"I need to try and get a gap and get ahead" - Is Ben Healy planning early attack at Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2025?

Ben Healy has again been a protagonist in the Ardennes Classics so far this year, taking top 10 finishes at both the Amstel Gold Race and La Fleche Wallonne over the course of the last week. With Liege-Bastogne-Liege upcoming this Sunday, the Irishman is again looking to make his mark.

"The fact that it's a Monument obviously puts it right up there with the coolest races, but for me the fans on La Redoute and Roche aux Faucons just take it to the next level. When you're suffering up there and it's just a wall of sound, it is one of the coolest feelings," says Healy in a pre-race press release to the official website of the EF Education-EasyPost team.

"In past years, it's just been raced so hard. It's all about saving everything you can and then hopefully you have the good legs to follow on La Redoute. And then once you've made that group, it’s about saving again until Roche aux Faucons. That’s the last big hit up," continues the Irishman. "The roads in the Ardennes are narrow and twisty and up and down. So, the further you can sit forward in the peloton, the better. That takes some leg power to do and that's what the guys will do for me on Sunday. And then in the finale, it’s just suffering."

Having finished 4th at Liege-Bastogne-Liege back in 2023, Healy is certainly one of those expected to be in the mix for the podium once again this time around. If he is to challenge the likes of Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel though, the former Irish national champion feels he might need to make a move earlier than most.

"I need to try and get a gap and get ahead. That is what I've tried the past couple of years and it seems to work out. It’s just about trying to race a smart race and spend the pennies when you can in an efficient way," he explains in conclusion. "I can do the positioning in the finale by myself, but if we have Nielson Powless or Archie Ryan there, just really trying to make the race hard, that would be key."