In between the 88 seconds Ryan Mullen sat in the leader’s hot seat in the Olympic men’s time trial and the quick spin into the mixed zone he started shivering uncontrollably.
“It was cold, it was wet, it was slippery, and it was dangerous,” Mullen said through chattering teeth. “Between the drains and the corners and the cobbles, they f***ing threw everything at us.
“So maybe I was a little bit overly cautious, but I didn’t come here to lie down at a roundabout. Obviously it’s a stinking wet day here, so all my heat work that I did in preparation for a hot summer in Paris was very useful (not!)
“Literally I was melting myself in Andorra and Spain to try and prepare for the heat and humidity and then I’ve come here and it’s 17 degrees and now I’ve got hypothermia. Not what I was expecting.”
Not that this was entirely dampening Mullen’s Olympic experience. There were plenty of challenges out on the 32.4km contre-la-montre from Invalides back to Pont Alexandre III on the Seine, and starting seventh of the 34 riders, his time at the finish of 37:57.16 was the fastest at that point, affording him those 88 seconds in the hot seat as the leading rider, before some of the time-trail specialists started coming in.
In the end Mullen finished a satisfying 12th, Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel winning the gold medal to add to his recent third place finish in the Tour de France, his 36:12.16 producing an average speed of 53.7km/h. Evenepoel beat Filippo Ganna from Italy by 15 seconds, with his Belgian team-mate Wout van Aert third, 25 seconds back.
Mullen has ridden three Grand Tours, including this year’s Giro d’Italia, and at age 19 was Ireland’s youngest road race champion when he won his first of now eight titles in 2014.
Now a week shy of his 30th birthday, Mullen was making his Olympic debut, and wasn’t about to blow his chances of even finishing by taking any of those corners unnecessarily fast.
“But I’ve wanted to do this for 15 years, and finally got here. It would have been nice to sit in the hot seat a bit longer. But I have been in the hot seat in every time trial possible, so that’s pretty cool.”
His 37:57.16 was just one minute and 45 seconds down on Evenepoel, excellent riding by Mullen given the conditions. He’ll also ride the men’s road race next Saturday, along with Ben Healy, when conditions should be a little more pleasant for riding around Paris.
Mullen will head back to his Andorra training base this week in order to prepare properly for the road race, and was already looking forward to spending more time in the Olympic Village.
He’d spoken beforehand about trying to get a picture in the Village with a Peppa Pig toy figure his two-year-old son Gino left behind before Mullen travelled to Paris, and Snoop Dog was top of his list.
“I haven’t seen Snoop Dog, no, I heard he was sniffing around. I really wanted to try and get Peppa Pig with him.
“I’m not surprised because it’s France, the food is shite, but it’s still been very enjoyable so far. The whole atmosphere, this is like you’re in an athlete prison of the best athletes in the world – in there, on their A-game.
“It’s just amazing to be around, there’s a certain electricity around that. It’s something I’ve never been around before.
“Also been pretty cool seeing these absolute giant units walking around. I’m so used to being around cyclists and they don’t look phenomenal, cyclists look like they’ve come from a prisoner of war camp.
“You see these absolute weapons of athletes, it’s cool to be around. That environment brings you on, brings you up. It’s something I’ve never experienced before. I’m overjoyed to have had the opportunity to be here.”
