Ireland’s Archie Ryan storms to first WorldTour victory in Italy

Having narrowly missed out on victory on stage two, where he finished third after a late attack was nullified in the final few metres, Ryan employed the same tactic today - surging clear of a heaving peloton on a tough uphill section inside the last five kilometres of the undulating 151km stage.

Although the 22-year-old Wicklow native only managed a maximum advantage of ten seconds on a storming chase group of overall contenders, including race leader Ken Bouwman of Jumbo-Lease a Bike, a gutsy performance saw Ryan hang on to snatch his first pro victory by a bike length on the tough uphill finish.

“(Alex) Cepeda ripped it the last time up that final climb and I went after him,” Ryan said of his savage late attack, the foundations of which were laid by his teammates.

“I thought the gap was big enough, so I thought I could get the win, but I didn’t know how fast the peloton was closing” he admitted of his narrow victory. “I knew I had it when I looked back at the final corner and there was still a decent gap. I thought ‘If I don’t lock up, I’ve got this.”

Ryan now lies second overall, nine seconds behind race leader Bouwman and leads the U23 classification by eight seconds from Italian Davide de Pretto with just one stage remaining.