Marcus Christie tries to get going again after the incident. He said Mullen would have beaten him to the Irish elite men's TT title anyway, but was disappointed with the incident (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Facing a mountain to climb in trying to beat Ryan Mullen to the national title in Sligo last evening, Marcus Christie came away with silver medal.
The University of Ulster Jordanstown sports science student said Mullen is a classy operator who can deal with pressure.
“He is one of the best in the world but there is pressure on him when he comes here for the championships,” said Mullen.
“So you have to give him credit; he’s a machine and he always delivers. So chapeau to him. He deserves the credit.”
Christie said while he wanted to win, he also wanted to see what he was capable of in getting as close to Mullen as possible.
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However, in that regard he was left disappointed last evening. After a mix-up a number of vehicles drove onto a technical junction not long after the start.
The riders had to negotiate three turns one after the other to get to a dual carriageway section of course.
But as Christie was reaching the chicane to negotiate it, a number of vehicles had been waved into that stretch of road.
It means he rounded a left turn to take an immediate right and the vehicles were on the road between the two corners.
He was forced to make an “emergency stop” to prevent himself hitting an oncoming vehicle.
Marcus Christie during the test and on the podium afterwards with Kennedy and winner Mullen.
Thankfully while his rear wheel came skidding around him and made contact with the car, Christie was spared impact himself.
But he had to get unclipped, lift his bike between the cars and the kerb and then get back on and going again.
“You know yourself; this happens and you have someone like Ryan Mullen breathing down your neck anyway,” said Christie of the champion who was chasing him on the night.
“The incident kind of wrecked the race for me. I wouldn’t have beaten Mullen anyway; silver would have been the result.
“You have to clip out and then get going again on a drag and on a big gear.
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“I can’t understand it; 10k charity running races can get road closures but our national championships can’t, even for a couple of hours.
“But I’m definitely happy with silver,” he said, which he adds to his bronze from 12 months ago.
“I just really wanted to see what was in my legs. I didn’t have many road miles in my legs for a long time.
“And the last six weeks or so I have actually done a good few miles. So I was thinking that my condition was going to be good.
“I just wanted to test myself, and that’s where the disappointment is. The silver medal was going to be the result any when you are against someone like Mullen.
“But you just want to see how close you get, to gauge yourself off that ride. You want to go for gold, but you are against someone who is one of the best in the world.”
Powering to silver in front of his support car and earlier getting a push to get going again after rounding a corner and finding vehicles in his path and coming towards him.
In the end Mullen, a WorldTour pro with Trek-Segafredo, clocked a time of 40:59. That was 2:01 faster than Christie of Performance SBR. And Paul Kennedy of Newcastle West CC took bronze, some 4:14 off the winner.
Before last night’s TT, Christie had shown good form. He won the Noel Teggart Memorial last Sunday. And his thoughts are now turned to Sunday’s road race at the championships.
He has a slight knee niggle but feels he can ride the road race and give a good account of himself.
“I want to give it a good rattle. I’ve got road miles in the legs for the first time in a long time. I am hoping to make the break, so let’s hope I am switched on in that regard.
“And then hopefully I can go on and do a good ride; give it a good lash. After that, I’m not sure,” he added of the remainder of the season.
However, having ridden for An Post-Chainreaction in the past, and shown he could hold his own, he may try to ride for another team abroad next year.
Christie rode the Commonwealth Games earlier in the season; track and road. The TT on the Gold Coast was his target event and he rode very well in placing 7th.
He said the course in Australia was even harder than last night’s undulating terrain in Sligo.
“It was a brilliant experience. Because I was training here (in Ireland) during the winter and was going to uni, I just used the WattBike as my primary source of training.
“Some people would find that bizarre, but you know yourself how bad the winter was. So I did a lot of interval based training.
“I think I delivered on the day. I was probably a bit rough technically. But the way I gauged my effort was good.
“I would have liked a podium, but maybe that was a bit much for me. It was 7th; I was happy with that.”
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