It was a photo to remember for Ireland’s Ben Healy as he stood on the podium with the bronze medal hung around his neck next to world champion from Slovenia, Tadej Pogačar, and bronze medallist from Belgium, Remco Evenepoel, at the UCI Road World Championships in Kigali.
The 25-year-old credited a newfound self-belief and confidence on a challenging course against the likes of Pogačar and Evenepoel to his stunning performance at the Tour de France this July, where he won a stage and wore the yellow jersey.
Healy races for EF Education-EasyPost throughout the season and won stage 6 into Vire Normandie, moving into the race lead on stage 10 into Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy at the Tour de France. He eventually lost the leader’s jersey on the stage 12 climb to Hautacam to four-time overall winner Pogačar, but ended up finishing ninth overall in what was his best Grand Tour performance.
In Kigali, Healy formed part of a chase group that formed on the roads behind Pogačar, which whittled down to just three riders in the closing lap, including Evenepoel and Denmark’s Mattias Skjelmose.
Evenepoel eventually rode away from Healy and Skjelmose with 20km remaining in an attempt to close the gap to a solo Pogačar. The pair continued to work together until the final cobbled climb of the Côte de Kimihurura, where Healy dropped the Dane and went on to claim the bronze medal.
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