The newly-crowned national U23 and elite time-trial champion, Ryan Mullen, said he was confident he'd done enough to win last night after he passed last year's runner-up Colm Cassidy. Winning the road race on Sunday is something he said he'll be all out to do, though it'll be anything but straight forward.
By Brian Canty
Ryan Mullen has said he was confident he had done enough to win his first elite national time-trial title when he crossed the line on Thursday night.
But he was below his best because he had not recovered from last week's inaugural European Games in Baku, where he finished a superb eighth against a world class field.
But a combination of a rough flight home and subsequently not feeling well meant he felt under epressure to deliver in Thursday night's title decider in Omagh.
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"I felt pretty awful, to be fair; not awful but I wasn't recovered from the travel in Baku," he explained.
"We had a shit flight coming back and I haven't been that well, but it wasn't too bad and I still managed to do pretty good," he explained of taking the senior and U23 gold from Eddie Dunbar (NFTO Pro Cycling).
"I felt under a bit of pressure coming into it from Baku; I knew I wasn't at my best so I felt extra pressure. But I put out a good average (power).
"I caught Colm Cassidy (Aquablue) and I knew he was second last year so I was pretty confident of winning.
"I felt pretty alright at that point; not at the start but I came around.
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"I rode the climbs pretty well and the last 20 minutes I rode back in (to the gold medal-winning position)."
One man who almost caused a real surprise was Eddie Dunbar, the first-year espoir setting a time that saw him lead the way for a spell.
The young Corkman broke his collar bone in a crash at the Tour of Yorkshire in early May but has since recovered well.
He would eventually take silver on the night and Mullen said that performance should surprise nobody.
"The course was suited to Eddie so I'm not surprised at all that he was up there contending," said the winner.
"He was 20 seconds ahead of me at the top of the climb but I probably had the edge on the downhill and managed to claw the time back."
Asked if he can win the road race tomorrow, Sunday, Mullen was being coy; saying the fact he felt fresher last year and had teammates in the break really worked in his favour.
He said there was no guarantee such a scenario will play out again.
"I'm not feeling that good. Last year I was fresh and I had help in the break from my teammates but I'll try to defend. We'll see how it goes."
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