Eleven days after the EF Education-EasyPost team confirmed that Darren Rafferty will become a professional with the American squad, it has announced that another top young Irish talent will also line out in the team from 2024 onwards.
Archie Ryan highlighted his ability with multiple strong performances in 2022, including stage wins in the Ronde de l’Isard and the Tour of Slovakia, as well as a fourth place overall finish in the prestigious Tour de l’Avenir.
He has been sidelined from competition by a knee injury this year and is still to line out with his Jumbo-Visma Development team, but is recovering well and is expected to begin racing soon. The Wicklow rider said on Friday that joining the squad has been an ambition for a long time.
“It really is a dream to be able to join EF Education-EasyPost,” he stated. “It has always been my favourite team. I remember watching all of Dan Martin’s really good results with the team, back in the day when I was a kid, so it really is a dream to be doing this.
“If you told 11-year-old or 12-year-old Archie that he would be joining this team when he was older, he would be over the moon.”
Ryan’s greatest strength is in the mountains, something that the team c hief executive Jonathan Vaughters highlighted.
“Archie is a proven winner on mountain stages,” he said. “He is punchy and explosive, a pure climber. He accelerates incredibly well and his five-minute power is great.
“He is someone who I view as a climber in the classical cycling sense of the word.”
In addition to making his pro debut with Rafferty, Ryan will join existing EF Education-EasyPost rider Ben Healy on the WorldTour squad. He signed for the team prior to the 2022 season and has made rapid progress, winning a stage of the Giro d’Italia plus other events this year.
Ryan is looking forward to being his team-mate.
“Ben is not just a mate, but he is an inspiration to young riders like myself,” he said. “It has been really cool to see him develop on this pathway with the team, and that would be the goal to try and follow his footsteps. I know him from racing on the Irish team as juniors, and since then we have been good friends.
“We have the same friend group in Ireland and now live in Girona. It is pretty cool to be joining a team where I already know people and have some friends. Everyone is class here. So it is really exciting to follow him, and be joining the team.”
Meanwhile, Eddie Dunbar will line out on Saturday in what is his first race since the Giro d’Italia, seeking to follow up his superb seventh overall in Italy with another fine performance in the Tour de Pologne.
The Corkman will lead his Jayco-AlUla team in the Polish event, which begins in Poznań and ends next Friday in Kraków.
“My training has been good,” he said this week. “I’ve been in Andorra for three weeks at altitude, so I’m looking forward to seeing how that affects me over the next few weeks and in Poland. It’s not something I’ve done in the past, but I think it’s something that could be valuable in the next races and the next part of the year.”
He trained there with Australian team-mates Callum Scotson and Lucas Hamilton and said that he felt good coming out of the camp.
“I’m looking forward to getting started again in Poland. I’m going into the race with an open mind. I obviously haven’t raced since the Giro and I’m coming in off a big training block, so I’m just going in and we’ll see how it is and how the race is.”
Dunbar will have an early opportunity to show his form as Sunday’s second stage is a mountain top finish at Karpacz. The following day is also mountainous, albeit with a much shorter ramp to the line. Wednesday’s fifth stage is mountainous with then a more undulating profile towards the end, while next Thursday’s leg is a time-trial.
Dunbar would prefer a harder course, saying that he doesn’t consider the race to be the most difficult edition.
“There’s four sprint stages, two GC stages and a TT [time-trial], so I think a lot of it will come down to bonus seconds and the time-trial. I’m hoping that the hard days will be hard, and they can make a difference, but I think a lot will be decided in the TT this year.”
The race is a goal in itself, but also a stepping stone towards his second big season target, the Vuelta a España. After shining in the Giro d’Italia he is hoping to again underline his Grand Tour ability in the race.
Also competing in Poland is Sam Bennett, who controversially missed out on Tour de France selection by his Bora Hansgrohe team this year. He bounced back by winning two stages and placing second overall in the concluding time-trial at the Sibiu Tour in early July, as well as taking the points classification.
Bennett will target the sprint stages, aided by fellow Irishman Ryan Mullen. He is part of Bennett’s lead-out train.
Meanwhile, Irish competitors in the European Youth Olympic Festival in Maribor in Slovenia followed on from Conor Murphy’s excellent silver medal in the time-trial on Tuesday with some solid performances over the past two days.
On Wednesday Greta Lawless overcame her starting position towards the back of the grid to overtake more than half the field and finish 10th in the girls’ mountain bike race. Murphy had a crash in the boy’s event and rolled in 21st.
Aliyah Rafferty missed Tuesday’s time-trial due to her recovery from concussion but had a green light for Thursday’s road-race. She missed a five-rider move near the end but raced in as part of the chasing group and finished a solid 13th.
Kate Murphy and Greta Lawless were 38th and 43rd respectively.
David Gaffney was 25th in the boys’ race, with Murphy 41st. Philip O’Connor was caught up in an early crash but persevered and finished 87th.
