Ryan Mullen put behind him the disappointment of his points race crash in Mexico to bounce back with a good pursuit ride. Seen here on his way to 7th place in the U23 TT at the World Road Championships in Florence, Italy, last September (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Ryan Mullen dusted himself down after the disappointment of crashing out of the points race at the UCI World Cup in Mexico on Friday to post a strong ride in the pursuit last night.
The Irish U23 national time trial champion came home in 7th place against some of the best riders in the world in an event where he is tipped to leave his mark on the world stage in the next few years.
The 19-year-old may have only been on the boards in Guadalajara for a little over four minutes, but on the basis of his placing he appears to have wintered well ahead of his first road season based on the Continent with the An Post-Chainreaction team.
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He took a bronze medal in the pursuit, and in the scratch race, at the U23 European Track Championships last summer, and having made massive strides in the past couple of seasons the teenager should be in the medal hunt at World Cup level very soon.
He was 5th fastest at the 3km marker in the 4km event in the qualifying round, with the top four going through for the two head-to-head pursuit ride offs for the medals; the fastest two against each other for gold and silver, and the third and fourth fastest facing each other for bronze.
However, he couldn’t quite keep that early pace going, with his time at the finish of 4.25.664 putting him into 7th on the day.
The gold medal was won by Jenning Huizenga of Holland who posted a time of 4:20.748 in the qualifiers. The silver was won by Mauro Agostini of Argentina who clocked 4:21.172 in the qualifiers.
Swiss rider Stefan Kueng took the bronze after he posted the third quickest time in the qualifiers; 4:21.928. The man who met Kueng in the bronze medal ride off was Australian Miles Scotson, who clocked 4:22.006 in the qualifiers to go forward to contest that bronze.
That meant Ireland’s Mullen was 3.658 seconds off making it into bronze medal race.
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Cycling Ireland head coach Brian Nugent said with Mullen’s ride and Caroline Ryan’s strong showing in the scratch race in Mexico on Friday, where a late attack for bronze just fell short, he was looking forward with confidence to the World Track Championships in Colombia next month.
“I’m very pleased with Ryan’s performance,” he said.
“He held a steady pace for 3km, before running out of steam in the final kilo. (It was) great for his first World Cup, and it was pleasing to see him bounce back after crashing out of the points last night.
“This sets the team up nicely for the Worlds, and at first glance it looks like we have qualified the places we were targeting.”
Caroline Ryan will ride the points race and pursuit at the worlds which start in Cali on February 28th. Martyn Irvine will ride the scratch race and pursuit, in which he won gold and silver respectively at last year’s worlds.
Cycling Ireland has not confirmed those entries, so at the time of writing they are provisional.
Irvine is currently in Colardo, his new base for his 2014 road season with pro team Unitedhealthcare. He opted to stay there to train towards the worlds rather than ride this weekend in Mexico; a bad crash in November at the Ghent Six Day meaning every day of those preparations is now vital as he goes to a worlds a defending champion.
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