FOR A TEENAGER to come out and declare he wants to better one of the greatest performances of recent times in a velodrome you’d have to excuse it as naiveté and, well, immaturity.
But that’s exactly what Welsh-born declared Irishman, Ryan Mullen, did when he set himself a target of beating Australian Jack Bobridge’s four-kilometre Individual Pursuit record of 4 mins 10 seconds which was set three years ago and has been deemed impossible to better.
Mullen’s personal best for that particular discipline is 12 seconds slower – but he’s slowly chipping into it and crucially, has time on his side to continue doing so.
Cycling Ireland’s High Performance coach is Bryan Nugent and the Northern Irishman has had some job keeping a lid on the expectations of Mullen — a task that sure hasn’t been made any easier over the last 24 months.
Mullen, at 19, became the youngest ever winner of the Elite National Road Race Championships when he blitzed the field for a stunning solo victory back in late June in County Westmeath. He also set the fastest time in the time-trial three days previously but because he’s still U23 he was only awarded gold in that category, despite the elite ‘winner’ Michael Hutchinson protesting Mullen deserved both U23 and elite titles.
For the road race he wasn’t even mentioned as a possible podium finisher what with far less road racing done (due to track commitments) than some of those he was up against. Just some of those, by the way, were former champion and current WorldTour professional Dan Martin as well as Sam Bennett (Team NetApp-Endura) and four-time winner Matt Brammeier (Synergy Baky Cycling project).
But to make his way into the winning breakaway, stay there for much of the race and attack on the final lap and cross the finish line on his own with plenty time to spare was the work of a future star.
Since then, his performances have continued to attract attention from abroad and based on his current form, the team he signed for at the end of last year, An Post Chain Reaction, could have an almighty job holding onto him when the season reaches its conclusion next month.
In three weeks, on 22 September, Mullen will represent Ireland in the World U23 time-trial championships in Ponferrada, Spain. There, he’ll be looking to go better than his debut at the championships in 2013 where he finished an astonishing seventh, though he later said he rued not making the top five.
Some of those who beat him – by mere seconds – have since signed lucrative contracts with some of the world’s biggest teams, and that’s exactly where Mullen is headed if he keeps improving.
His stated goal all year has been gold in that test against the clock in Spain – and there’s no doubt he’ll go in as one of the favourites – though he still has another three years left in the age group better known as the espoir category.
His cycling CV, or palmares, to give it its proper title, is overflowing with accolades and achievements, just some of which include; back to back gold medals in the Chrono des Nations (2012 and 2013) time trial in France – a prestigious end of year event that attracts many of the world’s most promising riders, two National U23 time trial gold medals and one elite gold, one European U23 track silver and two bronze medals while he also boasts a string of 10-mile time trial records in both Ireland and Britain.
Recently he set the third fastest time ever recorded on British roads over 10 miles in a time of 17 minutes 42 seconds having been beaten only by Movistar professional and time trial specialist Alex Dowsett (17.20) and Irish international and elite testing champion Michael Hutchinson (InGear). That list includes Bradley Wiggins, by the way.
Dowsett is a former stage winner of the Giro d’Italia – a race only second to the Tour de France in terms of prestige so the early indications indicate a bright future indeed.
Today — and all next week — fans of the sport will be able to see Mullen up close when he lines up for the week-long Tour of Britain which starts in Liverpool. The race will feature many of the world’s top riders, but Mullen should be more than capable of holding his own.
