Ben Healy reflects on the Giro’s first week

On top of his wins at Coppi e Bartali and GP Industria & Artigianato, this week the grand tour debutant added a stage win at the Giro d’Italia to his palmarès. That win didn’t come easily, though. Despite the countless training hours, he’s still learned lessons the hard way at the Giro.

We checked in with the 22-year-old on the Giro’s first rest day to see how our grand tour rookie was fairing.

It’s been a bit tough, I think. It’s been a big week but I’m soaking it all up. It’s been a bit of up and down, going so hard on some days and then I kind of pay for it a couple of days after. I was looking forward to this rest day because of that but going forward I think it will be good.

I think morale's pretty nice at the moment. A stage win in the first week just takes the pressure off everyone. I’m super happy to be able to do that for the team. It was a really nice feeling going to dinner after and seeing everyone happy. The hard work is paying off and the staff work just as hard. It’s just really cool to be able to do that for the team.

These past few months have been pretty full gas with bike racing and training camps so honestly there hasn’t been a lot more going on. My downtime is just spending time with friends, relaxing, trying to be a bit social and switching off from the bike.

At the start of the year, we sat down and I wanted to take a stage and potentially take the pink jersey in the first week. That was stage four but I got a bit excited going for the breakaway and I probably spent my legs a little bit too soon. I took those lessons and I learned from that and applied that on stage eight and managed to get in the break so I could race the finale for the win.

There are more opportunities going forward and I’m motivated. We’ve got a GC to fight for and stages to hunt for as well.