I proved what I can do last year – Healy aims for Amstel ‘Gold’

This time last year current Irish road race champion Ben Healy announced himself to the world as a future classics contender when he took second in the Amstel Gold Race and followed it up with fourth place at Liege-Bastogne-Liege a week later.

While he had a couple of wins in Italy and a strong second place in Brabantse Pijl beforehand, he went into that Ardennes Classics week, which also includes the midweek Fleche-Wallonne, a relative unknown and came out of it a star.

“Yeah, this is where I broke out last season and I’ve some really fond memories of these Ardennes races,” Healy says ahead of tomorrow’s first adventure in the hills of Holland and Belgium, the Amstel Gold Race. “Even doing the course recce today, it was really cool to be back.”

Healy’s performances were all the more remarkable last year as he had broken his hand earlier in the season and was forced to train indoors for much of the lead-up to the events.

“It’s a bit of a different approach to last year,” he says. “I’ve had time to go to altitude beforehand and do some proper preparation and hopefully I’ll reap the rewards this weekend. I’ve worked hard to get in good shape for this.”

The fact that Healy went on to win a stage of the Giro d’Italia and Tour of Luxembourg afterwards, and then took the Irish road title, means he won’t be sneaking into the Ardennes under the radar this time around.

“We’ve seen what I could do last year so I think maybe there is a bit more pressure this year,” admits the 23-year-old. “I think if you let the pressure get to you, then you start making silly decisions and you can’t do that. I’ve just got to keep a cool head and just race as I always do.”

Alongside Dutchman Marijn van den Berg and Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, Healy goes into the race as part of a three-pronged attack for his EF Education-Easypost team.