Ryan Mullen has already had a few outings for new team IG Sigma Sport and bagged two top 10s in the UK on successive weekends
By Brian Canty
IG Sigma Sport’s Ryan Mullen will ride the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend as part of a national U23 selection.
Mullen, in his first season as a professional, told stickybottle he's enjoying the life of a pro rider and will look to perform strongly in Kerry in a few weeks time.
"I’m hoping for a big ride there and looking to try and get up as well as I can. It’s an early season goal; not so much the GC but maybe get up in a few stages, the points jersey or maybe the U23 jersey,” he explained.
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Indeed, the addition of Mullen’s name to the start-list is just one of several top names from home and abroad set to line up in the event.
Last year's winner Dennis Bakker is due to race and it has also emerged in recent days that former Saxo Bank rider Jonny Bellis could make the trip for the four-day race, and guest ride with the Killorglin team.
Details of those latter names will be announced at tomorrow's official race launch in Kenmare. But Mullen should be as strong as anyone, having enjoyed a superb season in his final year as a junior last year and adapted well to the rigours of the professional scene so far in 2013.
He won the Visit Nenagh Classic (A3 race) in April last year before taking a superb silver in the European TT championships in August. He followed that up with a 9th place at the Worlds a month later.
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His form is good right now, as evidenced by his strong ride n the Wanzele-Lede pro kermesse in Belgium yesterday.
“It was a great experience,” he said. “I wasn’t planning on doing anything in the race. It was more about survival and the main goal was to finish. I did that, so I’m happy enough.”
“It’s a massive difference from racing amateur. I just saw that everyone has so much faith in the guy in front of you. You ride a race in Ireland and England and you have to watch out for some guys who can’t really ride a bike properly but yesterday just felt so safe, even going around a corner at 50kph. It’s a lot safer than you think and the quality and standard is a lot better. The speed was horrendous at times though. I was told the first few laps would be fast anyway with moves going off but every time I looked down we were over 50kph.”
“I stayed in the top 50 most of the day. The last two or three laps I started to struggle a little bit but I expected that and overall I’m really happy. The team all finished as well and the support from them was really good.”
Mullen, who was born and raised in the north west of England, qualifies to ride for Ireland through his family. His grandmother is from Armagh and his father hails from Duleek, Co Meath. He’s one of the most exciting riders to ever emerge for Ireland and his silver medal ride at the Europeans and ninth place at the Worlds last year underlines his special talent.
He said he’s had the best winter ever and is loving life in his new surroundings.
“It’s brilliant. I love it and they’re a great bunch of lads. They’re all very welcoming in the team and they all look out for me in different ways and I’m constantly learning from them. It’s a real step up from the juniors and I’m very grateful for all the help they’ve given me so far.”
“I’m not peaking yet but the form is good. Yesterday was the first 100 mile race I did and I got around it okay; if I’d even attempted that last year I’d have blown up catastrophically. I’ve made some improvements so and I’m pretty happy.”
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