Ben Healy\u2019s Ardennes campaign is over before it even began, darn it. It isn\u2019t even undone not by a fresh crash, but by something that lingered.<\/p>\n
The Irish star hit the deck during a recon ride ahead of the opening time trial at Itzulia Basque Country. At the time, it didn\u2019t look decisive. The pain eased, he got the green light from the team doctors, and he carried on racing. Through the week, it was manageable,stiff, sure, but improving.<\/p>\n
Only, it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Back home, the discomfort came back sharper. An MRI followed, and with it, some crappy news. Healy had a small, non-displaced fracture in the sacrum. No surgery required, but no racing either. Not now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am gutted,\u201d Healy said. \u201cI thought I was getting better during the race\u2026 it wasn\u2019t really until I got home that it started to give me some grief.\u201d<\/p>\n
That delay, between impact and diagnosis, cost him a block of racing he\u2019d been building toward since winter. The Ardennes classics were a clear target. And the punchy races suit him\u2013Healy loves to animate\u2013and he wins too, doncha know.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s up for Healy?<\/p>\n
The timeline isn\u2019t catastrophic. There\u2019s plenty of racing left.<\/p>\n
A return to the bike could come within a couple of weeks, with a cautious build back toward summer. The focus shifts quickly to what\u2019s still possible: racing again before the Tour de France, and arriving there in shape.<\/p>\n
For now, though, it\u2019s a waiting game. Not dramatic, not headline-grabbing in the usual sense, just one of those injuries that quietly changes a rider\u2019s spring.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, the season is long. Hopefully we\u2019ll see that familiar Healy head tilt in full suffering mode again soon<\/p>\n
Either way, Amstel Gold Race goes down Sunday with heaps of Canucks in both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s race.<\/p>\n