Sean Kelly is on duty for Eurosport at the Giro d'Italia. We asked him what he believed Ryan Mullen and Nicolas Roche should, and could, do over the three week race.
Having already rated Sam Bennett as having a great chance of winning a stage on sprint or mixed terrain at the Giro, Sean Kelly believes Ryan Mullen and Nicolas Roche could strike from a breakaway.
Kelly said while many would many would see Rohan Dennis having the Giro leader’s jersey as a set-back for BMC team mate Roche; that wasn’t necessarily the case.
Indeed, Kelly felt it may well prove a blessing in disguise for Roche, who he said should get stronger as the race goes on.
“BMC have the jersey so he will have to ride. But that might mean he loses a bit more time in the finishes,” he said.
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“If he didn’t have Dennis in the pink jersey, Roche would be up there himself. He wouldn’t be too far off,” he said of the last two stages with really challenging finales.
Kelly added if Nicolas Roche did lose time, it would give him more leeway to get in a breakaway as the Giro progresses. And that may mean a stage win opportunity.
Roche has already said he was not happy with his TT ride. Because of that, while his general classification plans were not completely gone, he believed a stage win may become the priority.
And that’s the road Kelly wants to see him go down.
“I think a stage win would be much better for him than riding for (a top 10) on GC,” he said.
“He is very, very much capable of doing that. So if he’s forced to lose time now because he has to ride to help keep the jersey; it really may be much better for him later.
“And it depends on how Rohan Dennis climbs. If he holds it for a long time, and they defend it will.
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“That may make it hard for Roche to ride for the general classification. But I don’t think that needs to be a bad thing.”
In relation to Ryan Mullen; he rode in the breakaway yesterday. It was caught and the race came down to a sprint from a reduced peloton on the lumpy finish at the end of stage five.
Also in that four-man escape was his team mate Laurent Didier. And it looked like Mullen was there to aid the escape get a gap and hold it for as long as possible so Didier could try for the stage win.
The final 20km was not suited to Mullen. But Kelly said on other stages where the finale would not work against a big power rider like Mullen, he should go in the breakaway again and try for a stage win.
And he also said just because he opening TT was not a good one for the Irish champion, it didn't mean the next TT wouldn't.
Kelly pointed out it that leg - stage 16 from Trento to Rovereto – was 34.2km.
And while most of the pre-Giro conversation about Mullen was fixed on the shorter stage 1 test; the test later in the race looked very good for him.
“The opening stage time trial didn’t work out for him. But it wasn’t one for the big rouleurs,” said Kelly of Mullen.
“It was more undulating than was expected; everyone said that when they got there. For him, it just wasn’t the sort of TT that suited him.
“But that individual TT coming up; it seems to be pretty flat. That can suit him.
“Can he get a bit of a rest on the stages leading into it? Maybe not have to race too hard those days, take it a little easier? He could do a really good ride there.
“The most important thing is to get through a three week tour. But also what about going in the breakaways; why not?
“If you look at his team, they have no big rider for the overall. So he should get (another) chance to go in a breakaway."
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