Richard Carapaz will return to racing at Amstel Gold Race on Sunday, a bit more than one month since a hard crash on the final stage at Tirreno-Adriatico on March 10.
His longer-than-expected recovery forced the EF Education-EasyPost rider to skip GP Miguel Indurain and Itzulia Basque Country to be “one hundred percent” for the Ardennes Classics, races that he hasn’t competed in since 2021.
“Being back is very nice,” Carapaz told El Universo.
“We always train to compete in the races, to be in top shape and to always try to have a positive result. In the Tirreno Adriatico, the fall was a little more serious than I believed, or what we thought with the team, I was more affected at the knee level, which I injured in the Tour de France [Ed – in 2023]. I got a bruise, that’s why I had to stop and kind of start again.”
Carapaz plans to race la Flèche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Tour de Romandie with Tour de France remaining the year’s major goal for the Ecuadorian.
“It seems like a good calendar to me, then we will decide with the team the best path towards the Tour de France, making our way for the great objective.”
The Ardennes squad for EF Education-EasyPost will be led by Ben Healy who has unfinished business at Amstel Gold after finishing second behind Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) last year. The Irish national champion wants to do one better this year on the 255km race with 33 climbs.
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“It is just constant left and right, climbing and descending,” Healy said in a team release. “The race is just relentless all day, even if there might not be one climb that stands out.”
Healy is hoping that the team can repeat the Pays de le Loire scenario where he helped Marijn van den Berg claim two stage wins and the overall victory.
“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 added. “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.”
Another return to racing will happen for Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition when EF Education-Cannondale’s Veronica Ewers is back after a tough spring. The American’s only race this year has been the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana where she finished 46th overall.
“I am a bit anxious. I have not raced since mid-February so it is kind of like starting out on my season again. I wasn’t feeling too great after Valenciana, just mentally was not where I wanted to be, but I have reflected on that and am trying to give myself a bit of grace and I am really excited to get back into racing and be a part of the team. The beauty of the team at the moment is that we are not necessarily favourites to win and that gives us the privilege of being aggressive. We can shoot our shots and take risks and just give it everything we can.”
“What I always find so special in this race is that once we hit the final circuits, all of the bergs are just covered in people cheering, especially on the Cauberg, the key climb near the finish,” added Ewers who raced Amstel Gold Race Ladies the past two years with her best result in 2022 where she placed 28th.
At the pre-season training camp, Ewers stated that the Ardennes races, particularly la Flèche Wallonne Femmes were one of her main goals for the first half of the season.
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