A year of expectation and pressure - from Cycling Ireland, Irish fans and the media - clearly weighed heavy on Ryan Mullen at the World Championships in Richmond, Virginia (Photo: Sirotti)
A year of expectation weighed heavy on Ryan Mullen as he finished 11th in the men’s U23 time-trial at the UCI World Championships in Richmond, Virginia; clocking a time of 38.00 for the 30-kilometre test.
It was a disappointing result for the 21-year-old, who went into the race as an under-pressure favourite having missed out on the title last year in Spain by less than half a second.
While the rainfall that began just before Mullen rolled out of the start house definitely had a major impact on his ride, the usually smooth and powerful national TT champion never looked comfortable.
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The smiling, though focussed, face of compatriot Eddie Dunbar as he waited for the commissaires to count down the last seconds in the start house was in stark contrast to Mullen’s weight-of-the-world facial expression.
His near miss last year only served to heap an impossible level of pressure and expectation onto a still very young and developing athlete that Cycling Ireland, and indeed Irish fans and the media - stickybottle included - already expect too much from.
The technical course, with two climbs, did not suit him on paper and while the rain that fell on those who started late did not cost him the title, it may just have cost him a medal.
While riders frequently look nervous and even uncomfortable before an important time trial, Ryan Mullen looked distinctly laboured from the outset in the US.
Those who started earlier, including the new champion Mads Wurtz (Denmark), were spared the rain.
And but for that factor, the eventual bronze medalist Lennard Kamna of Germany would have won silver and perhaps would have narrowly taken the gold.
The victorious Wurtz clocked a time of 37:10.96 and took the title by 12 seconds from German Maximilian Schachmann, with the fancied Kamna a further nine seconds down.
With the gold and silver medal winners completely spared the rain - and the race held on a downtown course with 28 corners - the drizzle definitely cost Kamna the 12 seconds he lost to his silver medalist compatriot and arguably the 21 seconds he lost to Dane Wurtz.
When one closely examines who the rain effected most on the one hand, and the finishing positions on the other; Mullen can rightly feel hard done by.
There was a gap of 28 minutes in the starting order between the rider off ninth last and the man off eight last.
Dunbar had less riding on yesterday's time trial and looked more relaxed than Mullen, for whom the test was the most important ride of his season (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Only the final eight men in the starting order endured the same wet roads the whole way around their tests as the rain held off until that last wave of eight starters.
Of that group of eight, only two men beat Mullen.
One was bronze medalist Kamna, the only rider to start behind the Irishman. The other was Marlen Zmorka of Ukraine, who came home in 9th, some seven seconds faster than Mullen.
In truth, if they both beat Mullen racing on the same wet roads as him they would likely have beaten him had the roads been dry for everyone.
And considering eventual winner Wurtz put 49.99 seconds into Mullen in 30km, he would also likely have beaten him if the road conditions been the same for all.
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But the Irishman may have pressed him very close indeed for the final step on the podium.
At the first intermediate time split Mullen was 25 seconds down on Denmark’s Wurtz, who clocked a staggering time of 37:10:98.
Dunbar on his way to 38th in his first U23 race at a World Championships. He will look to get up the road in the U23 road race on Friday (Photo: Sirotti)
By the second intermediate time split, Mullen improved to 16th. And with just 7.5 kilometres to go he was up to 10th.
Alas, that would be as high as he would go despite a brilliant last five kilometres where he completely emptied his tank.
He nailed the final climb before the home straight yawned out in front of him but by then he knew the game was up.
Still, even when the chance of a medal was gone he squeezed every last drop out of himself.
The meagre satisfaction of a top 10 finish was taken from him by the final rider of the evening, the flying German Kamna.
Well, disappointing result today. Couldn't control the situation with the weather. Did the best I could with the given weather conditions
— Ryan Mullen (@ryanmullen9) September 21, 2015
He clocked the third fastest time, nudging Mullen from 10th to 11th.
Dunbar, meanwhile, finished in a time of 39:45 which was 2:34.55 down on Wurtz and good enough for 38th.
He will now set his sights on Friday’s U23 road race where he goes in as the sole Irish rider.
Mullen will lick his wounds now and reflect on an incredible year for him personally.
It was one where he secured a WorldTour contract with Cannondale-Garmin; a team regarded as one of the best for developing young world class riders.
Unlike last year, Mullen will not be going straight into national track camps or UCI World Cup campaign for Ireland.
Instead, he can focus entirely on his road career and can hopefully use the term of his new contract to develop more as a road rider and start generating big results with the engine he has been blessed with.
World Championships, Richmond, US
Mon, Sept 21st: U23 Time Trial (30km)
1 Mads Wurtz Schmidt (Denmark) 0:37:10
2 Maximilian Schachmann (Germany) 0:00:13
3 Lennard Kamna (Germany) 0:00:21
4 Truls Engen Korsaeth (Norway) 0:00:37
5 Owain Doull (Great Britain)
6 James Oram (New Zealand) 0:00:38
7 Miles Scotson (Australia) 0:00:41
8 Thery Schir (Switzerland) 0:00:42
9 Marlen Zmorka (Ukraine) 0:00:43
10 Daniel Eaton (United States of America) 0:00:44
11 Ryan Mullen (Ireland) 0:00:50
12 Davide Martinelli (Italy) 0:00:58
13 Filippo Ganna (Italy) 0:01:00
14 Steven Lammertink (Netherlands) 0:01:04
15 Jan Marcus Karlsson (Sweden) 0:01:12
16 Soren Kragh Ansersen (Denmark) 0:01:19
17 Nathan Van Hooydonck (Belgium) 0:01:27
18 Jose Luis Rodriguez (Chile) 0:01:28
19 Gregory Daniel (United States of America) 0:01:31
20 Sean MacKinnon (Canada) 0:01:37
21 Merhawi Kudus Ghbremedhin (Eritrea) 0:01:43
22 Stepan Astafyev (Kazakhstan) 0:01:46
23 Marc Fournier (France)
24 Krists Neilands (Latvia) 0:01:47
25 Josef Cerny (Czech Republic) 0:01:48
26 Tom Wirtgen (Luxembourg) 0:01:49
27 Ignacio Prado (Mexico) 0:01:51
28 Nikolay Cherkasov (Russia) 0:01:54
29 Gregor Muhlberger (Australia) 0:01:58
30 Ruben Pols (Belgium) 0:02:00
31 Michal Schlegel (Czech Republic) 0:02:07
32 Nickolas Dlamini (South Africa) 0:02:14
33 Alex Cataford (Canada) 0:02:18
34 Scott Davies (Great Britain) 0:02:20
35 Jhonatan Ospina (Colombia) 0:02:32
36 Jhonatan Restrepo (Colombia)
37 Morne Van Niekerk (South Africa) 0:02:33
38 Eddie Dunbar (Ireland) 0:02:35
39 Roman Kustadinchev (Russia) 0:02:40
40 Oleg Zemlyakov (Kazakhstan) 0:02:56
41 Adil Barbari (Algeria) 0:02:58
42 Anass Ait El Abdia (Morocco) 0:03:09
43 Kyeongho Min (Korea) 0:03:15
44 Altan-Ochir Erdenebat (Mongolia) 0:04:19
45 Xavier San Sebastian (Spain) 0:04:25
46 Abderrahmane Mansouri (Algeria) 0:04:31
47 Bonaventure Uwizeyimana (Rwanda) 0:04:33
48 Valens Ndayisenga (Rwanda) 0:04:49
49 Atsushi Oka (Japan) 0:05:21
50 Yuma Koishi (Japan) 0:05:30
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