News: John Archibald’s TT at Tirreno-Adriatico

After a year of nothing but time trials, Scotland’s John Archibald (Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team) got to finish off a WorldTour stage race with a time trial after a ‘wild’ ride in the tougher than expected Tirreno-Adriatico

News: John Archibald’s TT at Tirreno-Adriatico

Stage 7: San Benedetto del Tronto – S. B. del Tronto (10.1 km)

Photo: PhotoGomezSport

The end of the road at Tirreno-Adriatico has arrived. An intense, demanding journey especially for riders such as John Archibald and Mark Christian who unlike many of their rivals, have not had a proper road race in well over a year.

Tirreno-Adriatico was a journey with smiles and tears, great joys and small tragedies for the Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team. Where the podium was stepped on or crashes appeared to deprive us of the road captain and his speed. A great journey though. Such was the first WorldTour stage race for the Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team, a learning experience. A useful experience for a season still full of commitments. A great experience for the next Giro d’Italia.

In San Benedetto del Tronto, in the final time trial, another new test. It was the first time trial for the team. We were looking forward to seeing John Archibald, a great specialist, in action.

The Scottish neopro was the best in the team with his time of 12’02”. Archibald flew along at more than 50 km/h but it wasn’t enough to challenge the likes of the top order. He should have been able to enjoy his specialty at the start of this season at the Vuelta a la Comunitat Valenciana, but the pandemic did its thing and postponed the race. Instead, Archibald had his first TT experience in this category of racing at this level, weighed down by a fall a couple of days earlier that forced him to receive a few stitches in his left leg.

After Archibald in the Time Trial, within his team, the second fastest time was that of Samuele Rivi (12’22”). The rider from Trentino showed his skills as a sprinter. Immediately after him was Mark Christian (12’22”). Davide Bais (12’46”), Alejandro Ropero (12’56”) and Vincenzo Albanese (13’07”). On the overall, where the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar won, the best classified of the team was Alejandro Ropero (85th). A great race comes to an end. A great experience.

John Archibald: “I think after six days of such a hard race, this was the best I could do: my legs were so hard and I suffered for the whole 10 kilometres. I struggled more than I expected. I noticed it every time I hit a speed bump in the road: usually I do them without noticing, this time I had to push to get over them. I’m a bit angry, but I gave everything and the team was perfect in putting me in a position to tackle this time trial in the best possible way. One word to describe this Tirreno-Adriatico? Wild. They told me it was a tough race, but I didn’t expect it to be like this”.

Samuele Rivi: “My fear in all the stages of this Tirreno-Adriatico has always been to arrive outside the maximum time limit! So… this time too I went full gas, which will help me to put good kilometres on the clock for the future. I leave these days with the satisfaction of having been there, and also of having taken part in a good breakaway: but more than anything else I’m happy because the team showed up a lot and raced really well”.