Mullen Impresses In Time Trial At European Games

The Irish Cycling team got their campaign underway at the European Games early today in Baku. First up was Caroline Ryan in the Women's Time Trial over 25km finishing in a solid 15th place from the 30 riders in this event. Later in the morning Ryan Mullen was among the 40 men in the Men's Time Trial where he put in a very impressive performance to finish in 8th place.

An early start for the Women's Time Trial saw the riders face blustery conditions along the route which followed along Bilgah Beach. Ryan rode a solid pace throughout the event with her position across the two intermidary time check points at 13km and 25km being consistent. In the end she finished in 15th place in a time of 35 minutes 29secs just over three minutes off Gold Medal winner Ellen Van Dijk from the Netherlands who completed the course in 32min 26 seconds. The silver medal went to Ganna Solovei from the Ukaine with the Netherlands also taking the Bronze medal with Annemiek Van Vleuten.

Ryan Mullen started the Men's Time Trial in the 2nd wave of riders who had to complete two laps of the 25km flat course. Mullen started strongly and kept within touching distance of the pace of early leader Luis Leon Sanchez from the Astana team. Mullen caught the rider from Greece shortly after the half-way point and continued on strongly to finish in a provisional 4th place before the next wave of riders completed the course. His time of 1hr 2m 17sec was in the end good enough for a solid 8th place just a little over a minute of the Bronze medal winning time of Luis Leon Sanchez from Spain who had a time of 1hr 01m 8secs. The Gold medal went to Team Sky rider Vasil Kiryienka from Belarus who was the only rider to break the hour with a time of 59min 36secs. The silver medal went Stef Clement from the Netherlands in a time of 1hr 00m 46secs.

Speaking about today's performance, Cycling Ireland Technical Director Brian Nugent said "Today was a great day for the team. Ryan underlined his World Class potential by taking another step up in the sport. After last year where he dominated at U23 level it was important that the progression carried on, that doesn't always happen this quick but he took a big step forward today by performing the way he did in such a major event. Ryan's proven now that he's ready for this level. He was very convincing today in the way he delivered his performance. What Caroline achieved was inspiring to. It's the first time that we have been competitive at this level in Elite Women's Road Time Trials. There is work to be done to move into the Top 10 but she give a good account of herself and the team to finish Top 15 showing what is achievable in the future"

Next up for the Cycling Team is the Women's Road Race on Saturday.