Ben Healy’s stint in the Tour de France’s fabled yellow jersey may prove relatively brief, as the high mountains of the Pyrenees – and the long-awaited battle between Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard – loom large. But its impact, especially for Irish cycling, will stretch far beyond a few days in the south of France.
That’s according to Healy’s EF Education-EasyPost teammate Darren Rafferty, who admitted that his compatriot’s performance has lit a “real spark” in both himself and the sport in Ireland.
On Monday in the Massif Central, Healy followed up his brilliant, long-range solo stage win to Vire Normandie on stage six by bludgeoning his way into yellow, forcing the pace at the front of the breakaway – virtually unaided – for much of the last 30km to snatch the lead of the Tour de France from Pogačar by 29 seconds.
Healy’s bloody-minded ride on Monday means he is only the fourth Irish rider in history to wear yellow at the Tour, after Stephn Roche in 1987 (the year Roche took Ireland’s sole Tour triumph), Sean Kelly in 1983, and the trailblazing Shay Kelly in 1963.
And speaking at the end of Healy’s first stage in yellow, an eventful loop around Toulouse (which saw the 24-year-old exercise his race leader privilege to slow down the group of favourites after Pogačar’s late crash), Rafferty described the day as a “really special” one, for his teammate, EF, and Irish cycling.
“The team’s ecstatic, the morale’s so high. And it’s almost 40 years since the last Irish rider in yellow, so there’s not too many people of this generation who have seen it. So, to be here on the first day he rides in yellow, it’s been really special,” the 22-year-old former Irish champion told road.cc in Toulouse.
“I’d have loved to have been in the race with Ben, that would have been the icing on top. But it’s something to really work towards, and it gives me a lot of motivation to race the Tour next year, to be involved.”
Riding for EF Education-EasyPost at the Tour at the moment seems to be something of a golden ticket, Healy’s stunning race following Richard Carapaz’s own stage win and spell in yellow last year.
“For the team, to have the yellow jersey for at least one day two years in a row, I think we’re really heading in the right direction, fighting with those top, top teams,” Rafferty notes. “That’s been a pleasure to be part of for the last year and a half, and really exciting.”
Of course, for Healy himself, a rider with a Giro d’Italia stage win and podiums at major classics under his belt, his stint under the glare of the Tour’s altogether brighter and harsher spotlight has already proved life-changing.
Not that he’s shying away from it all – the yellow bike and matching lead for his now-famous sausage dog Olive testament to Healy’s desire to embrace leading the Tour – or changing his career goals anytime soon.
“I was chatting to him at the bus this morning. I was saying how delighted I was for him, and how busy he must have been the last couple of days,” Rafferty says.
“And how everything has changed – he’s been extremely busy, a lot of interviews, a lot of media attention, and a lot of fans have flown over to come and see him for the day.
“It’s really a moment we have to relish, and appreciate that this is the biggest race in the world and to be leading it at the halfway point is no easy feat.
“He really takes the race on himself. You see the stage he went into yellow, he wasn’t requiring anyone else to take a turn, it was full commitment. When he puts his mind to something, he really gives it everything.
“I think he’s just going to enjoy his moments in yellow – they don’t come around too often. So he’ll be just soaking that up. He’s got a stage win and two days in yellow. If you told him that before the race, he’d be pretty chuffed. Everything’s a bonus and a positive from here on in.”
Healy’s Tour success comes as Irish cycling in general enjoys a renewed period of resurgence, after struggling – with the exception of strong, individual showings by the likes of Dan Martin and Nico Roche during the 2010s – to replicate the Kelly, Roche, and Earley-inspired glory years of the 1980s at cycling’s biggest race.
Just last month, Irish riders took two back-to-back stages at the Giro d’Italia NextGen, the U23 version of the Italian grand tour, courtesy of Seth Dunwoody and Rafferty’s brother Adam (above), two years his junior.
The elder Rafferty was also speaking just three days after finishing 22nd overall at the Tour of Austria, and he already has two grand tours, in Spain and Italy, under his belt during his first year and a half as a pro.
At the finish in Toulouse, dozens of Irish fans, waving tricolours, waited for Healy to emerge from his post-race duties, to get an autograph or photo with him, or just to shout some encouragement.
Two supporters I spoke to had booked their flights to Toulouse on the rest day, a two-day round trip costing them a cool £700 each.
And Darren believes Healy’s Tour ride, and the fervour surrounding it, will only serve to inspire another generation of talent in Ireland.
“For me, personally, as a teammate and a good friend of Ben’s, I feel like a fan today. I feel like everyone else from home. It means a lot to Irish cycling, it gives it a huge boost for our representation within the sport as a nation,” he says.
“Hopefully, and I don’t even hope, I think, it will inspire some more children to give it a go and see how far the sport can take them.”
But why is Irish cycling booming right now?
“I’m not really sure. We’ve spoken about it ourselves a bit, the Giro came to Ireland in 2014. And for a few riders our age, it’s a core memory, of seeing these top guys, like Dan Martin and other big names racing on home roads, Armagh, Belfast. That definitely inspired this age group, from me down.
“There’s a pathway now. More riders are on Continental teams – under 14s can now see that, and see that it is possible. Someone like Ben going into yellow from where he’s came, racing the Tour de l’Avenir, riding for Trinity, names we all know. Then it becomes something that’s not so far out of reach, that’s more realistic. And that’s pretty cool.
“It’s given me a real spark. On the day Ben went into yellow, I spent four hours watching the stage, counting down the seconds to see if he’d make it into yellow. And I think there’s a lot of people in the same boat.
“And, at the end of the day, I am such a huge fan of the sport. And seeing things like this and that little spark, that’s someone who’s not Vingegaard or Pogačar in yellow, sometimes just gives you that bit of belief that maybe someday it is possible and that it might not just be a dream.”
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