradients of the Tourmalet, Gavin’s writing focuses on the "romance and brutality" of the sport. Having visited 50+ countries, he brings a global, cultural perspective to his coverage of the pro peloton for CyclingUpToDate.
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- Ok, Walt 🤣... Vingegaard would be lucky to get on the poduim. He would not beat Seixas or Del Toro, let alone TP. Then there are the Americans...BD06-11-2026
- So, for starters. Cycling is a saturated, static/dying sport in traditional lands, it will not have resurgences like eg running occasionally does because of several obstacular (yes, I know that’s not a word but don’t make me point out the obvious at your expense) factors. Obviously, like almost everything involving money, there is a desire/need/advantage to growth and that can only come from (developing or just testing) new markets. For me, the WC is the obvious and best choice for several reasons, it comes at the end of the season so is less critical season risk wise, it is not a “pro” team race but nation based which makes integration of uncommon participation more natural. It is a vehicle for redistribution (one of a very limited number of available mechanisms to develop new markers fairly) that the fixed calendar doesn’t allow and it helps make budgets fairer over the long run (moving the whole circus to everywhere evens out everyone’s budget as opposed to having everyone always come to the same location.Jumpyjohn06-11-2026
- Sad that a more refreshing article like this, which could generate discussion in a number of directions, gets completely ignored for the importance of debating the level of superiority of one rider into every single last detail, including a majority of totally hypothetical ones. People complain there is no news in the off season and it’s boring but don’t realise how boring it is to review the same old discussion over and over again, several times a day. In fact, you’d almost think this was a rider fan website. Instead of complaining about the FREE (as long as you pay attention to data use if not unlimited coz this site consumes almost as much for loading Youtube) content, the presence of cv of authors (for the missed obvious reason that it makes it easier to insert extra advertising without changing formats), the lack of quality/checking and depth of articles, why not also think about the content, quality and variety of posts that everyone can contribute to? The platform becomes irrelevant when discussion is interesting.Jumpyjohn06-11-2026
- UAE Team Emirates and Pogačar will officially unveil their objectives at the team’s media day, which will take place on December 18 in Benidorm, Spain. New information from the UAE Team: Exceptional recovery remains the cornerstone of success for the Slovenian cannibal-Pogi, whose sporting manager, Matxin, believes he will be even better in 2027 than he has been over the past three seasons.PogiSloFans06-11-2026
- Yeh, but he didn't and RE beat Pog & Del T 👍
leedorney06-11-2026 - Just my opinionleedorney06-11-2026
- Great win.However will the world champions jersey be simply a domestic for the season which will some what tarnish the jersey. I hope he is given free rein to try and win some races.paultryan200206-11-2026
- Gretsky wow how old are you lol. Classy sportman though.🤣🤣🤣🤣 Hope it is a good as the one they made on Mark Cavendish.paultryan200206-11-2026
- Literally the perfect RedBull athlete.anonymouscyclist06-11-2026
- And well understood in the CX community.anonymouscyclist06-11-2026
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