Richard Handley (left) makes his move around Ireland’s Ryan Mullen to take victory in Lancashire (Photo: Larry Hickmott – www.velouk.net)
Winner of the Irish national junior time trial title last year, Ryan Mullen has made a strong start to his career as a professional by taking the runner up slot in the Clayton Velo Spring Classic 55-miler near Clitheroe in the north west of England today, Sunday.
The new IG Sigma Sport rider was beaten in the sprint for victory by Richard Handley (Rapha Condor JLT). The duo were among a large scratch group that started the race in pursuit of those ahead of them in the handicap event, giving seven minutes to the junior riders who were first off.
After some hard and aggressive racing early on, only a handful of the scratch men managed to catch and sweep through all of those ahead of them; with Handley, Mullen and James Gullen (Hope Factory) pulling clear of that scratch group early on and mopping up all of those ahead.
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As they caught everybody else, only one junior rider in the limit group – Andrew Leigh – was able to stay with the trio. As they hurtled into the finish, it was 18-year-old Mullen and Handley who were to prove by far the strongest of the breakaway.
Mullen looked determined to open his 2013 account with a win and he jumped the others into the final corner around 300 metres from the finish line on the rolly circuit. However, while he got a good jump on his fellow escapees, Handley reacted well. He had the legs to close down the European junior championship time trial silver medallist and got past him for victory. Mullen took second, with Gullen a distant third and junior rider Leigh taking a very good fourth place.
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Irish junior international, Jack Sadler (Vanilla Bikes) was also riding and while he was with Leigh in a small breakaway of juniors when the three flying scratch men caught them, he was unable to hang in and lost his place after a while.
Mullen said afterwards he was delighted to have begun his season riding for a UK-based pro team that he believed was eager to foster his long term development. He said his attack late on today was aimed at catching those with him by surprise.
“I felt them watching me as they knew I could win the sprint, I think. And there was a lot of cat and mouse going on. They sat up and so I attacked 50 metres before the corner. I got a good gap but Richard Handley rode a good race and he sat on James Gullen until 200 to go and then came round him and caught me a metre before the line. I thought about celebrating but I’m glad I didn’t.”
“We were in Majorca (up to) last week for ten days after the first proper full winter of training I have had and I’m feeling good and hoping for a good year. I have good form after riding the track so have some good speed. There’s a lot of strong riders in the team this year though, so I think it’s fair to say I’ll be doing a lot of donkey work for them which I’m happy with being in a team of this calibre.”
“The big goal this year will be the national championships in Ireland and to have the champion’s jersey on British roads; that’s the big aim.”
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