Cycling fans will need no introduction to Ryan Mullen; the WorldTour rider who came up through the ranks quickly and took medals in the TT at both the Europeans and Worlds.
However, it was another Mullen at the front of the field in Mondello Park, Co Kildare, on Tuesday night; 24-year-old Sean.
The younger of the brothers, Sean raced as a youth rider
but has been away from cycling for more than 10 years.
Having decided to return to competitive action late last year, he knuckled down from November and first lined out at the Cycleways Cup back in March.
Clearly unfamiliar with the flow of race day, he forgot his race numbers and also managed to start in the wrong race and so rode the A3 event rather than the A4.
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Still, he put in a good ride at the pointy end of the action and took 5th on a day when top junior rider Matthew Devins (Fundacio’n Lintxu Zaragoza) won from Alexander Florea (Dublin Wheelers) and George Duffy (Lucan CRC).
The resemblance in the riding styles of the Mullen brothers is clear to see (Sean Mullen photos by Sean Rowe)
While that result
didn’t thrust Mullen’s name into the headlines, it was a solid return to
competition after last competing when he was aged 12 years.
And on Tuesday
night he took another step forward; riding away to win the A4 race solo and
securing his upgrade to A3.
Like big brother Ryan, the young Mullen was brought up in the UK but the family has always had a very strong connection with Ireland. Their father Kevin is Irish and was a racing cyclist on the Irish scene in his teenage years and 20s before moving to the UK.
Unlike Ryan, who was a successful junior and then stepped immediately into the Continental ranks and continued to progress to WorldTour level, Sean has less time on his side.
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However, he tells stickybottle he is very happy to be racing again and was looking forward to seeing what he could achieve. While he was not getting carried away as he had just returned to racing, he still harboured hopes of making enough progress to catch the eye of a UCI-ranked team.
Because of the family’s strong links to Co Meath, Mullen is currently riding in the colours of Navan Road Club and is staying with his father who has moved back to Ireland.
On Tuesday in Mondello he broke clear in a small group early in the race and when it was caught he soon took flight solo. He rode for the remainder of the race on his own, taking a clear solo win.
“Once the bunch came in I decided to go solo and so sent it round the corners and kept low in the head winds,” he said of attacking and ploughing away out front on his own.
He added while he only raced for a very short period, before he became a teenager, he always hoped to come back to cycling.
“I raced 12 years ago in the under 12s and won a few races back then,” he said. “The racing stopped for me when I turned 13 and I never picked it back up after that.
“All through my late teens and up until about eight months ago I used to go the gym religiously but I got fed up of it.
“The thought was always in the back of my head thinking to myself ‘what if’ I started cycling again and where would it take me. So I decided to commit to the sport late November last year and I’ve been doing it since.
“The plan for the race season is to get as much race experience and points as possible with what’s left of the season.
“I suppose the end goal would be to get a contract with a team so I don’t have to worry about forgetting my numbers,” he joked.
“I turned 24 in May and I’m living in the UK but my dad lives in Cavan so I come over here a lot to visit him and now to race,” he explained, adding he would now stay in Ireland for a period and avoid missing time through quarantining.
The young sibling looks uncannily like his old brother, now with Trek-Segafredo. Asked if he was also a TT specialist, he replied: “Well, I’ve got my first TT this Saturday so I’ll have to see.”
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