“The race is just relentless all day" - Ben Healy looking to go one better than 2nd last year at Amstel Gold Race

As part of his breakthrough Spring in 2023, Ben Healy was a star performer at the Amstel Gold Race, eventually coming home second behind Tadej Pogacar.

The Irish National Champion returns this time around with hopes of going one better and standing on the top step of the podium. “It is just constant left and right, climbing and descending,” the 23-year-old previews in conversation with his EF Education-EasyPost team's official website. “The race is just relentless all day, even if there might not be one climb that stands out.”

Healy won't be the only EF Education-EasyPost rider with race-winning ambitions at the startline though, as Marijn van den Berg and Richard Carapaz also have big hopes. “I don’t think it is up to us to make the race from the start and decide how the race is ridden until the finale,” Healy assesses. “Hopefully, it will be a reduced group with me and Richard and Marijn. If he is in contention, Marijn can take that sit-back-and-wait-for-the-sprint role, so Richie and I can be aggressive.”

“It’s going to be a hard race, but I think that’s perfect for Ben,” van den Berg adds. “I want to be there if it comes back, so we could sprint with a smaller group, but Amstel is a really hard race to predict. I don’t know what to expect because it is my first time. A lot can happen here. On the climbs, it will be key not to go all out the first time up. Everyone in the peloton can do a few hard efforts on the climbs, but we’re doing almost 260 kilometres. When you see it on TV, it is always super busy and everybody is super hyped and excited so I am looking forward to seeing how that will be.”

Ben Healy, Richard Carapaz, Marijn van den Berg, Owain Doull, Mikkel Honore, James Shaw and Lukas Nerurkar.