Ryan Mullen did not enjoy the kind of concluding time trial stage to his first ever UCI ranked stage race that he had hoped for in France on Sunday, when he crashed going down the starter's ramp and hit his face on the tarmac.
The national U23 time trial champion shook off the mishap, joking that his time in the event and his ego had been damaged but ultimately he was quite happy to wrap up the Etoile de Bessèges (UCI 2.1) five-day race.
Mullen, now riding with An Post-Chainreaction, crashed as he attempted to press down on the pedals just coming off the ramp, with a mechanical causing his gears or chain to slip and sending him flying.
While he quickly remounted and got on with the 11km task at hand, any hopes of testing himself in his speciality discipline against top international professional competition vanished. It was a frustrating conclusion to the race for him, albeit a mishap he handled well.
Advertisement
“I wasn’t too sure what happened,” he said afterwards.
Related News
“I went to change gears but the gears jumped the second I got off the ramp and I put the power down. The next thing I know my chin’s hitting the ground; it wasn’t the best. The ego was damaged, the body was damaged the time was damaged, everything was damaged,” he laughed.
“I’m happy I finished the tour anyway. It’s been a really, really good learning experience. I’ve never done anything like this before; it was my first ever UCI stage race. To do it against some of the guys I’ve grown up watching on TV is a pretty surreal experience. To get around, to finish; I’m pretty happy.”
February 5th to 9th: Etoile de Bessèges (UCI 2.1)
February 9th, Stage 5: Alés, 11km TT
| 1 | Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Giant-Shimano | 0:15:38 | |
| 2 | Jérôme Coppel (Fra) Cofidis Solutions Crédit | 0:00:04 | |
| 3 | Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF | 0:00:11 | |
| 4 | Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ.fr | 0:00:14 | |
| 5 | Arthur Vichot (Fra) FDJ.fr | 0:00:15 | |
| 6 | John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Giant-Shimano | 0:00:20 | |
| 7 | Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Belisol | 0:00:26 | |
| 8 | Mateusz Taciak (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | 0:00:27 | |
| 9 | Brice Feillu (Fra) Bretagne Séché Environnement | 0:00:31 | |
| 10 | Cyril Gautier (Fra) Team Europcar | 0:00:32 | |
| 58 | Marcus Christie (Irl) An Post – Chain Reaction | 0:01:15 | |
| 77 | Laurent Vanden Bak (Bel) An Post – Chain Reaction | 0:01:28 | |
| 91 | Mark Mc Nally (GBr) An Post – Chain Reaction | 0:01:39 | |
| 110 | Conor Dunne (Irl) An Post – Chain Reaction | 0:02:08 | |
| 114 | Ryan Mullen (Irl) An Post – Chain Reaction | 0:02:16 | |
| 127 | Jack Wilson (Irl) An Post – Chain Reaction | 0:02:56 | |
| 129 | Woute Franssen (Bel) An Post – Chain Reaction | 0:04:06 |
Final General Classification
| 1 | Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Giant-Shimano | 14:43:35 | |
| 2 | Jérôme Coppel (Fra) Cofidis Solutions Crédit | 0:00:04 | |
| 3 | John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Giant-Shimano | 0:00:05 | |
| 4 | Benoît Jarrier (Fra) Bretagne Séché Environnement | 0:00:07 | |
| 5 | Arthur Vichot (Fra) FDJ.fr | ||
| 6 | Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ.fr | 0:00:14 | |
| 7 | Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Belisol | 0:00:23 | |
| 8 | Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis Solutions Crédit | 0:00:33 | |
| 9 | Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert | 0:00:36 | |
| 10 | Sander Helven (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise | ||
| 50 | Laurent Vanden Bak (Bel) An Post – Chain Reaction | 0:01:29 | |
| 57 | Mark Mc Nally (GBr) An Post – Chain Reaction | 0:01:39 | |
| 107 | Marcus Christie (Irl) An Post – Chain Reaction | 0:14:31 | |
| 112 | Conor Dunne (Irl) An Post – Chain Reaction | 0:15:42 | |
| 114 | Jack Wilson (Irl) An Post – Chain Reaction | 0:16:31 | |
| 117 | Ryan Mullen (Irl) An Post – Chain Reaction | 0:17:03 | |
| 126 | Woute Franssen (Bel) An Post – Chain Reaction | 0:25:28 |
Topics
