Healy goes for gold in Gold Race, Van den Berg makes debut: "Hoping for a sprint from a smaller peloton"

This Sunday in the Amstel Gold Race, Ben Healy is aiming for victory. No more, no less. To get there, he will have to get past Mathieu van der Poel during the race in the Dutch province of Limburg. However, the Irish rider of EF Education-EasyPost has been gearing up for the Ardennes trilogy and should now be in top form.

"It is just constant left and right, climbing and descending," says Ben Healy, who was last year's runner-up, on the team website. "The race is just relentless all day, even if there might not be one climb that stands out. 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 is supported in the Gold Race by an impressive team, including Olympic champion Richard Carapaz, Owain Doull, Mikkel Honoré, Lukas Nerurkar, Jomas Shaw and Marijn van den Berg. The Dutchman finished seventh in the Brabantse Pijl on Wednesday, despite a final attempt to attack.

Van den Berg making debut in the Gold Race: "When you see it on TV, it's always super hectic"

"Hopefully, I'll have a smaller group with me, Richard and Marijn. If he's in the race, Marijn can sit back and wait for the sprint, allowing Richie and me to race aggressively," continues Healy, who last year only had to concede to an unleashed Tadej Pogacar.

"It's going to be a tough race, but I think that's perfect for Ben," says Van den Berg. "I want to be there when things bunch up, so we can sprint in a smaller group, but the Amstel Gold Race is really hard to predict. I don't know what to expect since it's my first time. A lot can happen here. On the climbs, it's important not to go all out immediately. Everyone in the peloton can handle a few tough climbs, but we're riding almost 260 kilometers. When you see it on TV, it's always super hectic, and everyone is super excited and pumped, so I'm curious to see what it will be like."

Selection EF Education-EasyPost Amstel Gold Race 2024

Ben Healy
Marijn van den Berg
Richard Carapaz
Mikkel Honoré
James Shaw
Lukas Nerurkar
Owain Doull