Ben has ride of his life to become Irish national road race champion

The 20-year-old, who qualifies to ride for Ireland through his grandparents, became one of the youngest winners of the event in recent years as he finished ahead of the pack on a 155km course in Limerick.

Healy, a former Summerhill school pupil, replaces Tour de France green jersey winner Sam Bennett as Irish national champion for the next 12 months.

“This is what every rider wants,” he said. “Everyone wants to wear the Irish champion jersey for the year and to get the elite one as an under-23 rider is very special.”

Healy, who declared to ride for Ireland two years ago, had previously sounded notice of his potential by taking a stage win in last year's Tour de l'Avenir, regarded by many as a junior version of the Tour de France.

His victory in Saturday’s road race topped a superb week which also saw him crowned U23 time trial champion.

With Bennett unable to travel home to defend his title, the race appeared wide open, two-time former champion Nicolas Roche among the favourites.

But Healy, who is trained by Halesowen Cycling rider Jacob Tipper, began pushing the pace on the second of nine 17.1km laps around Knockaderry,

Along with Darnell Moore, he opened a gap on a chasing group of seven and the main peloton behind.

Then, with just over two laps to go, Healy dropped Moore on the short climb, then rode pure solo and highly impressively until the finish.

“I went away on the first lap and I was really just banking on them sitting up,” said Healy, who declared to ride for Ireland two years ago.

“It never really did but I held a minute for most of the race and it wasn’t until the last laps that I was able to pull out a bit more.

“I was riding very hard, there were personal best numbers for me today. It has been a fantastic few days, I came here wanting to do well and I have achieved everything I could have hoped for.”

Roche, the son of Irish cycling legend Stephen and a two-time Grand Tour stage winner, eventually claimed second place.

He said: “I am happy for Ben. He really did race perfectly, he rode smart – he knew the bunch would mark me down and went for most of the day.

“He rode extremely well and maintained his gap, he is going to be a future star of Irish cycling.”