Roche and Mullen clock scorching TTs at Tour of Britain

Nicolas Roche, above, and Ryan Mullen have both ridden very strong TTs at the Tour of Britain in Bristol (Photo: Sirotti)

 

Nicolas Roche and Ryan Mullen have both put in great rides in the morning time trial stage at the Tour of Britain today, with young Mullen particularly impressive.

Roche, who won the national TT title earlier this year ahead of young guns Eddie Dunbar and Mullen, was once again quicker than Mullen today.

The Team Sky man finished 8th on the 15km TT in Bristol on Saturday morning, some 35.96 seconds down on winner Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep).

But Mullen, a 22-year-old newcomer to WorldTour level this year, was just one place behind Roche.

The Cannondale-Drapac man was just over two seconds slower than Roche and was 38 seconds off TT specialist Martin.

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Yellow jersey Steve Cummings of Dimension Data took 4th place in test and he holds his overall lead going into this afternoon's road stage and Sunday's concluding leg.

Roche's ride moved him up one place overall to 6th, now 1:26 down on Cummings.

The other three Irishmen in the race are neither TT specialists, like Mullen, nor riding for GC like Roche and so they would not have set out this morning to use too much energy against the watch.

Conor Dunne (JLT Condor) finished in 75th place, some 2:22 down.

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Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) saw his GC bid fade yesterday and he finished well within himself against the watch earlier today, coming home in 82nd place some 2:28 down.

And Damien Shaw (An Post-Chainreaction), who is riding well to hold his own in a field of this calibre, also rode within himself and was 97th, some 2:41 down on winner Tony Martin.

Mullen (22) will take a lot of encouragement from his TT ride and if he can adjust to WorldTour level a little more, as he will in time, he can really begin to use his natural ability against the watch to take some very big results.

This afternoon's stage 7b at the Tour of Britain is a 76km road race starting and finishing in Bristol.

 

Yellow jersey Cummings put in a really strong ride when he counted and he keeps the race lead with just two stages remaining (Photo: Tour of Britain)

 

Stage 7a: Bristol - Bristol, 15km TT

1 Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:18:06.94
2 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:02.94
3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:04.17
4 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data 0:00:15.14
5 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 0:00:24.12
6 Gorka Izaguirre (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:24.13
7 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:00:34.83
8 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:00:35.96  
9 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:38.09  
10 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:39.19
11 Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:39.41
12 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Great Britain 0:00:43.89
13 Jochem Hoekstra (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:46.83
14 Jorge Arcas Pena (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:47.75
15 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:48.74
75 Conor Dunne (Irl) JLT Condor 0:02:22.64  
82 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:02:28.91  
97 Damien Shaw (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction 0:02:41.37  

 

General Classification

1 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data 27:22:33
2 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:38
3 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team
4 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 0:01:02
5 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:21
6 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:01:26
7 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 0:01:48
8 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:52
9 Julien Vermote (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:02:08
10 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:32
11 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 0:02:48
12 Mark Christian (GBr) Team WIGGINS 0:03:58
13 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:04:23
14 Erick Rowsell (GBr) Madison Genesis 0:05:18
15 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Great Britain 0:05:19
88 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale-Drapac 0:50:53
99 Damien Shaw (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction 0:57:22
103 Conor Dunne (Irl) JLT Condor 1:00:18

 

Mountains Classification

1 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 57 pts
2 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 42
3 Miguel Angel Benito (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 27
4 Kristian House (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling 26
5 Jonathan McEvoy (GBr) NFTO 25
6 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky 21
7 Peter Williams (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling 20
8 Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky 17
9 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 17
10 Thomas Stewart (GBr) Madison Genesis 16

 

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