Ben Healy has ended Tirreno Adriatico with a career best GC position in a World Tour stage race (Photo: Tommaso Pelagalli-Cor Vos)
One of the funniest moments of the season to date was a reporter breaking the news to Ben Healy, at the start of Strade-Bianche, that his EF Education-EasyPost team hadn’t won a race since his stage 6 triumph at the Tour de France last July.
He shrugged it off, admitting he didn’t realise it had been that long. But you could almost see the extra pressure coming down on his shoulders. But over the past week his team mates, Michael Valgren and Luke Lamperti, have won stages at Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice.
Though Healy wouldn’t really have felt that pressure of such a long winless run for his team, if it had continued for much longer, questions from the media would have become more frequent. And very soon, in a matter of just weeks, it may have become a morale problem for him and his team mates.
So the pressure is off and Healy has also just secured the best general classification placing of his career in a World Tour stage race. His 8th at Tirreno-Adriatico just about beat his 9th at the Tour de France last year.
Jonathan Milan came through very late to win the final stage, denying Sam Welsford his first pro win in Europe (Photo: Massimo Paolone)
The two results are not really comparable, given the sheer difficulty of the Tour. But his performance in Italy suggests his form is coming good, even if a brave solo attack in the final of the penultimate stage just came up short.
He now faces into Gran Premio Miguel Indurain (1.Pro) on April 4th, before the six-stage Itzulia Basque Country (2.UWT) starting on April 6th, and where he was 1st and 2nd on stages last year. And then comes his favourite one-day races of the year, the Ardennes Classics.
Healy (25), now in his fifth year as a World Tour rider, already has an excellent record in those major one-day races. Last year he was 10th at Amstel Gold Race, 5th at La Flèche Wallonne and 3rd at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the first monument podium of his career. And in 2023 he was 2nd at Amstel and 4th in Liège.
If he is going to beat last year’s Tour as a career highlight – winning a stage and wearing yellow – it will most likely be with a win during Ardennes week or at the Worlds, maybe even this year on a climbers’ course in Montreal. And his 8th place this week, though not on a par with his biggest days so far, says things are moving in the right direction.
Isaac del Toro celebrates his overall victory at Tirreno-Adriatico (Photo: Mirror Media)
Yesterday, on the 142km final stage to San Benedetto del Tronto, it came down to a bunch sprint, won by Jonathan Milan (Lidl Trek) from Sam Welsford; the Ineos Grenadiers rider very nearly taking his first pro win in Europe.
Healy looked like he just about avoided a crash inside the final 3km, as the pace had ramped up. He finished in the bunch, in 39th, which was enough to hold on to his 8th place overall, some 1:55 down on general classification winner Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
The Mexican rider was impacted by the late crash yesterday and lost time, though it did not count towards the general classification as it happened inside the 3km zone.
He also escaped injury and won the race – after winning the penultimate stage – by 40 seconds from Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike). Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) was 3rd at 42 seconds.
Lidl-Trek train came out of nowhere 🤯
Edward Theuns produced an incredible final turn delivering Jonathan Milan perfectly to win Stage 7 at Tirreno-Adriatico 💪🏼
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🇮🇹 #TirrenoAdriatico pic.twitter.com/ppGl7FRnCd
— Velon CC (@VelonCC) March 15, 2026