Ryan Mullen took the decision - with some persuasion - to pull out of the penultimate stage of the ZLM Toer before the start today. The Irishman crashed yesterday and under advice from medical staff he opted to focus on recovering as opposed to chasing a good GC result.
By Brian Canty
Ryan Mullen had to make the difficult decision to withdraw before the start of the fourth stage of the ZLM Toer in the Netherlands today, citing yesterday’s crash and next week’s nationals as the reasons.
The Cannondale man was flying high in the race and occupied 11th on general classification, 13 seconds down on the race leader, with just two stages to go.
But after hitting the deck hard and sustaining a very nasty wound to his left thigh his team’s medical staff suggested he opt out of the race.
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“The team told me not to take the risk," he said of pulling out.
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“I wanted to battle on and try and score a respectable GC result for myself over the course of the week but the staff, my coach and the other riders all advised me against it.
“The risk of infection is too high and I’d rather be fit and healthy for the national championships next week instead,” he said.
Indeed, Mullen will go into the time-trial on Thursday as the hottest of favourites and his fine prologue in the ZLM Toer on Wednesday has indicated he’s in very decent shape.
Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) is one of a few who will challenge him but few can come close to Mullen when he’s in top condition.
How much his injury affects him remains to be seen but given how keen he was to soldier on today shows he’ll just fine next week.
He’ll also be one of the favourites for the road race, though that is far more straight-forward than the test against the clock.
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