Ben Healy (EF Education EasyPost) may have already enjoyed significant success before his ride to 2nd place in Amstel Gold Race last April, but it was his performance in the Dutch classic that announced him as a contender for the biggest one-day races in the world.
Healy dropped Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) in pursuit of lone leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and then began gaining on the Slovenian, at which point some dodgy driving was witnessed in the car ahead of Pogačar.
That performance by Healy in the Netherlands followed wins in Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali (2.1) and GP Industria & Artigianato (1.Pro) as well as 2nd place in De Brabantse Pijl; making for a breakthrough spring for the Irishman last year.
Healy is no longer flying under the radar a little going into the 2024 edition of Amstel Gold Race on Sunday. But he is hoping for a very strong performance and thinking of victory as he goes to the start line.
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“It is just constant left and right, climbing and descending,” Healy says of the 255.2km men's race, with no fewer than 33 climbs. “The race is just relentless all day, even if there might not be one climb that stands out.”
The 24-year-old goes into the race as part of a very strong EF Education-EasyPost line-up that also includes Richard Carapaz, Owain Doull, Mikkel Honoré, Lukas Nerurkar, James Shaw, and Marijn van den Berg.
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While Healy is the obvious team leader, Van der Berg is in great form at present having just claimed two stage wins and the overall at Région Pays de la Loire Tour (2.1), where he was helped significantly by Irish team mates Healy and neo pro Darren Rafferty.
“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,” says Healy.
“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.”
For his part, Van der Berg believes the race is tailor-made for Healy, but also feels he could have his say in the final, depending on how it pans out.
“It’s going to be a hard race, but I think that’s perfect for Ben,” Van der Berg says. “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.”
