Ryan Mullen on his way to 7th place in the U23 TT at the World Road Championships in Florence, Italy, this afternoon, Monday (Photo: Sean Rowe)
By Jimmy Lally
Ireland’s Ryan Mullen has underlined his status as a world class time trialist by storming to 7th place in the U23 time trial (TT) at the World Road Race Championships in a sweltering Florence, Italy, this afternoon.
The 19-year-old first year professional with IG Sigma Sport but riding for Team Ireland at these championships, whipped around the 42.79km course 1min 47secs off the winning time of Dean Howson of Australia.
Ireland’s Marcus Christie, the only other Irish rider in the U23 TT at the Worlds today, put up a fantastic ride too, coming home 28th of the 74-strong field of the best under 23 testers in the world.
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He was 3mins 34secs off the winning time.
The silver medal on the day went to France’s Yoann Paillot, who was 57 seconds down on the absolutely flying Australia Howson. That was a huge winning margin, considering the silver medal man is the current French and European champion against the watch.
However, Howson is also national champion in his native Australia and is also the reigning Oceania champion.
In the bronze medal position today came Lasse Norman Hansen, the Danish rider who took gold at the London Olympics in the omnium and is set to ride for Garmin Sharp next year alongside our own Dan Martin.
Mullen’s result today is an amazing one; a top 10 in the Worlds being a wonderful achievement for any athlete, especially in the race of truth.
However, such is his ability that many saw him as Ireland’s best chance of a medal at these championships, along with Dan Martin in the men’s elite road race on Sunday.
The teenager held an average speed of 50.517kmph today.
Despite it being Mullen’s first year in the U23 category, he actually bested his position in the junior World Championships TT in Holland last year where he was 9th.
Given that rate of progress, he will be a real medal contender in the U23 test at the Worlds for the next few years.
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He has had a great year, taking two medals at the European U23 Track Championships and also lowering his PBs for both the 10 and 50 mile TT distances, as well as taking the National U23 TT Championships.
Just two weeks ago he beat elite champion Michael Hutchinson against the watch for the first time.
Christie’s time today was not as fast as Mullen’s but his story is a compelling one.
Having been a very promising rider in the junior ranks and during his first year at U23 level, he suffered illness and injury that kept him completely off the bike until last season when he made a tentative return to competition.
He has been in blistering form in 2013, going well under 19 minutes twice in 10 mile TTs and lowering the national 50 mile TT record by five minutes this summer.
His inclusion in the two-man Ireland team for today is in itself a great achievement and his ride well inside the top half of the field is more than solid.
Cycling Ireland head coach Brian Nugent said he was very happy with the performances today, the first by Team Ireland of this championship week.
“Ryan rode a solid and strong race. He was up in the top half dozen at each time check, and was solid in every section. It was a world class ride; he left nothing out there, and was very technical on the tight corners.”
“Marcus had a very solid ride in his first ever road World Championships. Everything went to plan, and it was really good experience for him to build on in the future."
(See full result just below photo)
Marcus Christie on his way to 28th in the U23 TT at the World Championships in Florence today, a great ride by the comeback man (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Full Result of World U23 TT Championship
Monday Sept 23rd, Florence, Italy
| 1 | Damien Howson (Australia) | 0:49:49.97 | |
| 2 | Yoann Paillot (France) | 0:00:57.11 | |
| 3 | Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) | 0:01:10.13 | |
| 4 | Campbell Flakemore (Australia) | 0:01:22.30 | |
| 5 | Lawson Craddock (United States of America) | 0:01:41.38 | |
| 6 | Stefan Kueng (Switzerland) | 0:01:46.75 | |
| 7 | Ryan Mullen (Ireland) | 0:01:47.09 | |
| 8 | Victor Campenaerts (Belgium) | 0:01:47.71 | |
| 9 | Daniil Fominykh (Kazakhstan) | 0:02:05.73 | |
| 10 | Eduardo Sepulveda (Argentina) | 0:02:10.55 | |
| 11 | Frederik Frison (Belgium) | 0:02:31.55 | |
| 12 | Maximilian Schachmann (Germany) | 0:02:32.73 | |
| 13 | Jasha Sütterlin (Germany) | 0:02:37.44 | |
| 14 | Yves Lampaert (Belgium) | 0:02:37.66 | |
| 15 | Marlen Zmorka (Ukraine) | 0:02:39.11 | |
| 16 | Oleksandr Golovash (Ukraine) | 0:02:40.52 | |
| 17 | Brayan Stiven Ramirez Chacon (Colombia) | 0:02:41.73 | |
| 18 | Szymon Rekita (Poland) | 0:02:42.38 | |
| 19 | Alexander Evtushenko (Russian Federation) | 0:02:43.19 | |
| 20 | Rasmus Brandstrup Sterobo (Denmark) | 0:02:49.11 | |
| 21 | Nathan Brown (United States of America) | 0:02:52.94 | |
| 22 | Marcus Fåglum Karlsson (Sweden) | 0:03:02.58 | |
| 23 | Dylan Van Baarle (Netherlands) | 0:03:06.66 | |
| 24 | Lukasz Wisniowski (Poland) | 0:03:07.38 | |
| 25 | Louis Meintjes (South Africa) | 0:03:25.12 | |
| 26 | James Oram (New Zealand) | 0:03:27.80 | |
| 27 | Viktor Manakov (Russian Federation) | 0:03:28.83 | |
| 28 | Marcus Christie (Ireland) | 0:03:34.27 | |
| 29 | Davide Martinelli (Italy) | 0:03:40.47 | |
| 30 | Alexis Gougeard (France) | 0:03:41.44 | |
| 31 | Amund Grøndahl Jansen (Norway) | 0:03:52.36 | |
| 32 | Ioannis Spanopoulos (Greece) | 0:03:54.18 | |
| 33 | Alexander Cataford (Canada) | 0:04:05.51 | |
| 34 | Rafael Ferreira Reis (Portugal) | 0:04:08.42 | |
| 35 | Bruno Maltar (Croatia) | 0:04:14.58 | |
| 36 | Michael Vink (New Zealand) | 0:04:15.64 | |
| 37 | Mario Gonzalez Salas (Spain) | 0:04:16.24 | |
| 38 | Felix Grossschartner (Austria) | 0:04:19.18 | |
| 39 | Josef Cerny (Czech Republic) | 0:04:19.51 | |
| 40 | Andzs Flaksis (Latvia) | 0:04:20.20 | |
| 41 | Truls Engen Korsaeth (Norway) | 0:04:24.45 | |
| 42 | Zydrunas Savickas (Lithuania) | 0:04:31.51 | |
| 43 | Gabriel Chavanne (Switzerland) | 0:04:45.37 | |
| 44 | Meron Teshome Hagos (Eritrea) | 0:04:46.13 | |
| 45 | Daniel Turek (Czech Republic) | 0:04:52.08 | |
| 46 | Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kazakhstan) | 0:04:54.73 | |
| 47 | Andris Vosekalns (Latvia) | 0:04:58.36 | |
| 48 | Sjors Roosen (Netherlands) | 0:04:59.89 | |
| 49 | Simone Antonini (Italy) | 0:05:09.82 | |
| 50 | Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay (Ethiopia) | 0:05:15.41 | |
| 51 | Facundo Lezica (Argentina) | 0:05:23.26 | |
| 52 | Viktor Okishev (Kazakhstan) | 0:05:29.04 | |
| 53 | Endrik Puntso (Estonia) | 0:05:40.33 | |
| 54 | Johannes Christoffel Nel (South Africa) | 0:05:50.97 | |
| 55 | Matej Mohoric (Slovenia) | 0:05:52.75 | |
| 56 | Jose Luis Rodriguez (Chile) | 0:05:54.84 | |
| 57 | Mark Dzamastagic (Slovenia) | 0:06:13.42 | |
| 58 | Carlos Eduardo Quisphe-Quishpe (Ecuador) | 0:06:23.79 | |
| 59 | Burr Ho (Hong Kong, China) | 0:06:29.87 | |
| 60 | Mekseb Debesay (Eritrea) | 0:06:43.26 | |
| 61 | Lukas Pöstlberger (Austria) | 0:06:47.43 | |
| 62 | Feritcan Samli (Turkey) | 0:06:59.95 | |
| 63 | Eduard Michael Grosu (Romania) | 0:07:04.70 | |
| 64 | Zoltan Sipos (Romania) | 0:07:07.12 | |
| 65 | Paulius Siskevicius (Lithuania) | 0:07:16.89 | |
| 66 | Ábel Kenyeres (Hungary) | 0:07:25.50 | |
| 67 | Mikel Iturria Segurola (Spain) | 0:07:31.24 | |
| 68 | Edison Bravo (Chile) | 0:07:33.75 | |
| 69 | Oleg Sergeev (Israel) | 0:08:15.99 | |
| 70 | Cristian Raileanu (Republic of Moldova) | 0:08:17.32 | |
| 71 | Adil Barbari (Algeria) | 0:09:29.63 | |
| 72 | Adrian Alvarado (Chile) | 0:09:55.63 | |
| 73 | Emiljano Stojku (Albania) | 0:10:28.89 | |
| 74 | Ilhan Celik (Turkey) | 0:12:14.74 |
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