Liam O'Brien has said he was delighted with his performance in the junior TT at the UCI World Road Championships in Stirling, Scotland, where the 18-year-old from Cork placed 11th in a 71-strong field of the best riders from all over the world.
O'Brien was 1:18 down on new junior world champion, Oscar Chamberlin (Australia)m after 22.7km of racing, including the very challenging final kilometre of climbing to the finish line. On a great day for the Irish juniors, Adam Rafferty placed 8th.
"It was a good race and it was good to get in the hot seat for a while," O'Brien said. "There was a cross-headwind on the way out so it was just about pushing along there and still trying to save a bit for that last climb, so it was a good ride. People were shouting my name along parts of the course, that was quite nice."
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Ryan Mullen - 19th in the elite 47.8km race - described the TT as "long and hard and windy" but felt he "judged it quite well" as he did not fade through the race. "I had enough in the brain to be able to consciously back off in the last few Ks before the last climb here," he said. "And then I just emptied myself across the line."
Mullen said he really focused on trying to remain as aero on the bike for as long as he could, certainly until the pain of such a long effort really kicked in.
And though the demands of his job with his trade team - as lead-out man with Bora-hansgrohe - meant he did not do as much work now preparing for TTs as he did earlier in his career, that dynamic also perhaps made the TTs for Ireland more enjoyable.
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"I'm doing this solely because I enjoy it. I think it's quite nice to race because I enjoy it, rather than because I have to, or I'm told to or I get paid to. I'm doing this because I want to. And I think that helps get the most out of yourself."
Mullen added while there may have been great Irish support around the course, he was focused exclusively on his power and making sure he "didn't crash into anything".
"I heard my name a few times, the crowds on that climb at the end were insane, that was like something out of Flanders, it was really nice. It was too bad I was more focused on the pain, and I thought my brain was going to explode," he joked of the final effort up the climb to the finish.
Ben Healy - who was 27th in the elite TT - said he was "suffering after the road race a little bit" at the Worlds so went into today's TT "really not knowing what to expect".
"I set out pretty steady but actually I had some gas to give and I finished pretty strong, I did a good performance I think; maybe not the best result on paper but I can be pleased with my performance."
Healy joked that it was "a bit painful" to be beaten by Mullen by seconds again - as he was at the National TT Championships in June - though they were "pushing each other on".
