Still coughing, and shivering, after a big effort against the watch earned him a tenth elite Irish road title, Ryan Mullen (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) was a happy, if tired, man in Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, on Thursday night.
The most successful rider of the modern era at the road 'Nationals', Mullen told stickybottle he'd dug deep to win the men's TT. He added the all-out effort, especially over a shorter distance than he would have liked, was something of a shock to the system in cold and wet conditions.
"My glutes are a bit sore now, but I’m always motivated to come back here every year," he said. "Obviously most of the season I’m on (team) working duties. So I try to come back and get the most out of my body. But it’s not for free that’s for sure, you have to work for it."
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Mullen took his first Irish title as a 19-year-old back in 2014, winning the road race that year in Multyfarnham, also Co Westmeath, ahead of his An Post-Chainreaction team mate, Sean Downey, and Paídi O'Brien. Though he was also fastest in the TT, he had to be content with the U23 title that year as he was not eligible for an elite medal.
There's a lot of water under the bridge since then, with Ireland, Cannondale-Drapac, Trek-Segafredo and his current employers, Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe. He's picked up a silver in the U23 TT at the Worlds along the way and a bronze in the TT at the elite Europeans.
He's also held his place at World Tour level for a decade. Now aged 30 years, he is regarded as one of the best lead-out men in the business, who is not afraid of getting physical when the fight for position calls for it.
But despite all the experiences crammed into his career, including many World Championships appearances and OIympic selection last year, Mullen said the 'Nationals' would always remain important for him.
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"I'm proud of my heritage," he said of his background in Co Meath even though he grew up in the UK. "I’ve got my family here cheering me on and the road race is around Navan on Sunday so I'll have about 474 cousins watching the race," he laughed.
"They will be out on their droves there. But I am proud to wear the tricolour on the sleaves of my jersey and it’s a big honour to try and take it every year."
Pride in the jersey is one thing, but you have to go out and earn it, especially when riding against very good quality riders, more of whom than ever are now dialed into the finer points of the TT discipline.
Mullen did just that on a dirty night on Thursday; winning by six seconds from George Peden (PB Performance), with Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost) in 3rd at 14 seconds. He said it was an "on the pedals course", with no time to back off, with a cross-headwind out to the turn and rain falling.
"I would have preferred it a bit longer, it was over before you even knew it kind of thing. It was only 28-29 mins, so it was pretty quick," he said. "It wasn’t a good or bad day it was just in the middle, just an average day. The watts were where I expected, it wasn’t more, wasn’t less.
"It would’ve been nice to do a few more watts but the training has worked. I don’t get to do a lot of TT work anymore, but I've done a bit and it paid off tonight.
"I'm not used to emptying the body anymore," he said, a reference to becoming a lead-out man in recent years rather than a TT specialist. "But yeah I gave what I had on the day."
