“(I was) thinking you’ve got to do loads more, or just wanting to do loads more, to make sure you’re not falling behind,” he says.

“I ended last year with a plan in my head of what I wanted to do. I really focused on being more specific in my training this winter, really adhering to my training zones, listening to my body, and not overdoing it.

“I feel that’s such an easy thing for cyclists to do . . . overdo it a lot of the time. I’ve also been working pretty closely with the nutritionist on the team, and we realised I had a few kilos to lose.”

At 5ft 7in and weighing just 65kgs (around 10 stone in old money), it’s hard to fathom where anything could have been trimmed.

“That’s what I thought as well,” he laughs. “But at 65 kilos, I was 18pc body fat, so I had quite a bit to lose. We just kept on top of that over the winter, and now I’m racing a fair bit lighter than I was last year.

“We’ve done it properly, though. I’ve just been in a really small calorie deficit, but for quite a long time. I’ve been keeping the protein high, so my power is just as good as it was before – if not better than last year.”

That point was proven when Healy opened his account with third place in his first race of the year for his EF Education-Easypost WorldTour team at the Trofeo Calvio in Spain in February.

“That was a good opportunity to show the team the work I’d done over the winter, and that I had really taken a step up.

“We had a two-week training camp before that block of races, and I think they could tell that I’d been putting it in even then. Then to go to the race and finish third straight away, with some pretty decent guys there, confirmed that. It confirmed it to myself as well, which was really nice.”

Hopes ran high for a good result in his next outing, the five-day Etoile de Besseges in France, but a crash on stage two soon put paid to those.

“There was just the usual fight for position into the crosswinds. I was right behind the first person who went down and had no room or time to stop. I must have just caught my hand a bit funny.

“My bike was in a pile of bikes. I went to pick it up and couldn’t get it, but I was straight on the radio to the car for another bike and jumped on that. With the adrenaline, I didn’t even realise I had broken my hand. When I went to shift gears, though, I couldn’t actually click the lever. I knew then there was something wrong.”

Healy broke the fourth metacarpal, the bone between the knuckle and the wrist, on the ring finger of his right hand.

“They told me it was a pretty good one to break because the other two metacarpals act as a splint, and the break was clean,” he says.

“If I’d had an operation, I would have been back on the bike sooner, but there could have been complications with an operation, so they were happy to let it heal by itself and take the extra time to get better.”

That extra time consisted of four weeks of training indoors on the dreaded turbo trainer; the silver lining was that he could so in his girlfriend’s apartment in London.

“I saw it going one of two ways,” Healy says, philosophically. “I either knuckled down and got it done, or I went backwards from the injury.

“I’d asked the team to ride my first Grand Tour this year, and they’d given me the opportunity to do the Giro in May, so that really motivated me.

“I didn’t want to lose anything from the crash and I didn’t want to give them the idea that I was off the bike for too long either. I did between 18 and 20 hours a week indoors, with one day of almost five hours. I watched Netflix, listened to music, whatever it took to get me through. It probably annoyed my girlfriend quite a bit, but it was a nice few weeks with her.”

His impressive training data over that period saw Healy selected for a surprise return to action at the Italian five-day Settimana Coppi e Bartali, six weeks after his crash, and the numbers were confirmed when he took his first pro victory on stage three.

“I knew I had pretty good legs because I could follow the moves and it wasn’t costing me anything,” he recalls of the 140km stage.

“Eventually, everything came back together and Quickstep set a really hard pace on the last climb. We caught the break halfway up and the guy who was pulling just ran out of gas.

“I felt I could keep pushing, so I attacked over the top and got a gap. On the descent, my team-mate Mark Padun and Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r) bridged across to me.”

The trio stayed clear to the finish, where Healy used brute strength rather than a fast kick to take the sprint between climbers on the velodrome in Forli.

“It wasn’t the best tactical display in the world,” he laughs. “It was more like a drag race to the line, and I just had the better legs on the day. It felt really good, a mixture of relief and satisfaction, not only coming back from the injury but proving I can race in the pro races and replicate what I’ve done in the U-23 category in the pro ranks. It gives me a lot of confidence for the future.”

An impressive third place in the time trial two days later saw him finish third overall and take home the white jersey of best young rider before tackling the 200km one-day GP Industria & Artigianato the very next day.

“It was the day after Coppi et Bartali for us, but UAE came into that race fresh,” says Healy. “They had some pretty strong guys: (Felix) Grobshartner, (Marc) Hirschi, (Diego) Ulissi.

“It was pretty simple really, just follow UAE for as long as possible and attack them if we had the legs in the end. I knew my legs were super good as soon as we started racing.

“I could really spin them and they just felt weightless. UAE rode the last climb really hard. It was steeper towards the top and I could just feel the pace dropping off, so I put in a big attack.”

Healy went clear with 15km left and, by the finish, had taken his second pro win in four days, this time with 27 seconds to spare over the nearest chaser.

“Once I got to the bottom of the descent, I knew I had a good chance, with group dynamics behind and guys playing around.

“When one guy tried to come across, I was a bit worried at first because we didn’t have time gaps, so I just went as hard as I could to the finish. It was pretty satisfying.”

With a debut Grand Tour ride at the Giro on the horizon, Healy will finish the four-day Tour de Pays Loir in France today before tackling all three Ardennes classics.

“I just hope I haven’t peaked too soon and my form keeps improving. The Giro has some good days I like the look of.”