Ben Healy has been selected by EF Education-EasyPost for the final classic of the season, Il Lombardia, in Italy this Saturday. The 22-year-old Irish road race champion is in a team of heavy-hitters, though he and Olympic champion, Richard Carapaz, look the strongest on the basis of recent evidence.
Healy has had a dream season, taking big wins with very aggressive displays, including a stage in Giro d'Italia as well as at Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali (2.1) and GP Industria & Artigianato (1.Pro). He was also 2nd in both De Brabantse Pijl and Amstel Gold Race, as well as taking 4th in Liège-Bastogne-Liège (1.UWT).
And while his strongest part of the season was definitely in the spring, up until the end of the Giro, he appears to have come back strong of late; winning a stage at Tour de Luxembourg, and taking 3rd overall, the week before last. And it's that form that may surprise a few people over 238km into Bergamo on Saturday, especially on a very hard undulating course that can really suit Healy.
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As well as Carapaz and Healy, the EF Education-EasyPost selection also includes big guns Esteban Chaves and Rigoberto Urán, as well as Mikkel Honoré, Andrea Piccolo and Jonathan Caicedo. That's a very strong line-up and, though Carapaz goes into the event after 2nd in Tre Valli Varesine yesterday, Healy's season has been far superior, despite his youth and relative inexperience.
There are seven categorised climbs on Saturday - over 4,400m of elevation gain - with the Passo Di Ganda likely to commence the finale proper. It is 9.2km in length, and averages 7.3 per cent. Its summit is crested 32km from the finish - about the range of a Ben Healy solo attack for victory.
However, just 3km from the finish in Bergamo, comes the Colle Aperto climb; some 1.3km, averaging 7 per cent. That may well act as a springboard for an attack - or prove a hill to die on - if there is still a group at the head of the race at that late stage.
The event was last won by an Irish rider in 2014, when Dan Martin triumphed, while Sean Kelly won the race - the Race of the Falling Leaves - three times during his career.
