‚It’s going to suck to watch the Ardennes and not be a part of it‘ – Ben Healy takes immediate time off to recover from fractured sacrum sustained at Itzulia Basque Country

Ben Healy will now not be on the beginning line for Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race and can miss the trio of Ardennes Classics for EF Schooling-EasyPost as he recovers from a fractured sacrum.

The 25-year-old Irishman is not going to require surgical procedure, based on a group press launch, however will want relaxation earlier than he resumes driving in two weeks to arrange for his third Tour de France.

“It’s gutting. I’ve simply obtained to roll with the punches. I’m making an attempt not to consider it an excessive amount of, however it’s going to suck to look at the Ardennes and never be part of it,“ Healy stated in a group assertion. „That’s bike racing. It simply is what it’s.“

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A stage winner ultimately yr’s Tour de France and Itzulia Basque Nation, Healy crashed throughout a reconnaissance of this yr’s Basque Nation time trial, held in Bilbao because the opening stage on April 6.

He accomplished all six phases, even successful a most combative rider prize on the queen stage, however consulted the EF Professional medical group all through the race as a consequence of stiffness. When the ache didn’t diminish, scans from an MRI revealed „a small, un-displaced mid-sacral fracture“, the group confirmed right now.

“This week, Ben’s ache elevated, so we determined to take him for an MRI. These scans got here again with a non-displaced sacral fracture that won’t require surgical procedure,” stated EF Professional Biking Head Physician Jon Greenwell.

“Since he’s unable to trip comfortably, we determined that it’s best for him to have a while off to stop any long-term issues or different accidents that may happen while making an attempt to work round this damage. Ben needs to be again on his bike in about two weeks to start his preparations for the Tour.”

Amstel Gold Race was set to be his subsequent competitors, adopted by La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, a well-recognized calendar of one-day Classics he has accomplished every of the final three years. In 2023, he was second at Amstel Gold and fourth at Liège, whereas final yr, he was high 10 in any respect three occasions, together with a repeat on the rostrum at La Doyenne.

Healy had focused the Ardennes one-day races because the winter. The group stated he would stay house with relaxation and restoration as his high precedence. He hoped to be race-ready once more for Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, which begins June 7 in Vizille, France.

“At Itzulia, I believed I used to be getting higher all through the race, and I believed not an excessive amount of harm was achieved. It wasn’t actually till I obtained house that it actually began to provide me some grief. Since getting house from Itzulia, I haven’t been in a position to trip,“ he stated.

„Clearly, we would have liked to seek out out what was making the ache. That’s why we went and obtained the scan ultimately. The bone that I fractured is a reasonably insignificant bone, in order quickly as I don’t have ache, then I ought to be capable to trip as I want. It’s the ache that we’re anxious about, and the chance that I may give myself a secondary damage.

„As quickly as there’s no ache, then hopefully we’ll be on monitor for the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and the Tour. We simply must see how restoration goes first.”

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