Friday, April 12, 2024 at 9:19 AM
EF Education-EasyPost has unveiled the seven team that will start in the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday. Olympic champion Richard Carapaz, home rider Marijn van den Berg and Ben Healy, last year’s number two, lead the pink brigade. Neilson Powless is, as expected, missing from the selection.
“I don’t think it is up to us to set the course from the start,” says Healy on the team website. “Hopefully there will be a thinned out group with me, Richard and Marijn. If he is there, Marijn can take the sit-and-wait-for-the-sprint role, while Richie and I can race aggressively.”
Last year Healy finished second in the Amstel Gold Race. He was the only one who could stay close to an unleashed Tadej Pogacar. A week later, the Irishman would also finish fourth in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and in May he won a stage in the Giro d’Italia. Healy has not yet won this year, but he has already taken the necessary places of honor. He was fourth in the Volta ao Algarve, twelfth in Strade Bianche and seventh in the Région Pays de la Loire Tour.
Van den Berg: “Know all the climbs and roads”
The Région Pays de la Loire Tour was in the name of Marijn van den Berg. The Dutchman also won two stages in the French stage race and finished seventh in the Brabantse Pijl last Wednesday, after seeing a solo attack fail in the final kilometer. He will make his debut in the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday.
“I know all the climbs and roads. That will make this race very special,” says Van den Berg on the EF Education-EasyPost website. “It will be a tough race, but I think that is perfect for Ben. I want to be there when everything comes back, so that we can sprint in a smaller group. But the Amstel is a difficult course to predict.”
Carapaz makes a comeback
For Carapaz, the Amstel Gold Race marks his return after a fall in Tirreno-Adriatico. The Ecuadorian didn’t break anything with a slider in the final stage of that round, but nevertheless has not played since. He rode the Amstel once before, in 2021, and crossed the line in 28th.
2024-04-12 07:19:00
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