Ryan Mullen will start the third Grand Tour of his career in Turin this weekend after being named in the Bora-hansgrohe selection for the Giro d'Italia. He will team up with Danny van Poppel as the team's preferred sprint choice, with Sam Welsford not making the team sheet.
Back in January at the Tour Down Under, after being expertly guided by Mullen and Van Poppel to no fewer than three stage wins, Weslford said in interviews his thoughts were already turning to working with the same duo at the Giro.
However, he has not won a race since then. And his team has said with some climbs in the finals of Giro stages where a sprint was possible, it was opting to go with Van Poppel as the man to try and grab a win on those days, aided by Mullen.
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"We see many sprint options this year - some are not easy with a climb in the finale," said sports director Enrico Gasparotto. "That's one of Danny's strengths. He's in good shape and with Ryan as a lead-out, we're in a very good position for these stages."
Gasparotto sees as many as eight stages where the Van Poppel-Mullen combination can be in contention, with Van Poppel effectively co-leader of the team. He will target those sprint stages as Dani Martínez, 5th overall at the Giro three years ago, is general classification team leader.
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For Mullen, the reigning Irish TT champion, his selection is a vote of confidence, though comes as no surprise as he and Van Poppel are regarded among the best lead-out duo in the world.
Van Poppel also showed his ability to take his own chances at the recent Tour of Turkey, though he was relegated for an irregular sprint after crossing the line 1st on stage 3.
The team is hoping Mullen can drag Van Poppel into position on some of the stages they can target, and that the Dutch rider can take a win, minus the relegation. Added to that, they will also be expected to chip in for outright general classification leader Martinez if and when the need arises.
Mullen made his Grand Tour debut, at the Giro, in 2018 and also rode La Vuelta in 2022. IN Spain two years ago Mullen helped then team mate and compatriot Sam Bennett to two stage victories before Bennett had to bow out of the race with Covid-19 just before the halfway point.
Another Bora-hansgrohe rider, German Emanuel Buchmann, has expressed his “disappointment and frustration” at not being selected for the Giro. He said he had been promised co-leadership of the team but was informed two weeks ago he would not be going.
The team had planned to go with a leadership approach involving Martinez and Lennard Kämna. However, when Kämna was hit by a driver, and put in intensive car, while training last month, the team decided to go all in for Martinez for the overall and Van Poppel for the sprints.
