Jack Wilson has put in a very strong ride in West Flanders while Ryan Mullen is sitting pretty having moved up the general classification ahead of the final stage of three.
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Ryan Mullen is best of the Irish going into the final stage of the Three Days of West Flanders tomorrow, Sunday, as he lies just 19 seconds off the lead after the opening two days.
The Cannondale neo-pro is 13th on general classification after finishing safely in the main bunch on today’s stage 1 from Brugge to Harelbeke.
He was one of a group of just over 100 riders who missed some splits that opened in the charge to the line and so lost no time to the winner.
Sunday’s final stage promises to be a real cracker with over 100 riders within a minute of the race lead and Mullen has every chance of delivering a result.
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Connor McConvey is next best of the Irish at 47 seconds overall in 73rd and will be going all-out to try and make the break on the final leg.
National road race champion Damien Shaw (An Post Chainreaction) is in 81st and he lies just 50 seconds down on leader Tom Bohli of BMC Racing Team.
Shaw was active this afternoon and tried desperately to get away in a break but to no avail.
The bunch sprint that settled the stage in which Dylan Groenewegen of LottoNL-Jumbo proved quickest.
Jack Wilson was a late call-up to the team and he fared well also, crossing the line 59th in the same time as stage winner Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo).
It was a strong result for Wilson and hopefully a sign of the beginnings of a good run for him.
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Mullen, Wilson and McConvey all finished in the group of 112 riders on the same time was the winner, with Shaw just finding himself on the wrong side of a 16-second split in the final.
The stage was a quick one with the riders covering the 173 kilometres in 3 hours 54 minutes.
A group did manage to escape with 70 kilometres to go and they stayed off the front until they were caught just outside the 10k to go banner.
Tomorrow’s stage is a monstrous one and takes the riders 182 kilometres from Nieuwpoort to Ichtegem.
There’s a hilly opening 140-kilometre course followed by three laps of an even hillier 13.8-kilometre circuit which features some very steep ramps.
Last year, 20 seconds separated the top 10 on general classification so every second will count.
Stage 1: Nieuwpoort to Ichtegem (183km)
1 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 3:47:09
2 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
3 Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles - Group Protect
4 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Veranda's Willems Cycling Team
5 Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale
6 Gerry Druyts (Bel) Crelan-Vastgoedservice Continental Team
7 Borut Bozic (Slo) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
8 Amaury Capiot (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
9 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Fortuneo - Vital Concept
10 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Wanty - Groupe Gobert
11 Aleksei Tsatevich (Rus) Team Katusha
12 Joeri Stallaert (Bel) Cibel-Cebon
13 Nicolas Vereecken (Bel) An Post-Chainreaction
14 Maxime Farazijn (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
15 André Looij (Ned) Roompot - Oranje Peloton
59 Jack Wilson (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction
73 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale Pro Cycling
108 Connor McConvey (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction
138 Damien Shaw (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction 0:00:16
General Classification
1 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team 3:54:59
2 Martijn Keizer (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:06
3 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:00:08
4 Anton Vorobyev (Rus) Team Katusha 0:00:12
5 Sean De Bie (Bel) Lotto Soudal
6 Patrick Gretsch (Ger) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:14
7 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:00:15
8 Nils Politt (Ger) Team Katusha 0:00:17
9 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:18
10 Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) ONE Pro Cycling
11 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:19
12 Vladimir Isaychev (Rus) Team Katusha
13 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale Pro Cycling
14 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:21
15 Jonas Rickaert (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise 0:00:22
73 Connor McConvey (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction 0:00:47
81 Damien Shaw (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction
142 Jack Wilson (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction 0:01:28
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