Ryan Mullen has spoken at length and very frankly in this extended interview about his career to date, the Rás and plans for the future (Photo by Sirotti, homepage photo by Martine Verfaillie)
By Shane Stokes
Riding the An Post Rás for the first time in his career, Ryan Mullen made his way into the crucial break on day one of the event yesterday, Sunday; showing right away that he has the nose and the form to do well in the race.
Mullen was one of fifteen riders who went clear after just over 20 kilometres of racing, and who opened up a maximum gap of over four minutes on the bunch.
Two riders then pressed forward towards the finish, the eventual stage winner Francesco Reda (Team IDEA 2010 ASD) and Lukas Postlberger (Tirol Cycling Team), but Mullen finished in the chase group going for third place, 55 seconds back.
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He crossed the line in ninth place and thanks to third place in the An Post hotspot sprint at Naas, he ended the day seventh overall.
He also won the first KOM prime at Sherlockstown and was third in the later category three climb at Hacketstown, putting him third in the first mountains ranking.
Mullen made clear earlier this year that the Rás was a major target of his.
Getting away from the start of the U23 TT at the World Championships in Spain last year. The tiny margin by which he lost gold still haunts him but he insists the best man won (Photo: Sean Rowe)
“I have never ridden the Rás,” he told stickybottle in a video interview carried out last month.
“I have heard a lot of bad things about it, [he smiles, not being serious] or good things at the same time. It is definitely something I want to do this year.”
Mullen noted that the route was flatter than other years and said then that he hoped it would be windy.
That wish came through yesterday; helping him and the other riders who were clear to band together and eke out a big lead over the peloton.
He will continue trying to sniff out the right breaks in the seven remaining stages, knowing that could put him in the frame for a high overall finish, or, perhaps, right in the hunt for yellow.
Mullen has been part of the An Post Chain Reaction Sean Kelly team since 2013.
He gained his place on the team after dominating the junior Chrono des Nations time trial and also finishing second in the European time trial championships for juniors.
Last year was his second at U23 level and he wasted little time in getting up to speed.
He won the Irish elite road race title, dominated the under 23 time trial [in a time that was actually faster than the elite title race winner], then went on to place second in the world under 23 time trial championships in September.
Mullen is undoubtedly a world class track rider; his 4th in the elite pursuit at the Worlds last year underlining that class. But listening to him outline the extent of the travel required to compete with the Irish team pursuit squad during what is the off season from his road career and it is easy to understand why his track days may be over, for now anyway (Photo: Guy Swarbrick)
He finished just 0.48 seconds behind the Australian winner Campbell Flakemore, and admitted that the memories of that have haunted him.
“I had many, many sleepless nights after that. It was pretty disgusting, to be fair,” he said.
“I literally went over every corner, every straight in my head thinking where I could have found half a second.
“To be honest, I don’t think I could because if I had pushed any harder in any of the corners I would have decked it and if I had gone any harder on the straights, I would have blown up.
“At the end of the day, as I said before, the best guy did win. Everyone rode the same conditions, nobody had an easy TT. I obviously wasn’t good enough on the day to win it.”
Still, even though he would have jumped at the chance to take gold, he can see the positives.
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“I would say it definitely put me out there,” he said.
“I put myself on the market type thing. I think a lot of people realised, ‘this guy is alright, we can watch him for the future.’
Winning the elite and U23 combined road race at the National Championships in Westmeath last June (Photo: Toby Watson)
“At the same time I had just turned 20. I didn’t even want to turn pro at the end of last year. I don’t know of any 19, 20 year old pros.
“I would rather spend another year in this team learning the trade. Last year was more an apprentice-type year.
“This year I want to focus more on getting results and establish myself as a road racer and not just someone who can finish in the bunch every day.
“I want to push to make it to the finals and to do something in the race.”
Of course, Mullen also wants to go back and clock up gold in the same race.
He’ll be a year older, should be quicker, and knows what to expect. He makes clear that he is also working hard to be as ready as possible.
“I don’t actually do as much work on a TT bike as everyone thinks,” he said, referring to past seasons.
Mullen has been a very classy rider since he took up cycling as a kid; above having crashed in the Junior Tour four years ago while wearing the yellow jersey (Photo: Stephen McMahon - Sportsfile)
“I always think I should be doing more but sometimes I don’t have the time.
“I have got to race, so when you are racing you kind of want to be recovering rather than fisting yourself on a TT bike.
“This year I am going to put a lot more emphasis on my TT. What motivates me is not winning the worlds last year.
“The more time I spend on the TT bike the less chance I have of losing the world championship by half a second again.”
Asked if the thoughts of that are a huge motivation for him, he was clear. “Yes, it is…definitely.”
In the video interview below, Mullen speaks about this and a range of other subjects.
He talks about his track racing with Ireland over the winter, crashing hard in a team pursuit and his admission that he may be done with velodrome racing.
He also speaks about his time trial ability and what he believes makes him so good against the clock, his idols in the sport, his goals for 2015 plus his longer term ambitions.
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