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Ryan Mullen crosses the line at the end of a brilliant race at the National Championships in Co Wexford (Photo: Toby Watson)
Ryan Mullen wins Irish road race championships
Ryan Mullen has won the Irish elite men’s title at the National Road Race Championships, soloing to a classy victory in Co Wexford.
The Cannondale-Drapac man adds the road crown to the TT title he won on Thursday evening in Johnstown.
Mullen was active off the front of the race today in the final half of the contest.
And having gotten across to Conor Dunne (Aqua Blue Sport) on the final lap, they were with the very impressive Irish amateur Chris McGlinchey (ChainReactionCycles).
But with 4km remaining Ryan Mullen took flight to go solo.
And once clear he went into that fearsome TT mode of his to take another great championships win.
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It is the second time he has done the TT and road double, having lifted both titles in Westmeath in 2014 when aged 19 years and riding for An Post-Chainreaction.
The man of the match Chris McGlinchey. He rode an outstanding final and was rightly rewarded with a silver medal (Photo: Toby Watson)
While Mullen's win today was really impressive; spare a thought for McGlinchey in 2nd place, seeing off Conor Dunne for the runner-up slot.
McGlinchey is riding as an amateur and managed to chase Dunne down on his own when Dunne went clear on the penultimate lap.
By the time Mullen sprang from the bunch as the final lap was starting, McGlinchey was 30 to 40 seconds up the road and Dunne about 20 seconds ahead of him.
They would all join up at the head of the race; McGlinchey against two really strong pro riders.
Yet he still had enough to take the silver medal, with Dunne taking the bronze. To top it all, he only converted to road from downhill racing in recent years.
In that regard, his success today and the manner of his performance simply adds to an already remarkable story.
How it unfolded
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As the racing entered the final half of the event a tidy breakaway had formed with a mix of domestic riders and pros.
In there were Monaco-based amateur Daire Feeley, Ryan Mullen, Matt Brammeier of Aqua Blue Sport and domestic amateur Sean Lacey of Aqua Blue Academy.
With four laps remaining they had a gap of about 50 seconds on what remained of the peloton.
Back there Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing) and Eddie Dunbar (Axeon Berman Hagens) were active off the front.
Feeley, O'Loughlin, Brammeier and Mullen up the road as the race got serious (Photo: Toby Watson)
However, it was young Michael O’Loughlin, the Team Wiggins rider who took elite bronze and U23 gold last year, who made the biggest inroads.
The Carrick-on-Suir man clearly believed those away had a great chance of making it to the finish.
And so he impressively rode solo across the gap and caught them, making it five up front.
The gap between the breakaway and peloton would extend slowly and creep over the one-minute mark.
However, there was still plenty of life in the peloton. A new chase group would then form and it included some top names; Roche, Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe), Marc Potts (Neon Velo) and Chris McGlinchey (Chainreactioncycles).
They would quickly close to within 20 seconds of the leaders.
Also present was Sean McKenna of An Post-Chainreaction and one of the Powerhouse Sport riders.
The firepower of that group, and the fact the race still had a way to run, saw the chasers make the catch.
And from that enlarged breakaway formed a new escape, this time with five riders in it.
Brammeier was there along with Bennett, eventual winner Ryan Mullen, the flying Lacey and O’Loughlin.
Going through the start-finish area to begin the penultimate lap, the leaders had about 30 seconds on a large chasing group.
However, from that chase group it was Dunne who would attack solo and catch the escape. And as soon as he was onto them he took flight in solo attack mode.
McGlinchey attacked after him and then Mullen would go after both on his own before they formed a three-man escape on the final lap.
With 5km remaining they had about 25 seconds on the chasers, before Ryan Mullen attacked and got clear on his own.
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