Archie Ryan is celebrating a breakthrough day in his fledgling career after the 20-year-old Irishman took his first pro victory on stage 2 of Tour de Slovaquie (2.1) today. He was best in the uphill finish, securing victory on his first race with the Jumbo Visma World Tour team.
Ryan repeatedly punched the air in delight on crossing the line in Banská Štiavnica after 186.3km and 4½ hours of racing. Behind him, Mauri Vansevenant (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) was 2nd and last year's Monte Zoncolan stage winner of the Giro d'Italia, Lorenzo Fortunato (EOLO-Kometa) was 3rd.
Today's stage took in no fewer than six categorised climbs before the short sharp incline, on cobblestones, to the finish line. The peloton was whittled down to a group of about 35 riders with less than 30km to go.
Advertisement
And when that group hit the final climb, crested with just over 5km remaining, the group was further reduced. The remained 15 to 20 riders split in half on the climb, with Ryan in the first section. And while those two groups came together just before the kick up to the line, Ryan pulled the trigger with about 200m to go and won with a powerful display.
Related News
“"I'm thrilled with this win. It was super difficult; a really tough day and the team rode really, really well so I had a bit of an easier day thankfully," the Irishman said after the finish. "The climb was super tough; a lot of teams trying to make it hard to get rid of the yellow jersey so it was a tough day out there.”
“I’m not really one of the cobble stones so it was a bit interesting. But it was very hard so it suited me and quite steep, so suited me. And the boys did a great job to put me into the bottom of the climb so it’s all thanks to them really."
Ryan finished 42nd, at 37 seconds, in the 7km prologue TT in Bratislava on Tuesday, won by Ethan Vernon (QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl). Vernon also won yesterday's stage 2 in a bunch sprint, with Ryan finishing in the peloton. However, when the race split today on the climbs, the general classification riders forged clear.
And now the leader's jersey passes to Josef Černý (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl). Stage winner Ryan is up to 5th overall, just 10 seconds off the race lead. And with another hilly stage, of 214.8km, to come tomorrow, the Irish rider will fancy his chances of moving up overall.
