![\"Remco](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/remco-evenepoel-tadej-pogacar-ben-healy-68d953a9415dc.jpg@webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Healy pointed out that Evenepoel had shown no difficulty accelerating strongly earlier in the race and dismissed the idea that saddle position was the real reason he failed to follow Pogacar. \u201cExactly. And you\u2019re doing the same power anyway,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat are you going to achieve by banging your saddle? If it\u2019s a millimetre out, you\u2019re only making it worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe deserved that\u201d: Evenepoel called out by his own mechanic<\/p>\n
According to Healy, Evenepoel\u2019s own support staff were just as unconvinced by the saddle explanation. \u201cAfter the race his mechanic \u2014 who is also his cousin \u2014 actually outed him about the second bike, saying, \u2018We don\u2019t know what\u2019s wrong with it,\u2019\u201d Healy remembered.<\/p>\n
And when Evenepoel publicly appeared to blame his equipment, Healy said the response from inside the Belgian camp was blunt.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe deserved that, to be fair, because he tried to throw the mechanic under the bus on TV, banging the saddle and so on, and the mechanic came out like, \u2018I don\u2019t know what\u2019s wrong with him.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like he\u2019s taken a cyanide tablet\u201d: the acceleration he cannot match<\/p>\n
For Healy, the real difference in Kigali had nothing to do with mechanics or marginal gains but with Pogacar\u2019s unmatched explosiveness. \u201cHe was flipping strong,\u201d Healy said of Evenepoel. \u201cWhen we were in a group with him he was just towing us around. We were doing the bare minimum and he was like a train.\u201d<\/p>\n
But when Pogacar launched, Evenepoel simply couldn\u2019t respond. \u201cHe just can\u2019t match the acceleration Tadej has,\u201d Healy said. \u201cYou see at Europeans: Tadej goes, Remco follows for a bit and then it\u2019s like he\u2019s taken a cyanide tablet \u2014 he just detonates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Healy suggested the difficulty was as much psychological as physical. \u201cHe can\u2019t face losing. He\u2019s a winner,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s been touted as the next big thing since he was a junior, just riding people off his wheel, and I think he struggles with the idea that someone is better than him.\u201d<\/p>\n
A brutal environment that rewarded control<\/p>\n
While the post-race drama centred on Evenepoel, Healy\u2019s own bronze medal came from a far more controlled approach. \u201cIt was all about conserving energy,\u201d he explained, citing the altitude, relentless elevation and severe air pollution across Kigali. \u201cThe air quality was through the roof.\u201d<\/p>\n
Healy said his low-key presence early on was deliberate. \u201cMy average power for the Worlds wasn\u2019t impressive. I just rode as efficiently as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Irish team structure, he said, was decisive in allowing him to stay in the fight until the final laps. \u201cIt was a massive team effort,\u201d Healy said. \u201cIf they weren\u2019t doing that for me, I wouldn\u2019t have been able to do it myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Healy took bronze behind Pogacar and Evenepoel in Kigali<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dream is the rainbow jersey\u201d<\/p>\n
Bronze in Kigali has only sharpened Healy\u2019s ambitions for the future. \u201cI was over the moon with bronze,\u201d he said. \u201cTo finish on the podium with those two was special.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he made it clear that he is not finished chasing Pogacar \u2014 and not finished chasing the sport\u2019s biggest prize. \u201cThe dream is the rainbow jersey,\u201d Healy said. \u201cI\u2019m getting there. You never know.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Healy pointed out that Evenepoel had shown no difficulty accelerating strongly earlier in the race and dismissed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,114342,784,8396,85,6494,25247],"class_list":{"0":"post-310598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-ben-healy","11":"tag-cycling","12":"tag-remco-evenepoel","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tadej-pogacar","15":"tag-world-championships"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}