Archie Ryan, the Irish teenager competing with the Jumbo Visma Continental team, has gotten the Istrian Spring Trophy underway in Croatia with a prologue TT.
The 19-year-old, who is better-suited to the hard climbs, faced a short sharp effort in the 1km prologue in Umag, with Ryan finishing 106th, some six seconds down on the stage winner.
The TT victory was taken by Ryan's team mate, Lars Boven, who went around the course in a time of 1:13, for an average speed of 49.315km per hour on the coastal route.
As the test was so short, the time gaps were very small down the field. And though Ryan was well down he only lost six seconds to the winner and so his general classification hopes remain very much intact.
Tomorrow's 168km stage 1 from Funtana to Poreč features a couple of small climbs, including a 1.9km ascent at 5.2 per cent crested some 13km from the finish. There is a chance the race will split but the stage looks more likely to be a bunch sprint.
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Saturday's stage 2 should suit Ryan best; some 165km from Vižinada to Motovun with three climbs, including a not insignificant uphill finish. There are two 2.6km ascents, both a long way from the finish, followed by the final climb to the line, some 3.7km at 6.6 per cent.
That stage should offer the climbers in the field, like Archie Ryan, the chance to shake off the faster men. They will likely get a chance again on stage 3 on Sunday when the race concludes with a 143km stage into Umag, with only modest climbing and a flat finale.
Ryan's 2020 season was his first with Jumbo Visma after coming out of the junior ranks and it was badly impacted by Covid-19, with only limited opportunities to race. However, any time he hit a climb he showed he could instantly adapt to the higher standard in Europe.
He finished 7th overall at the Karkonosze Tour (2.2) in Poland and was 8th overall at Ronde de l'Isard (2.2U) in France; both strong general classification rides based on his climbing.
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