It was a case of reality bites for Ryan Mullen in West Flanders, but there were still signs of real progress.
Ryan Mullen's hopes of a top 10 ride overall at the Three Days of West Flanders went up in smoke yesterday on a day when the field split to pieces and the young Irish international was a non finisher.
Mullen (21) had been 15th in the 7km prologue TT on Friday and moved up a couple of places overall on Saturday's opening road stage.
It meant he went into the deciding 183km trek from Nieuwpoort to Ichtegem yesterday in 13th overall, just 19 seconds down on TT winner and race leader Tom Bohli of BMC Racing.
But when the racing split before the field went onto the 3½ finishing circuits those who had fallen behind abandoned or well prevent from continuing.
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And with the seven climbs to be negotiated on those circuits, only 80 riders would finish.
Unfortunately the tough final spelled the end of the race for Mullen and the An Post-Chainreaction Irish trio of Jack Wilson, Damien Shaw and Connor McConvey.
The event still represented some quality racing miles for Wilson, McConvey and Shaw.
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And for Mullen, his opening TT ride was a reminder that he is not far from competing for the top places on the leader board in stages against the clock in the short, so-called smaller, pro stage races.
The final stage went to Timothy Dupont of Veranda's Willems, with Sean De Bie of Lotto Soudal taking 2nd on the day.
The Belgian also scooped the race outright by virtue of making the winning escape on Sunday and taking 7th in Friday's prologue.
Stage 2: Nieuwpoort to Ichtegem (183km)
1 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Veranda's Willems 4:21:56
2 Sean De Bie (Bel) Lotto Soudal
3 Nils Politt (Ger) Team Katusha
4 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Crelan-Vastgoedservice Continental Team
5 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Etixx - Quick-Step
6 Olivier Pardini (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles - Group Protect
7 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:09
8 Jelle Wallays (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:23
9 Florian Senechal (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:25
10 Alexander Geuens (Bel) Crelan-Vastgoedservice Continental Team 0:00:54
11 Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing Team
12 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
13 Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale
14 Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles - Group Protect
15 Nicolas Vereecken (Bel) An Post-Chainreaction
DNF Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale Pro Cycling
DNF Jack Wilson (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction
DNF Connor Mcconvey (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction
DNF Damien Shaw (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction
Final General Classification
1 Sean De Bie (Bel) Lotto Soudal 8:16:55
2 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:00:07
3 Nils Politt (Ger) Team Katusha 0:00:13
4 Olivier Pardini (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles 0:00:23
5 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Crelan-Vastgoedservice 0:00:35
6 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Veranda's Willems 0:00:37
7 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:49
8 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:00:54
9 Jelle Wallays (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:56
10 Florian Senechal (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:58
11 Martijn Keizer (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:01:00
12 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:01:09
13 Vladimir Isaychev (Rus) Team Katusha 0:01:13
14 Jonas Rickaert (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise 0:01:16
15 Julien Morice (Fra) Direct Energie 0:01:17
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