Vaughters explained that many young riders are distracted by social media, trying to mimic what the best riders do. “Most of the time with these young, hot shot kids these days, they want to do it the way they saw it on Instagram or on TikTok. They want to do it the way they saw Tadej Pogačar do it.”
Vaughters used a colourful and unconventional example to underline his point regarding how easily influenced young riders are by online advice. “And they’re like, ‘well, I read that the this doctor Peter Attia said that you have to eat elephant testicles or whatever in order to win.’ And so we sort of always have to fight against that. We’re like, ‘well, okay, maybe, but maybe we should try it out a little bit more of a basic route first. Again, going back to the ‘eat your meat and potatoes before you get your dessert’ argument. With Ben, we made that argument, and he said, ‘yeah, okay, that makes sense.’”
A careful start to a pro career
Healy first made headlines in 2019 as the youngest-ever stage winner at the Tour de l’Avenir. After turning pro with EF Education – EasyPost in 2022, the team wanted him to progress calmly but steadily. “One of the oddest things we did with Ben in his first year as a pro was we said, ‘listen, Ben, we don’t know what kind of rider you are yet,’” Vaughters recalled.
“So train hard up until the start of the season, but then once the season starts, we want you to just go out and ride your bike for three or four hours a day. Don’t push on the pedals too hard any one given day, because your schedule is not really made up yet. We’re going to send you to all kinds of different races.”
“We might call you up two days before the race and say, ‘Hey buddy, you’re gonna go to this one, sorry for the last minute notice. So we don’t want you tired. What we want you is fresh, even if you’re a little under conditioned. We want you to be able to do all kinds of different races and get the most out of those races, because you’re going into it with a fresh mind and fresh legs. And then in year two, let’s talk about being more specific about how to do things once we figure you out a little bit…’”
Vaughters noted that most young pros would resist such advice, but Healy just accepted it. “For the most part, most young, 19, 20 year old pros would hate that advice with a passion,” he said. “But Ben basically said, ‘yeah, okay, sounds good.’ And he did it.”
Rising fast in his second season
Healy’s first season was modest, with a victory in the Irish national TT championships and solid results like fifth in a stage of the Tour of Norway, sixth in the European TT championships, and sixth in the prologue of the Deutschland Tour.
His second season, however, was a completely different story. He won early season races such as the one-day race GP Industria & Artigianato and stage 3 of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, finishing third overall.
He impressed in the Ardennes Classics as well, placing second in both the Amstel Gold Race and Brabantse Pijl, and fourth in Liege-Bastogne-Liege. He also claimed a stage win in his first Grand Tour, the Giro d’Italia, and later won the national road race championships and a stage of the Skoda Tour of Luxembourg.
Ben Healy wore the yellow jersey at the 2025 Tour de France, although not for long
Vaughters praised Healy’s development, highlighting very few would have expected what he ended up doing. “I think his progression in the sport of cycling has been way beyond what anyone would have thought when he was a U23 rider. Partially, it’s because he let the sport come to him a little bit, as opposed to forcing it.”
Despite his GC potential, which was made clear especially after he finished ninth in the Tour de France overall this year, Healy has made clear he will continue attacking and hunting stages rather than adopting a conservative strategy.
Vaughters completely agrees with that stance. “I don’t think a conservative GC strategy for Ben makes sense, really. Eventually, if you get to the point where you’re actually trying to win the Tour, or even podium, then of course you do have to take a different stance. But at least for the immediate future, I would say that a conservative sort of sit and wait and wait and wait and wait strategy for Ben doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel right for him and it doesn’t feel right for the team.”