"The aim is to have a few riders from the team in the day's breakaway" - Ben Healy eyes first Grand Tour stage win
Cycling
One of the breakout stars from this year's Spring Classics, EF Education-EasyPost's Ben Healy has been active in the early stages of the Giro d'Italia without successfully getting into a break, something he hopes will change on stage 8.
"Hopefully it will be a good day for us," the 22-year-old Irishman revealed in a pre-stage interview prior to the action getting underway, revealing that the EF Education-EasyPost set-up had marked out stage 8 as a potential day for success. “As a team, we focused on this stage."
“The aim is to have a few riders from the team in the day's breakaway. Hopefully it will be a good day for us that way," he continues. Healy has never ridden the day's big climb before but he has heard stories about it from fellow riders so the Irishman feels he has an understanding of what to expect.
“They only told me that Alexey Lutsenko crashed in that stage, but still won,” the Irishman laughed, referring to a stage of the 2019 edition of Tirreno-Adriatico. “I also know that there are some tough and steep climbs in the near the finish.”
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- I had no idea about that either.
santiagobenites10-11-2026 - great analysis thanks! appreciate you posting this. I didn't realize CX had a different standard for deviation. this is even more egregious it seems.mij10-11-2026
- As he isn't currently with Red Bull, I guess if he want to race for one more year he needs to find a team. He's 37 so this will be his last year I would guess, unless he wants to race for almost nothing like Froome did.awp10-11-2026
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- Giro or not Giro, he won't win the Tour!MajorPayne10-11-2026
- Very true.awp10-11-2026
- Ciccone had a very strong end of season. Consistently attacking and livening up races. Hope he makes that last leap in progress and starts notching some significant wins. Great rider to watch.Occam10-11-2026
- Me too!!!!!Occam10-11-2026
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Friday night views in the mountains. 🗻 The first of the mountain stages has begun. The day started rainy but ended in the snowbanks. Strong climbing for Magnus, Hugh and Rigo who stayed with the second group up the punchy 26.5 km finish. Hugh moves up three spots in the GC
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