Attacking solo with 50km to go, Ben Healy's chances of a first Grand Tour stage win were far from certain. EF Education-EasyPost's sports director Ken Vanmarcke has revealed that the Irishman defied advice from the team to make his move.
"The team was convinced that the first ascent was too early," Vanmarcke tells Sporza about Healy's decision to go on the attack at such a relatively early part of the stage. “But Ben just doesn't care about that. Then when you see how he drives off and shows that he is two classes better than the rest, then you just have to go along with that story. We soon realized that it would be all right."
One of the breakout stars of the Spring Classics, Healy had been earmarked by many as a potential stage winner at the Giro d'Italia. If anything though this only made his plans for victory more difficult. "Some time ago he broke his hand, after which he trained indoors for three weeks," Vanmarcke recalls. "There he laid the foundation for what he is now achieving. In this stage he really was the engine of the leading group."
The victory continues the impressive form for the EF Education-EasyPost set up and their sports director is confident that they can continue their hot streak in the remainder of the race. "We compete with Rigoberto Urán and Hugh Carthy for the classification and have riders with Cort, Caicedo and Healy to strike again."
Ben in the break was a thing of beauty 🚀 “I know in big groups like this, group dynamics can play a pretty big role, so I backed myself for a long move. I didn’t want to take any chances today, so I went solo. I knew I had good legs and managed to hold it to the finish. It’s a…
