Ryan Mullen’s Olympics | “When the race is easy, the explosion later will be bigger”

Ryan Mullen rounded out his debut Olympics with a Trojan effort in the men’s road race, working for Ben Healy, after his 12th place in the TT the weekend before.

That result by Mullen in the race against the clock was Ireland’s best ever placing on the road at any Olympics, but was eclipsed at the weekend when Healy took 10th in the road race, having ridden his heart out for a medal.

Though it was easy to give Healy all the platitudes because of the manner of his rider, Millen played a huge part for Team Ireland; going on the attack with almost 200km remaining and leading the race solo after going through the breakaway when he caught it.

And when Healy then also got off the front of the peloton with 90km to go, Mullen soon teamed up with him, helping him drag clear of the chasing pack. Mullen has said he decided to get ahead early because he knew from experience what was coming later in the race.

“I was working for Ben although on TV, to the untrained eye, it might have looked like I was being selfish,” he said, a reference to taking flight without his team mate, much earlier than Healy eventually followed him up the road.

“From experience, when the race was going really, really easy it just means later on, down the line, the explosion is a lot bigger. I wanted to support Ben in the best way possible so I just thought if I put myself ahead of that explosion, then they’ve got to come to me.

“And that’s exactly what happened, and then I could be a bit more useful when it matters more. So I just tried to look after Ben as soon as he came across to me. And he got a top 10, so it worked out well.”

Mullen said though he didn’t see Healy at the front in the closing stages, as he was back the road having done his work, it was a quality ride by his team mate.

“I was here to help Ben because he was our medal contender, so I’m really glad he did a good ride. He told me he was in good shape and I back him. I was a good ride, I’m happy for him, I’m glad he’s done it.”