Watch all the action from the 2023 Giro d'Italia on SBS VICELAND from May 6-28, with all the replays and highlights on plus news, analysis and much more on the SBS Sport website.
Despite being marked as a pre-stage favourite, Healy won with a 50-kilometre solo attack that no one was able to hold on to, or reel in.
Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), Filippo Zana (Jayco AlUla) and Warren Barguil (Arkéa Samsic) finished in second to fourth place respectively, one minute and 49 seconds behind Healy. This makes Healy's winning margin the largest in a Giro stage since 2018, and gave Healy all of the time he could have wished for to celebrate his first grand tour stage win.
The 22-year-old Irish racer rode away from his breakaway companions the first time up the Cappuccini climb and put over two minutes into them by the end. His rivals knew his attack was coming but could only watch him time trial away.
The long, lone break has become Healy's signature move. “If you can go solo, it is always better,” Healy said after the stage.
“I know in big groups like this, group dynamics can play a pretty big role, so I backed myself for a long move. I didn’t want to take any chances today, so I went solo. I knew I had good legs and managed to hold it to the finish. It’s a really good day.”
Healy had stage eight marked in his copy of the Giro’s race book, the Garibaldi, from the moment he knew he was going to Italy to make his grand tour debut this spring.
The 207-kilometre stage from Terni to Fossombre seemed made for a break to go to the line. After an uphill start on the Valico della Somma, the route rolled for 150 kilometres in the direction of the old city of Fossombre, where it would hit a succession of hilly finishing circuits.
The climbs started on the Cappuccini, a short, punchy hill with 10 per cent ramps, followed by the Monte delle Cesane, a 7.8-kilometre climb with pitches over 18 per cent, before heading back up the Cappuccini a final time, before the downhill run to the line.
Healy, who made his intentions for the day clear by wearing an aero suit for the stage, was determined to make it into the day’s early move. A few kilometres after the start, he and four other riders got away, joined later by another group of six after a long battle to establish the move. As the general classification favourites marked each other behind, Healy's break soon gained over five minutes.
It was clear that the breakaway group were going to make it to the finish as planned, but no one expected Healy to attack so far from the line.
"I had good legs today and just gave it a good go," Healy said. "On the first little dig, I could see that I went solo and just pushed onto the finish from there.
"I was pretty comfortable the first time up and wanted to test the legs on the first steep kicker to the top of the climb, and no one came with me.
"I knew I can time trial to the finish pretty well and I was confident in myself to do that and I just paced myself to the finish and it worked out alright."
“That was my best day in the car,” said EF Education-Easy Post sports director Tejay van Garderen.
“In the end, Ben just threw all of the tactics away and went on the first climb. As soon as I got behind him, I was just like the road is going to pitch up here; let’s push the pace. Let’s recover here. I was telling him the corners.
"It was like I was doing a time trial with him. But I can’t take any credit. Today was all Ben," van Garderen said.
This Giro stage win crowns a superb spring for Healy. After winning the GP Industria & Artigianato and a stage at Coppi e Bartali earlier this year, he electrified the cycling world with his gritty performances in the Ardennes.
With second at the Brabantse Pijl, second at the Amstel Gold Race, and fourth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Healy proved that he is one of the most exciting bike racers of his generation. Now, he has got his first grand tour stage win.
“We always knew he was a big talent, but this year he has shown his class. Ben Healy is going to be a name you are going to be listening to for a long time," van Garderen said.
Behind Healy, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) put pressure on his rivals on the stage's steep climbs. The Slovenian broke away on the final climb of the day and gained a surprising 14 seconds on general classification rival, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep).
The move saw Roglic climb into third overall on the general classification. He now sits 38 seconds behind overall leader Andreas Leknessund (DSM), who retained the maglia rosa for another day, despite finishing five minutes and eight seconds behind Healy and 34 seconds behind Roglic.
"I knew I had to go as fast as I can to the top," Leknessund said.
"In the end, I kept the jersey and I'm really happy and proud of how we rode as a team and also that I got the chance to really fight for it like I had to today.
"We can expect that I will lose the jersey tomorrow so it's super nice to finish with a proper fight like I had today."
The Giro d'Italia continues tonight with a 35-kilometre individual time trial from Savignano sul Rubicone to Cesena.
Watch stage 9 of the Giro d'Italia LIVE tonight from 21:00 (AEST) on SBS On Demand and SBS VICELAND.
