After a great ride at the Track Worlds, Ryan Mullen's season is now firmly shifted towards the road and a strong campaign at the Nations Cup.
By Shane Stokes
Two and a half months after he took a superb fourth place in the individual pursuit of his first elite world championships, Ryan Mullen will continue building towards what he hopes will be excellent road form this season when he lines out with the An Post Chainreaction Sean Kelly squad this weekend.
Mullen hasn't raced much since his worlds performance, using the intervening weeks to put in a block of endurance training and to transfer his fitness from the short velodrome efforts to the longer stamina requirements of road racing.
He was set to join fellow Irishmen Jack Wilson, Conor Dunne and Sean Downey today, Saturday, in the Volta Limburg Classic in Holland, with Robert Jon McCarthy, Aaron Gate, Laurent Vanden Back and Wout Franssen completing the line-up.
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According to team manager Kurt Bogaerts, Mullen and others will use the race as preparation for the Under 23 Nations Cup Tour of Flanders. The series is one that Mullen wants to perform well in.
“The Nation's Cups are a big goal of mine,” he told stickybottle.
“I really want to get the best result possible there. Last year we didn't have the best outing, we were young and hadn't experienced that sort of racing at that level.
“This year is a different story so I'm hoping we can do something in the races and work towards qualifying a place in the road world champs.
“The first Nations Cup is on the 12th April, the U23 tour of Flanders. That will be followed by La Cote Picarde a few days later and then the U23 ZLM Tour.”
Mullen had a very impressive 2013, winning the Irish under 23 championships, picking up two bronze medals in the European under 23 track championships last July, and then going on to take seventh in the world under 23 championships in September.
He then dominated the under 23 Chrono des Nations event, beating the next rider by over a minute.
This season he continued that momentum by netting seventh in the individual pursuit at the Elite World Cup in Guadalajara and that superb fourth place in the worlds. After that, he began the process of converting his fitness.
“The transition from track to road is always a difficult one,” he explained.
“My first race after the team launch was the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen. The aim of the race for me was to do a good prologue after just coming off the track. I was in perfect condition to do a good ride and I was feeling really good on the day.”
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However things didn’t go to plan.
“Everything went smooth in terms of preparation and warm up but I had a mechanical problem about a kilometre in. I was forced to stop and change bikes to my road bike which ruined any chance I had of making a top ten.
“It was a shame because I was really on top of it that day. There's not many days where you'll catch me saying that!”
Mullen has spent recent weeks working hard and he hopes to reap the benefits of that in the Nations Cups. He also has other targets for the season.
“I have a few small personal goals of getting a top 10 in a UCI 1.2 and getting a top 10 in TT of some form in my next stage race.
“Of course the national champs are another big goal. Retaining the TT title is important to me and I've unfinished business in the road race. The European championships and world championships are obvious goals too. To better my performances of last year is something I'm motivated towards.”
In the video below from the team launch, Mullen speaks at length about his superb track worlds ridein February, his impressive 2013 season, riding with the An Post Chainreaction Sean Kelly squad, his strengths and characteristics as a rider plus his medium and long term ambitions.
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