Jonathan Vaughters pushes his Ben Healy and shares some thoughts on his way of running. The manager of EF Education – EasyPost gave a long and interesting interview to Domestic Hotseatwhere he spoke above all about what, at least in 2025, was his most representative rider, the Irishman. In fact, in the year just ended the class of 2000 won a stage at Tour de France 2025 (finished ninth in the general classification after wearing the yellow jersey), one at the Tour of the Basque Country and prestigious podiums at Kigali World Cup 2025 (bronze medal) and to Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2025 (third). Inevitably, the question now is what level it can reach Ben Healy nei Grand Tour.
The same Jonathan Vaughtersto be honest, doesn’t have an answer: “We don’t know what Ben can do on Grand Tours. We don’t want to cage him in a more conservative strategy. Last year he finished ninth in the Tour de France riding in an unconventional manner. He lost about 14 minutes at Hautacam, then went on the break and recovered 4. He made the top ten by racing in a different way from everyone else. He also ran both Tour time trials slowly. He took them as if they were rest days. Normally you don’t do this if you are managing the ranking. You don’t rest in the time trials and then go on the run two days later and recover five minutes. We could put seven runners around him, tell him that he will never be left in the wind and ask him to go all out only in the mountains and in time trials, but I don’t know if this is really his running style. I’m not sure, but I don’t think it is, honestly.”
Thus the team manager of EF Education – EasyPost analyzes the way of running when it is there Tadej Pogačar: “Pogačar likes his team to make the race a sort of race of attrition. Like that when he attacks there are only 10 or 15 runners at most left behind him, with almost no energy left. And when he attacks, there is no team behind that can organize to chase. There is only one group with individual riders who consider themselves leaders. Everyone says ‘I don’t shoot, you shoot’. So no one shoots.”
This way of running, in fact, seems particularly suited to Healy: “Healy is great in these attrition races where everyone is forced to run flat out for hours at the end. It would become difficult for him to improve results if Pogačar disappeared and racing became more controlled. At Liège-Bastogne-Liège, for example, a group of around ten riders can arrive, because no one has managed to really make a difference. This scenario however is more difficult for Ben because he is not as strong in sprinting. He needs to attack alone to win in such a scenario. We are all waiting for Pogačar to get tired or bored or retire. But I don’t know if this is good for Ben. I think it’s better for Ben to have a strong Pogačar. Ben can win on one of those days when maybe Pogačar gets his nutrition a little wrong, or maybe he has a bit of flu, or something like that. I think Ben is the person who could catch him in a race like that, even if he had a good gap. And then attack, in his own way. I know it’s a little strange, but it would work for Ben.”
