Ryan Mullen considered abandoning champs it was "so negative"

Ryan Mullen gets down to business on his way to the elite title at the National Road Race Championships (Photo: John Coleman)

New champ Ryan Mullen considered abandoning

Ryan Mullen has said he considered pulling out of the National Road Race Championships after a couple of laps having become frustrated at the negative racing.

However, he persisted and was to win the day, adding he was in “disbelief” he was about to win the title again until he was near the finish.

“I didn’t see today coming one bit,” he said immediately after the finish in Wexford.

“I was going to pull out of the race after two laps because it was just so negative,” he said after completing the road and TT double for the second time.

“It’s the same county riders every year that just make the race difficult for everybody. I find it so hard to keep my temper, so hard.”

Mullen said when Conor Dunne broke clear solo on the penultimate lap he went after him. But Dunne’s Aqua Blue Sport team mate Matt Brammeier joined him.

Ryan Mullen riding up the climb in a group flanked by Sam Bennett and Matt Brammeier (Photos JohnColeman and Toby Watson)

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“I (thought) ‘this is the worst possible situation I could be in, ever’. So I got to within eight seconds of Conor and started to feel and bit shit.

“I saw Sam (Bennett) coming so I just pulled the pin. The bunch was just behind anyway it was a waste of 10 minutes of my life.”

He explained when he attacked coming onto the last lap, Dunne was about one minute clear on his own and eventual runner-up Chris McGlinchey was roughly 30 to 40 seconds up the road.

With the headwind on the main stretch of road shortly after he got clear of the select chase group, which contained Nicolas Roche, Michael O’Loughlin, Sean McKenna and others, Mullen felt he would catch the men ahead.

Catch them he duly did, but McGlinchey wasn’t finished yet.

“He attacked on the climb but he kind of ran out of legs about half way up,” said Mullen of the ChainReactionCycles man.

“And then Conor couldn’t keep the acceleration and I just rolled over the top. And I was like, ‘well, this is going to happen again isn’t it?’.”

“I was in disbelief until about 3k to go. And I’ve got a semi soft tyre as well, I felt that bottom out a few times.”

What winning title means

Asked what winning meant to him he joked: “It means I’ll get some cool new kit. And my stock value just went through the roof.”

He added of McGlinchey: “Chris was strong, man. I was in the chase group with him last year and I respected him then. Once I knew it was him up the road... I was like ‘I recognise this guy, this is a good combo’.”

Listen to the full interview below by Shane Stokes with Ryan Mullen. He also discussing being considered for Tour de France selection with his Cannondale-Drapac team.