He arrived anonymously, cutting the line six minutes after Tadej Pogacar. While all eyes were on the Slovenian, his hug with Mathieu Van der Poel and his hug to Urska Zigart, another man in the green jersey – darker – also, on his own relative scale, achieved a small feat on Sunday on the roads of the World Championship. For his first among the Elites, Archie Ryan completed the 270 km and six and a half hours of racing. And better, much better than that: he finished in a very honorable 21st place, in the company of Valentin Madouas, specialist in races that seem endless (see ranking).
“I just tried to help Ben (Healy) as best I could. He was so strong, it was playable”explains on the microphone of DirectVelo the Irishman, while his compatriot and teammate also at EF Education-EasyPost fought for the medal until the final straight. “At the briefing before the race, we told ourselves that everything was possible. For Ben but also for Eddie (Dunbar) who was coming back from a big Vuelta”he recalls that the Jayco-AlUla rider had indeed won two stages in the Tour of Spain.
Did Archie Ryan surprise himself during this World Cup, over a distance he had never covered before? “I had done 255 miles in Liège but I was further away at the finish. That’s cool for a first. It was super exciting to be there among the best runners in the world”. The former stage winner on the Ronde de l’Isard and the Tour de l’Avenir can see plenty of promise in this performance. “Of course, it shows that I have progressed, it gives me a lot of confidence”. Especially since he is convinced that he could do even better. “I wasn’t necessarily particularly smart in the finale, I could have managed better tactically. I didn’t feel the right shots. But hey, once again, what mattered was Ben. The place I personally finish in, deep down we don’t care”. The Irishman’s first season in the WorldTour is not quite over yet as he will now head to the Tour of Emilia before ending his season in Japan. “I hope I still have a little bit of legs left”he laughs to conclude.
