Better than Last Year? Ben Healy Revs Up with Tour Looming

Last year Ben Healy donned yellow, won a stage and finished ninth overall in what was his best Tour de France to date.

And while he’s had a messed up spring thanks to a fracture sustained in the Itzulia Basque Country which put him out of the Ardennes Classics, there are suggestions that the Irish EF Education EasyPost rider could actually be ahead of where he was at this time last year.

If so, that bodes very well for the Tour in July.

First up, though, is the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, starting Sunday. Healy will be up against the likes of Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) there, as well as other gifted riders such as Isaac del Toro and João Almeida (UAE Emirates XRG), Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Juan Ayuso and Matthias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar Team), Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos) and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility).

Healy is upbeat heading into the race, excited by what is to come.

“My training resumed pretty quickly after what would have been the Ardennes, and since then it’s been smooth sailing,” he said in a release from his team.

“Missing those races was a disappointment, but if there’s a silver lining, it’s that April was probably a better time to have my reset before building towards the Tour. I’ve not missed any prep, and I’m good to go for the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and then, of course, the Tour de France.”

The Tour is of course the top season goal for the swashbuckling attacker, but directeur sportif Charly Wegelius believes Healy can shrug off his near two-month gap in races and do something special in the days ahead.

“There’s a chance that he’s a little further along than initially planned compared to this time last year, and that’s certainly a good thing. We know that Ben is feeling good, and I wouldn’t exclude an off-day somewhere in the race, but he’ll also have more good days than he had last year.

“We’ll see where everyone is at after the first stage, which is unusually hard for an opening stage, but I think that the race has the potential to open up and for our riders to be successful in targeting stages. With Ben, there are several stages that look great for him; there’s plenty for him to be going for.”

‘No crazy ambitions’

Healy also had a big gap last year in his buildup to the Tour. He had placed third and fifth in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Flèche Wallonne, then was away from racing until the Critérium du Dauphiné, the old title of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

His showing there was modest: ninth on the last stage was the highlight, with an overall position of just 37th.

However his Tour was a big success, with his stage win and stint in yellow being followed by his best-ever GC finish.

Healy was hoping to put in another big campaign in this year’s Ardennes Classics but his crash prior to the opening time trial at the Itzulia Basque Country race left him battered and bruised. He finished the race but found out afterwards that he had a non-displaced sacral fracture. He didn’t need surgery, but did need to take a complete break from training.

Things have fortunately gone well since and he is keen to see how he compares to others.

“Always, for me it’s hard coming into a race after a block without racing, but I’ll be taking it day-by-day and seeing how I come through by the end,” he said.

“There are no crazy ambitions for the week ahead, so it’s also about putting me in the best possible shape for the Tour.

He will be joined by the American Sean Quinn, the Canadian Michael Leonard plus Alex Baudin, Georg Steinhauser, Alastair MacKellar and Max Walker.

“We’re looking to see how the riders are shaping up before the Tour,” stated Wegelius. “We know we won’t have complete answers yet, but we’re aiming for progress and signs that the work that the riders put in during their altitude camp is on track.”

Double blow for Dunbar

Healy’s fellow Irishman Eddie Dunbar is also making a comeback from a crash. In fact, in Dunbar’s case, he had two incidents of misfortune; a fall on stage two of Paris-Nice, and then a bizarre incident involving a motorist in Monaco.

This occurred on March 12, just three days after his crash in Paris-Nice, underlining the complete misfortune he suffered.

“I was just moving around on my city bike,” he said in a Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling release. “A scooter came from my left side, did not respect the right of way, and basically sent me flying.

“At first, I didn’t think it was anything too serious. But after a few seconds my ankle started turning blue and I immediately understood that something was wrong.”

Dunbar was later diagnosed with severe bone bruising on the Medial Malleolus in his ankle.

He’s been out of competition ever since.

Athletes are driven people and he found the lack of direction something that was hard to accept.

“It was a really difficult period,” he said. “From the beginning of the season, the Giro was my main objective. Suddenly, that was no longer possible. I had seven weeks completely off the bike. I wanted to keep working physically, but with my leg immobilised there was very little I could do, apart from some upper-body work — which is not always ideal for a cyclist.

“I found myself without a real target, without anything concrete in front of me, apart from recovery. That is not easy. As a rider, you are used to having structure every day. Suddenly the structure becomes very different: treatment, patience, small steps and trying not to rush.”

‘Still a mountain of work’

Dunbar has been injured multiple times before. That’s something riders never get used to but, on the other hand, one plus is that they are more adept in returning afterwards.

The misfortune of a fall teaches you how to heal; do it enough times and resilience often grows stronger and stronger.

Dunbar said that pacing himself during his recovery was very crucial. He knows coming back too soon would be counter-productive, and so too skipping important steps in the process.

“We need to build things properly and make sure every block of work is completed before thinking about the next one,” he explained.

And now it’s a question of when he will be back in action. He had seven weeks completely off the bike, and then returned with indoor roller sessions. He’s just done three weeks on the road and is making ongoing progress.

“There is still a mountain of work in front of me before I can be competitive again” he accepts. “I know that. But at least now I am back doing what I need to do. I can ride my bike again, I can start building properly, and I can feel like a cyclist again.

“I can’t wait to push hard on the pedals again in training” Dunbar says. “And more than anything, I can’t wait to put a race number back on the pocket of my Q36.5 jersey.”

It’s now heading into the summer and if this year’s Tour de France is too close for him to consider riding, he is determined to be back in competitive action soon.

His racing programme is yet to be determined but the Irishman’s team suggests the Vuelta a Burgos or the Clásica de San Sebastián could be possibilities.

Beyond those, there’s another race that is very much on his mind, providing things go to plan.

He won two stages in the Vuelta a España in 2024 and, almost two years on from that, he remains psyched by what he did.

“The Vuelta is a race I really love” he said. “I have some great memories there and, of course, I would love to be back. But first I need to earn that opportunity through training. There are no shortcuts.”