Ben Healy took one of Ireland’s best-ever performances in the prestigious Liège-Bastogne-Liège classic on Sunday, finishing third after a stellar performance.
The race was won by a dominant Tadej Pogačar, who struck out on the climb of Côte de la Redoute with 35km remaining and soloed to the finish line. The Tour de France winner and current world champion has taken seven wins in 14 race days this season, furthering comparisons with the legendary Eddy Merckx.
Healy went over the summit of the climb in third place and was part of a small chase group behind Pogačar. He later pushed ahead with the Italian rider Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and the duo finished 1:03 behind.
Ciccone took the sprint for second, with Healy admitting he “bottled it”, doing too much work in the final kilometre to fend off the next group behind.
Seán Kelly won the race in 1984 and 1989, while Dan Martin triumphed in 2013. Stephen Roche and his nephew Martin were runners-up in 1987 and 2017 respectively.
Healy took fourth two years ago and the result marks his continued evolution as a top rider.
“I am really, really happy with it,” he said of the result. “We had a plan today and just tried to set a pace on La Redoute and let Tadej do his thing. Maybe we would have reeled him in, but he was a lot stronger today than he was in Amstel [the Amstel Gold Race].
“I had good legs and was able to follow favourites. I made it into Roche aux Faucons [climb] with a bit of a gap and still had the legs to go.
“Over the top then me and Giulio just fully committed to the line. I am super happy with the podium.”
Liège-Bastogne-Liège is one of cycling’s five Monuments, the most prestigious of the one-day classics.
