Ben Healy's path over the past 10 days can be measured by the frustrated smile on his face after missing the podium in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

The Irishman had a spirited run behind solo winner Remco Evenpole, but had to settle for fourth place in the end after being passed by Tom Pidcock and Santiago Buitrago on the Quai des Ardennes.

"If you told me two weeks ago that I would be disappointed with fourth place in Liège, that would be pretty crazy," Healy said after the finish. 'I think fourth is a good result.'

La Doyenne had been touted in advance as a duel between Evenpoel and Tadej Pogaczal, but the Slovenian crashed just before the Bastogne turn. At this moment, Evenpoel was a complete favorite to win the race, and his team raced accordingly. Sourdal-Quick-Step dominated the race from start to finish, until the decisive blow by Evenepoel at the top of the Côte de la Redoute in the afternoon.

Healy was on the track of Evenpoel before the attack, and although he could not keep up with the acceleration of the world champion, he was relentless in his pursuit of second place and tried to clear the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons.

In the last sprint to Liège, he took Pidcock and Buitrago with him and led the sprint after trying to break away in the last kilometer.

"Quick Step set up from the start and it was another battle of attrition. Healy said, "Maybe we came up a little short on the climbs today. We couldn't drop them on the Roche aux Faucons.

"In the sprint, maybe I jumped a little too fast. I sensed a little hesitation and was hoping they were looking at each other.

Two weeks earlier, Healy had worked with the EF Education Easy Post team and handed out bidons along the roadside in Paris-Roubaix.

After finishing second in Brabantspaille, Healy also accomplished the feat in the Amstel Gold Race. Healey then put in his best run as a chaser behind the hard-chasing Pogachar, dropping his former Trinity Racing teammate Pidcock in the finale.

This season, the 22-year-old has already won the GP Industria & Artigianato and Settimana Coppi e Bartali stages and will return to Italy for his Grand Tour debut at the Giro d'Italia. In the long run, however, he intends to return to the Ardennes with higher goals in mind.

"In the future, I would love to be able to fight for wins in races like this," Healy said. 'But if you had told me that two weeks ago, I would have bit your hand off.'