"The team was convinced that the first ascent was too early" - Ben Healy defied advice to attack 50km out as he took solo stage 8 victory at the Giro d'Italia
Cycling
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."
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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
- I think some are making much ado about nothing. Even though Jonas is getting older, before his crash in the Tour, he looked like a solid 2nd all the way home. No one can really climb with Tadej until this year, Eric Mas showed himself which I think was a one off year for him and Paul Seixas has been able to be pretty close to him. Whatever stage race Jonas enters as long as Tadej is not there he is a favorite to win.awp10-11-2026
- 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
- they can sign any 100 of top riders today but Pogi will win over Remco any time at the TDF unless something goes wrongabstractengineer10-11-2026
- the time for a GC rider to retire is when they cannot win stages, or have a significant level drop like from winner/podium into top 5/10 consistently. Roglic is still competitive and Froome raced even though he became pack fodder.abstractengineer10-11-2026
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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
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