Nicolas
Roche, Sam Bennett and Ryan Mullen carry Irish hopes into the Tour de Romandie
which gets underway in Switzerland tomorrow, Tuesday.
The three Irish riders will have very different objectives; Bennett looking for another sprint win, Mullen looking to impress in the TTs and Roche capable of a stage.
Sam
Bennett has won at least one stage in every stage race he has ridden this year.
He
goes up against Elia Viviani in Switzerland and getting one over on the Italian
would more or less cement his status as the best sprinter of the season.
Unusually
for Bennett, none of the stages are for pure sprinters. But the kicks in the
course mean they suit him better than the other fast men in the race.
Wednesday’s stage, for example, features five cat 2 climbs; the last one some 21km from the finish. Whether he will compete in that very much depends on how it is raced.
Advertisement
The following day’s stage 2 looks more straightforward; a cat 2 early in the day and a cat 3 later, but crested some 32km before the finish.
The
160km stage 3 looks like a course that shouldn’t suit the Bora-hansgrohe
sprinter; a cat 2 just before the finish followed by an uncategorised kick up
to the line.
But
if Sam Bennett is in form, and has his climbing legs on, there is a chance it
may suit him, though that depends very much on how the stage is raced.
Stage 4 on Saturday features three cat 1 climbs and two cat 2s, with the finish atop the final cat 1.
Related News
Bennett
won’t feature but Roche could. And some of the earlier stages that are very
undulating may also favour Nicolas Roche.
He
is riding on a team without Tom Dumoulin this time around. And if he were going
well; the course on a number of stages may suit him, especially from a
breakaway.
Given
the medium difficulty of some of the stages; they may suit Bennett if they are
not raced flat out, but could also be suited to Roche if the pattern of the
stage went his way.
For
Mullen; the final stage has his name written all over it. Obviously it is
extremely hard to win any TT at this level, especially one that comes at the
end of a tough stage race.
But
that stage 5 test in Geneva is 16.85km over flat terrain; a distance and course
that looks perfect for the Irish TT champion.
If
he wants to win, Mullen will have to see off the likes of Primoz Roglic,
Geraint Thomas, Victor Campenaerts, Alex Dowsett and Stefan Kung, among others.
However,
over this distance and on a flat course, it looks like an excellent opportunity
for him to measure himself against some of best.
He was recently sidelined for a period after being hit by a motorist out training though returned to racing in the spring classics and has quality miles under his belt.
Before that though there is the matter of the prologue tomorrow, Tuesday, and it could suit Mullen too.
The 3.87km opener in Neuchâtel should see some huge power numbers and speeds produced. And on his day Ryan Mullen can look to trouble the head of the leadboard.
Topics
