Ryan Mullen was left to rue what might have been today after things went wrong mid-stage at Volta Ao Algarve. Above, at the Irish TT championships last year (Photo: Sean Rowe)
By Brian Canty
Ryan Mullen was left gutted by a mechanical in today’s third stage of the Volta Ao Algarve in Portugal after his chain fell off during the 18-kilometre test against the clock.
The Cannondale-Drapac man will rue having to get off the bike during the effort as it cost him around 30 seconds and certainly a place in the top 10.
In what can only be described as sheer misfortune, Mullen also lost the magnet on his crank that fed him vital information about what power he was putting out.
It effectively meant he was riding on feel for the majority of his test.
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He battled on and when he crossed the line he was almost a minute clear of the man occupying the hotseat, though he knew his stay there would be short-lived.
Indeed, with many of the world’s top testers going to the race with the intention of winning today it would have taken a superhuman effort from Mullen to win – but he felt he could do it and came into it with huge ambition.
That was despite the likes of world champion Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin), Alex Dowsett and Jonathan Castroviejo (both Movistar) on the start-list.
Hugely disappointed to be forced to stop with a mechanical issue early on today. Did what I could given the circumstances. Onwards.
— Ryan Mullen (@ryanmullen9) February 17, 2017
Mullen is very much in that top bracket of elite testers so looking at the results and seeing himself 14th at 35 seconds will be a bitter pill to swallow.
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Stage victory went to the aforementioned Castroviejo who stopped the clock in 21:24.
Tony Martin was 2nd at four seconds and the new race leader Primoz Roglic (Lotto-JumboNL) was 3rd at five seconds.
The latter came into today trailing Irishman Dan Martin at the head of the general classification by four seconds.
But when Martin crossed the line in a time of 23:04 he slipped down the standings and is now sixth overall at 1:31.
He took the jersey yesterday following a brilliant stage win but on a flat course today it was always going to be hard to preserve his advantage.
Giro d’Italia stage winner Roglic is a very talented tester and the Slovenian ripped around the course as did Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky), who is now second overall at 22 seconds.
Tomorrow's stage will be hard for Martin to try and claw back some of the time he lost today as it is a rather straight run which should see the main GC men finish on the same time.
But the same cannot be said for Sunday's final which features a few testing climbs and a three-kilometre uphill drag to the finish.
And as he is less than a minute off third it's not inconceivable to think Martin can still make the podium, at the very least.
Stage 3: Sagres-Sagres, 18k ITT
1 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:21:24
2 Tony Martin (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:04
3 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:05
4 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky
5 Lars Boom (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:11
6 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ 0:00:12
7 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:00:16
8 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data 0:00:20
9 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team
10 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 0:00:21
14 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:35
74 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:40
92 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky 0:01:50
General Classification
1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 9:36:29
2 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:00:22
3 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:36
4 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 0:00:55
5 Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:59
6 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:31
7 Tony Martin (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:40
8 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:49
9 Amaro Manuel Antunes (Por) W52-FC Porto-Porto Canal 0:01:54
10 Rinaldo Nocentini (Por) Sporting Clube de Portugal/Tavira 0:01:56
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