'The talent was very obvious' - Inside Tour de France yellow jersey Ben Healy's time at Halesowen Athletics and Cycling Club

After becoming the first rider from the Black Country to win a stage of the historic race on Thursday, July 10, Healy donned the iconic yellow jersey for stages 11 and 12 before losing out to Tadej Pogacar.

It is a remarkable achievement for the 24-year-old, who represents Ireland despite being born and raised in Dudley, and his success was followed especially closely by his friends and former teammates at the club where the journey started 17 years ago.

"We're incredibly proud," Peter Hall, chairman of cycling at Halesowen Athletics and Cycling Club said. "Ben joined when he was seven after he'd been watching the velodrome cycling at the Olympics on TV with his dad Bryan and said: 'I want to have a go at that.'

"He started in the 'free wheelers' where youngsters ride a normal bike around the track, and then they graduate up to a proper track bike when they get a little older.

"He was a lovely little lad from a nice family - really keen, quite focused for his age, but didn't stand out talent-wise at that age. He was good, but he wasn't somebody that you'd predict would be a Tour de France leader in the future."

Despite moving on to Solihull Cycling Club at the age of 11, Healy remained a familiar face around Manor Way and regularly returned to dominate the club's racing competitions.

"He's stayed in touch with the club and actually won our road race, which we hold every year, in 2017, so his name is actually on the trophy," Mr Hall explained. "He rode off the front in that race and this is when he was about 16 which is pretty young to be doing that, and quite unusual for someone so young to be able to do it against people who are a lot older.

"He rode a lot of very good riders off his wheel and won by over a minute which is quite unusual on the circuit we use, so that was quite amazing and I guess a sign of things to come.

"He used to join in on our club rides even after he left the club and would go out regularly, and remained a familiar face in the area. Everybody knew him and he was very down to earth and friendly.

"My memory of Ben as someone who wasn't a member at the club when he was with us was that whenever we'd go out on a ride we'd see him out doing his training by himself, and you'd just see this rocket basically.

"He used to go out on his time trial bike and you'd just see him whizzing along at 30 miles per hour. At that stage the talent was very obvious and he'd kill us all on the club rides to be honest."