Archie Ryan bounces back strongly on Luxembourg queen stage | Video

Archie Ryan has bounced back from a crash to put in a very strong ride on the queen stage at Skoda Tour de Luxembourg

Archie Ryan may have suffered the disappointment of a crash at Tour de Luxembourg, hitting his general classification aspirations, but he bounced back very well today on the queen stage.

The EF Education-EasyPost rider definitely showed no signs of any lingering crash injuries as he builds towards his first elite World Championships road race for Ireland in Zurich the weekend after next.

With 3,800 metres of climbing today on stage 3 - some 201km from Rosport to Diekirch - the terrain was right up Ryan's street. And, as has been the case repeatedly this season, he was around the front today when the chips were down.

However, as he lost 31 seconds to the reduced peloton yesterday when he just failed to get back on after his fall with 4km to go, Ryan could be seen on the front today in the final closing down gaps for team mate Harry Sweeny.

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It was an attritional stage that saw the peloton decimated by the climbs and the relentless pace. The yellow jersey passed from stage 1 winner Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin - Deceuninck) to day's solo victor Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal Quick-Step).

The Belgian rider got clear with Italian Davide Formolo (Movistar Team) with just over 20km to go today. And though they were chased at about 25 seconds by a three-strong group for a long time, with the remains of the bunch just behind, the gap to the leaders would not close.

Vansevenant, who was clearly much stronger than Formolo today, left his rival on the final incline, just 4km from the finish. He then motored to the finish - repeatedly looking back - to win solo by 18 seconds from Formolo. The Movistar rider was later disqualified for going into the supertuck position while in the breakaway.

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Van der Poel won the sprint for 3rd - later upgraded to 2nd place - from the 20 riders that remained in the peloton some 41 seconds after the winner. Ryan was towards the back of the group and let a small gap go, losing three seconds.

Ahead of tomorrow's TT - 15.5km in Differdange with a 1.3km climb - Vansevenant leads overall by 32 seconds from Van der Poel, with Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) in 3rd at 45 seconds.

Ireland's Ryan has moved up the general classification by 29 places to 20th, at 1:28. While the TT discipline does not suit him, the short climb averaging eight per cent tomorrow may help his cause.

He might also have another chance on Sunday's final stage into Luxembourg city as it involves 3,000 metres of climbing before then setting his sights on Zurich.

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