Ryan Mullen does damage at Tour of Austria
Ryan Mullen has been doing plenty of damage at the Tour of Austria; driving his team on to assist it to stage victory and the yellow jersey.
While the prologueTT on Sunday was an uphill test and so not to Mullen's liking, he's ridden very well since then.
And Cannondale-Drapac not only took victory on yesterday's stage 2, it also holds the race lead.
Mullen was instrumental in the team's splitting the main field in the crosswinds of Monday's stage 1; a mainly flat 193.8km from Graz to Wien.
And when the men in green managed to thin the peloton down to just 30 riders, Mullen and team mate Thomas Scully finished it with a lead-out for Sep Vanmarcke.
The Belgian was beaten to stage victory by Elia Viviani, riding in the colours of Italy.
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But Cannondale-Drapac’s consolation was Vanmarcke assuming the race lead.
He had finished 5th on the 800 metre prologue TT; just 7 seconds behind victor Oscar Gato (Astana).
And with time bonuses on offer at the finish of stage 1 and Gato missing the front group, Vanmarcke was in yellow.
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Mullen finished just off the back of that lead group; drifting backwards when his lead-out work was done.
On yesterday’s stage 2 it was the turn of Tom-Jelte Slagter; winning the day for the team.
He was best of a four-man escape on the 199.6km stage from Wieselburg to Pöggstall.
Cannondale-Drapac decided to let a small group go clear and reel it in before launching a wave of attacks on the lumpy final section of the course.
“Ryan Mullen and Will Clarke led the peloton and they worked tirelessly the entire day,” Vanmarcke said.
“In the final, when we entered the climbing section, they had brought the breakaway back to the bunch.”
Eventual winner Slagter would counter attack and bring three others with him; Mekseb Debesay (Dimension Data), Ángel Miguel Lopez (Astana) and Martijn Tusveld (Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij).
Vanmarcke took the sprint for 5th, some 9 seconds behind the winning breakaway.
Mullen finished in 104th place, in a group some 14:08 down. The race concludes on Saturday, with lots of climbing on Thursday and Friday.
The only other Irishman in the race is Matt Brammeier of Aqua Blue Sport. He was 108th in the prologue, 126th on stage 1 and 106th yesterday.
Vanmarcke leads overall by 7 seconds from Andrew Vendrame of the Italian national team. Mullen is 96th at 14:41 and Brammeier 109th at 16:07.
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