Archie Ryan may have never given gravel riding a go - not yet anyway - but the emerging Irish rider takes on his debut ride at Strade Binache this weekend and says he is determined to give a good account of himself.
He starts the 213km World Tour event, againat some of the biggest names in the sport, in an EF Education-EasyPost team alongside fellow Irishman, Ben Healy, and former Olympic champion Richard Carapaz.
The race includes 16 sectors of white gravel, known as sterrato, for a total of 81.7km, on the road to Sienna, with 3,700m of climbing. While not for the feint-hearted, Ryan was 21st at the hilly 275km Worlds road race in Zurich last September so should have no fear of the brutal test of endurance that awaits in Italy on Saturday.
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“ I'm super excited,” he said. “I've never done it before, but it must be one of, if not the, coolest races on the calendar. I haven't given gravel a proper crack, myself, but I'm super excited to try out the old sterrato.
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"I’ll go into it with an open mind and do what I can to help the team. I think we've got some good options with the boys and we can do something special if we put our heads together. I just want to be an integral part of the team and do what I can to help the big boys.
"Racing in Italy is such a vibe – up, down, left, right, techie descents, steep climbs, all the Italians drinking their espressos, watching the race pass by.”
Ryan has had a low key start to the season so far, but had a very useful pre-Strade Bianche hit-out in Italy yesterday when he took on the 197km Trofeo Laigueglia (1.Pro). He was present at the front, having helped team leader Neilson Powless, until that front group split on the last few climbs.
The 23-year-old Irishman eventually finished in 26th, in a group 1:15 down on Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who claimed a four-man sprint from Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana Team) and Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), with Powless 4th.
Irish national road race champion, Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost) was also in action and was a non-finisher having aided the team's work early in the race.
