In between the 88 seconds Ryan Mullen sat in the leader’s hot seat in the Olympic men’s time trial and the time it took to ride into the mixed zone he started shivering uncontrollably. There were plenty of challenges out on the 32.4km run from Invalides back to Pont Alexandre III on the Seine, and dealing with the feared Parisian summer heat was not one of them.
Instead it rained steadily throughout Saturday afternoon, just as it had here for the climax of Friday’s Opening Ceremony, turning every street corner out towards the Bois de Vincennes and back into a treacherous ride of risk.
Mullen was making his Olympic debut, a week shy of his 30th birthday, and wasn’t about to blow his chances of even finishing by taking any of those corners unnecessarily fast. 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.
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‘I’ve got hypothermia’: Ryan Mullen finishes 12th in treacherous Olympic time trial
“It was cold, it was wet, it was slippery, and it was dangerous,” Mullen said in between the shivering and a smile. “Between the drains and the corners and the cobbles, they f***ing threw everything at us. And watching the women race beforehand was the worst thing I could have done, it threw me off guard, when I saw them all coming down.
“So maybe I was a little bit overly cautious, but I didn’t come here to lie down at a roundabout. It was better to deliver the best possible ride I could. 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.”
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 weekend, along with Ben Healy, when conditions should be a little more pleasant for riding in Paris.
“I’ve turned into a bit of a leadout rider the last few years, am well familiar with the corners. I did get one wrong, just because I forgot it was there. But you couldn’t put power everywhere for fear of losing your back end or front end or whatever.
“But I’ve wanted to do this for 15 years, and finally got here. I’m 30 next week, so it’s been a long time coming. I’m very, very grateful. The weather is pretty dogshit, it’s a combination of everything really, just got wet to the core.
“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.”
As has his experience of the athletes’ village: “Well I’m not surprised because it’s France, the food is shite, but it’s 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.
“But it was amazing and surreal. I’m overjoyed to have had the opportunity to be here.”
