Ben Healy is not remotely overawed by the prospect of going on the attack on the opening day of the Tour de France on Saturday.
The Irishman is one of a 45 riders lining up for the first time at the race this year, a prospect that, as a Giro d’Italia stage winner on debut, does not faze him.
Stage one on Saturday, a medium mountain stage between Florence and Rimini, features more than 3,500 metres of elevation gain. The punchy course bears resemblance to a hilly Spring Classic, and is one which Classics specialist Healy is looking forward to getting his teeth into.
Speaking to Cycling Weekly, the Irishman said that taking the race’s first yellow jersey is very much a target for him and his teammates.
“I can dream of that for sure,” Healy said. “It’s a parcours that will suit me. But this is the Tour, it’s different gravy. Everyone is here in their best shape. The top GC guys are here as well and I think that those guys are just a class above.
“I think everything really does have to go my way if I’ve got a shot at taking the first stage, but for sure, it’s something I’d love to do. I think that the team is here to hunt for stages and I think we have multiple options. If we can play our cards right, you never know what could happen.”
He added: “There’s me, Neilson Powless, Alberto Bettiol and Richard Carapaz, as well. There’s four of us in this team that are really suited to this sort of terrain. I think in every scenario we can hopefully be there.
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“If we’re there with numbers then sometimes that’s enough to overwhelm the other guys. And if they’re just mainly thinking about their GC position and watching each other, then maybe that gives us a chance to slip away and potentially do the work, which will be incredible for the team and also individually for me.”
Although he knew months ago that he would be in his team’s Tour line-up, Healy was full of nerves in recent weeks while he awaited the call that would confirm his place on the plane to Florence for the Grand Départ.
“You never know how the team’s going to be slotted together,” he said. “When I got the call, it was just a big, big relief, and excitement for me.
“During the training camps and everything there’s always still a long list. Yeah, some guys are going to miss out, unfortunately, so you’re always waiting for that official call up.”
Healy added that the thousands of people at the race’s team presentation on Thursday evening was what made it really hit home for him that he was about to be part of something huge.
“You don’t get anything else like that at a bike race,” he said. “I think it then really really hits home just how big the Tour is.”
The Irishman counts a Giro d’Italia stage win, second at Amstel-Gold Race and fourth at Liège–Bastogne–Liège amongst his achievements in recent years. But when his Tour debut gets underway on Saturday, he said there was one particular piece of advice to himself that he would be keeping at the back of his mind.
“I think I can lose my head sometimes in a race situation,” he said. “I really just see red when I get going. I think that I really have got to try to stop, read the race situation and try to be smart with my legs.
“That’s the thing that I’m going to keep on reminding myself of and hopefully I can do that on Saturday.”
