Irish road-race champion Ben Healy reaffirmed his huge potential on Saturday when he triumphed on the final stage of the Giro Ciclistico d’Italia in Italy.
The 20-year-old Trinity Racing rider went clear in the second half of the 162.7 kilometre stage to Castelfranco Veneto with two other riders, Jacopo Menegotto and Daan Hoole, establishing a solid lead. Another group tried to bridge across but was unable to do so.
Healy attacked Menegotto and Hoole inside the final kilometres and soloed to the line, finishing 38 seconds clear of the duo. The main bunch sprinted in 54 seconds behind Healy.
The result comes after strong performances earlier in the race, including finishing less than a second behind the winner in last Sunday’s stage four time-trial, third place on stage five, 11th on stage six and an ultimately unsuccessful solo attack on day eight. He may have fared even better in the event but was required to ride for team-mate Thomas Gloag, who was sitting in fourth overall since stage five.
Race leader Juan Ayuso finished in the main bunch and dominated the general classification. Healy finished a superb second in the points classification behind triple stage winner Ayuso, was seventh in the king of the mountains and was a fine 12th overall. The race is the under-23 version of the Giro d’Italia and is regarded as a major predictor of future success.
Healy’s triumph shows he looks set for a big pro career, although signs of his talent were already evident from previous seasons. He took a stage win in the 2019 Tour de l’Avenir, the youth version of the Tour de France, and last season triumphed on a stage of the prestigious Ronde de l’Isard. He also won the Irish national road-race and under 23 time trial titles.
Meanwhile, Eddie Dunbar had a solid performance in the mountainous stage seven time-trial at the Tour de Suisse, placing 26th, two minutes 21 seconds behind the winner Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo). He was sixth in the young rider classification for the stage, which saw the riders climb the 2,042-metres Oberalppas and then descend to the finish.
Dunbar drops one place to 17th overall. He has ridden for his Ineos Grenadiers team-mate Ricard Carapaz during the event, sacrificing his own chances. Carapaz continues to lead overall but Uran has closed the gap to 17 seconds with just Sunday’s mountain stage remaining.
Dunbar is a superb second overall in the best young rider classification, 38 seconds off the time of Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM).
Giro Ciclistico d’Italia Italy (2.2)
Stage 10, San Vito al Tagliamento to Castelfranco Veneto: 1 Ben Healy (Trinity Racing) 162.7 kilometres in 3 hours 35 mins 46, 2 J Menegotto (General Store Essegibi F.lli Curia) at 38, 3 D Hoole (SEG Racing Academy) same time, 4 F Baroncini (Team Colpack Ballan) at 54, 5 M Van Den Berg (Groupama FDJ Conti) same time
Final overall standings: 1 Juan Ayuso (Team Colpack Ballan) 32 hours 9 mins 46, 2 T Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Dare Development Team) at 2 mins 55, 3 H Vandenabeele (Development Team DSM) at 3 mins 49, 4 T Gloag (Trinity Racing) at 4 mins 1, 5 A Hellemose (VC Mendrisio) at 4 mins 40
Irish: 12 B Healy (Trinity Racing) at 10 mins 33
Points: 1 Juan Ayuso (Team Colpack Ballan) 100, 2 B Healy (Trinity Racing) 64, 3 T Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Dare Development Team) 63
King of the Mountains: 1 Juan Ayuso (Team Colpack Ballan) 78 points, 2 M Belleri (Biesse Arvedi) 55, 3 T Gloag (Trinity Racing) 49
Irish: 7 B Healy (Trinity Racing) 38
Tour de Suisse Switzerland (WorldTour)
Stage 7, Disentis Sedrun to Andermatt: 1 Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) 36 mins 2, 2 J Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) at 40, 3 G Mäder (Bahrain Victorious) at 54, 4 R Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) same time, 5 T Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma) at 56, 6 M Cattaneo (Deceuninck-QuickStep) at 58
Irish: 26 E Dunbar (Ineos Grenadiers) at 2 mins 21
Young Riders: 1 Gino Mäder (Bahrain Victorious) at 36 mins 56, 2 J Rutsch (EF Education-Nippo) at 41, 3 N Powless (EF Education-Nippo) at 58
Irish: 6 E Dunbar (Ineos Grenadiers) at 1 min 27
Teams: 1 EF Education-Nippo at 1 hours 51 mins 33, 2 Bahrain Victorious at 27, 3 Deceuninck-QuickStep at 1 min 22
Other: 5 Ineos Grenadiers at 1 min 46
General classification after stage 7: 1 Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) 20 hours 37 mins 27, 2 R Uran (EF Education-Nippo) at 17, 3 J Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) at 39, 4 M Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 1 min 7, 5 J Fuglsang (Astana-Premier Tech) at 1 min 15, 6 M Woods (Israel Start-up Nation) at 3 mins 10
Irish: 17 E Dunbar (Ineos Grenadiers) at 6 mins 15
Young riders classification: 1 Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM) 20 hours 43 mins 4, 2 E Dunbar (Ineos Grenadiers) at 38, 3 N Powless (EF Education-Nippo) at 1 min 42
Teams classification: 1 Deceuninck-QuickStep 49 hours 24 mins 53, 2 Jumbo-Visma at 3 mins 54, 3 Total Direct Energie at 7 mins 35
Other: 6 Ineos Grenadiers at 11 mins 19
