Philippa York - "Cycling definitely needs more Ben Healys"

Although the general classification stalemate at the 2023 Giro d'Italia has seen a somewhat disappointing race so far, one standout has been EF Education-EasyPost's Ben Healy. Philippa York believes if more riders were like Healy the excitement levels would be much higher.

"Though this Giro has been dominated more by talk of how mad everyone is with being utterly soaked day in and day out, the stalemate can’t continue," says York in her Giro d'Italia column for Cycling News. "There has to be an end to the general feeling of sadness and bad luck. Cycling definitely needs more Ben Healys."

Whilst the breakaways have continued to give us something to talk about with Healy himself taking victory on stage 8 and finishing second the day before the rest day on stage 15. "EF Education-EasyPost have played a blinder so far, putting guys like Ben Healy and Magnus Cort in the moves, and they still have Hugh Carthy in a good position, so their excellent start to the year continues," York praises.

"As the race heads into the third week, the GC will hopefully really kick into action, and we’ll see proper attacks from the favourites. If the final Bergamo climb is anything to go by, then Roglič, Almeida and Thomas are pretty evenly matched," York continues casting an eye towards the third week. "The weather has obviously been bad up until now, and with the resulting cold winds coming down off the big climbs, the race has been neutralised for the GC contenders, who might have been tempted to try something."