By Shane Stokes
With his first-ever Grand Tour getting underway, Archie Ryan has been tipped for a big future in a key Ardennes Classic by his team manager Jonathan Vaughters.
Ryan was selected by his EF Education EasyPost team for the Vuelta a España, which begins on Saturday in Turin. This year’s race features 11 summit finishes, giving Ryan a real opportunity to measure his uphill prowess against some of the best in the sport.
“Archie is someone who is punchy, good on very steep climbs,” Vaughters told Sticky Bottle, when asked where he thought Ryan’s future lies as the Irishman gets his first ever Grand Tour stage underway in Turin today, Saturday.
"I'll say one day races. You never know if that might extend into stages of Grand Tours and week-long stage races. Or Flèche Wallone.
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"Flèche Wallonne is sort of where I see Archie's future. Or like, the Tour of the Basque Country, where the climbs are short, they're steep, they're hard. Where there’s a lot of out of the saddle climbing. That's where I see Archie.”
Ryan has shown his flair in many races, winning a stage of the 2024 Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali two months after making his debut with the team. He was fifth in the Deutschland Tour later that year, and was recently second on a stage and second overall in the Tour of Austria.
He has set big targets for his first grand tour. “I want to try and get in the break in some of the harder stages and fight for a stage win or two. That’s the goal,” he said in recent days.
Missing from the Vuelta squad is Ryan’s teammate Darren Rafferty. He made his own grand tour debut last season in the Vuelta, and followed that up with a strong team ride in support of Richard Carapaz in this year’s Giro d’Italia.
Like Ryan, Rafferty had a very promising amateur career, winning the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d’Aosta Mont Blanc and the Strade Bianche di Romagna. He’s yet to translate that into personal results as a pro, but Vaughters believes he will continue to build year on year.
“Darren is a real diesel grinder. His body can actually tolerate a lot of workload,” he said. “He can get out there and just kind of go and get the job done day after day after day.”
Thus far he has spent a lot of time riding for others, but Vaughters made clear he will get his own opportunities over time.
“Of course we want to see his top end power come up a little bit, so that getting the job done isn't just helping one of our leaders, but it's actually being a leader himself.
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“His progression will never be incredibly fast. He’s never going to be a rider that's just going to jump up 10% in one year. But I think he is a rider that's just going to get 2% better every year, 2% better every year, 2% better every year.
"And then eventually, two, three years down the line, we'll see a Darren that is performing really well in three week stage races. I think three week Tours are his thing.”
Vaughters won’t be drawn on what he can eventually achieve there.
“It’s hard to predict right now. I don't want to put too much pressure on the kid’s shoulders just yet,” he laughed.
‘I’M MORE FOND OF IRISH RIDERS THAN AMERICANS’
Previously known as Garmin-Cervélo, Cannondale Drapac and under other titles, EF Education-EasyPost has been a WorldTour team since 2009. It has always been an American squad but, notably, has as many Irish riders as US competitors this year.
There are three in all; in addition to Ryan and Raffery, Tour de France stage winner and yellow jersey wearer Ben Healy is also part of the team. And while Vaughters is American, he clearly has a thing for his Celtic trio.
“Personally, I probably hate to say it, but I’ve probably grown more fond of Irish riders than American riders,” he laughed. “I really do like all three of those guys. They're just good people.
“The overriding thing is that we actually love our Irish riders. Maybe it's because they're Irish, but they're kind of punchy, and they like to fight like we do as a team. Honestly, they're all a joy to have on the team.
"They are ambitious and they're outspoken, and they're not afraid to throw it all in the line. They're not afraid to express their opinion, and they're not afraid to just to put it all out there for the world to see. And they fit great with the mentality and the ethos of the team.”
That Irish link is set to persist. Healy has a contract until the end of 2026. And while the Procycing Stats website lists the deals with Rafferty and Ryan as being set to end this year, Vaughters has said this is not the case.
“Darren has one more season after this one. Archie has two more,” he revealed.
“PCS usually has our stuff wrong, because we never actually announce contract lengths. I'm happy to answer when you ask me one to one, but we don’t throw it out there publicly. All three are with us next year, 100 percent.”
