Cycling

Ireland’s Ben Healy takes third on final stage and third overall in Italy

Healy was second in the points classification, fifth in the best climber award and helped EF Education-EasyPost to a dominant win

Ireland's Ben Healy was out of competitive action with a fractured finger for almost seven weeks prior to the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali. Photograph: Tom Maher/Inpho
Ireland's Ben Healy was out of competitive action with a fractured finger for almost seven weeks prior to the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali. Photograph: Tom Maher/Inpho
Shane Stokes
Sat Mar 25 2023 - 19:27

Ben Healy completed a very strong showing in the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali on Saturday, netting third in the final time trial and finishing third overall.

The EF Education-EasyPost rider is the current Irish national champion and showed superb form in the 18.6 kilometre race against the clock, finishing just 19 seconds off the winner Rémi Cavagna (Soudal-QuickStep) and a mere second off the runner up Michael Hepburn (Jayco AlUla).

That saw him leap three places in the general classification, closing his gap to overnight leader and race winner Mauro Schmid (Soudal-QuickStep) from 44 seconds to just 22.

In addition to finishing third overall in the 2.1 ranked race, Healy was also second in the points classification, fifth in the best climber award and helped EF Education-EasyPost to a dominant win in the teams classification.

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Healy won Thursday’s third stage, his first victory as a WorldTour professional. He was then sixth on Friday.

His performances in the race are all the more notable as he was out of competitive action with a fractured finger for almost seven weeks, only pinning on a number again this week.

Healy is just 22 years of age and is set for a very bright future.

Shane Stokes

Shane Stokes

Shane Stokes is a contributor to The Irish Times writing about cycling