Ryan Mullen’s World Championships challenge falls short as rain affects last riders

There was bad luck for Ryan Mullen today in his attempt to become World Under-23 Time Trial champion. Just before he was due to start, the rain clouds opened in Richmond and it severely affected the chances of the last wave of riders to set off. Prior to the race, he had been tipped by many to take gold.

The riders faced two laps of a 15-kilometre circuit, and the first rider off was the Canadian Sean MacKinnon who set a decent time of 38′ 46″. His time wasn’t beaten until the second wave, as Gregory Daniel (USA) moved into the leader’s position.

One of the race favourites alongside was Mullen was Danish rider Mads Wurtz Schmidt who was also in the second wave. The Danish rider set a blistering time of 37’10 to move into the lead. The German Maximilian Schachmann then set the second best time, 13″ slower than Wurtz Schmidt.

Australian Miles Scotson looked like he might challenge for the lead, until he was affected by a mechanical and had to dismount.

Many of the other favourites were due to set off in the last wave including Filippo Ganna (Italy), Soren Kragh Andersen (Denmark) and Steven Lammertink (Netherlands). Unfortunately, as the last few riders prepared to start, the rain started to fall.

Mullen was second last rider off and going through the first time check, he was already 25″ down on Wurtz Schmidt. At the end of the first lap, he was down in 16th place 34″ down on Wurtz Schmidt. He appeared to raise the tempo in the second half, but was still 35″ down going through the final check but had now moved into 10th position.

On the final climb, Mullen gave it his all, but coming into the final straight, he was behind Wurtz Schmiodt’s time. He ended up 50″ slower than the fastest time for an eleventh place finish.

Lennard Kamna of Germany who was last man off put in a great ride but couldn’t challenge the time of Wurtz Schmidt. It was the second world title for the Dane who won the junior TT championships in 2011.

The Irishman will undoubtedly be disappointed with how the race turned out, but will surely challenge for the Elite title in the future.