Logic suggested that riding the Tour de France would be difficult after Vasil Kiryienka’s huge workload of recent weeks and so it proved yesterday, with the Team Movistar rider cracking on the undulating roads to Lisieux.
The Belarussian lost contact with the peloton after the feedzone, and had to soldier on alone to the finish of the race’s longest stage. He arrived there a full 27 minutes and 55 seconds after the winner Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling), and missed the time cut.
Although he has done a lot of racing this season, he was one of Movistar’s big hopes for the race. The team has been hit by bad luck recently, with the death of Xavier Tondo in May and then the serious crash of Mauricio Soler in last month’s Tour de Suisse.
Kiryienka began competing this year in the Trofeo Cala Millor on February 7th. Amongst the other races he has done are the Vuelta a Murcia (tenth overall), Tirreno-Adriatico (36th), Critérium International (second), Vuelta al Pais Vasco (stage win and tenth overall), the three Ardennes Classics plus the Giro d’Italia (stage win to Sestriere and 25th overall).
Most riders took a well deserved break after what was the toughest Giro in years; he kept going, though, and won the four day Route du Sud. The team then selected him for the Tour de France and named him as a rider that it hoped would perform strongly. “For the mountains, Intxausti, Arroyo or Kiryienka have the quality needed to ride on front. It will be up to the race itself to see if we can make it to the wins we're looking for,” said team manager Eusebio Unzué prior to the start of the Tour.
According to the IG Markets Pro cycling index, he had competed an impressive 78 days this year up till yesterday. It’s not yet clear what his plans are, but a break is long overdue.
The 30 year old went close to taking the tenth stage of last year’s Tour, finishing second behing Sergio Paulinho (RadioShack) in Gap.