After Bora Hansgrohe stepped into the transfer market and acquired Danny van Poppel, Shane Archibald, and sprinter Sam Bennett for 2022, it's hard to argue.

Mullen spent four years with Trek-Segafredo and had a contract extension offer from an American team, but when Bennett approached the 27-year-old, the new environment and the offer to work with one of the fastest riders in the world was too good to turn down.

"Sam contacted me and expressed interest in working with me," Mullen told Cyclingnews at a recent Rouleur Live event in London.

"I already had an offer from Trek, and Sam didn't tell me the team he was going to, but he certainly caught my interest. His manager is also my manager, and neither of them told me which team for about a week. I had no idea. At the time I had a sneaking suspicion it was Ineos, but the more I thought about it, the more I talked to my family. But Sam saw me at Classics and Leadout and said he would love to work with me. I agreed, and in my eyes he is the best sprinter in the world, so I was honored anyway just to be invited by him. I weighed everything in the balance and wanted to extend my hand."

Certainly Mullen was not unhappy with Trek Segafredo, but 2021 did not go as he had hoped. There were mistakes in training (although he does not blame the team) and it took him longer than expected to find his form. He won both the Irish national road and time trial titles and played an important role in Trek's success in the classics, but after four years with the US team, he had to make a tough choice. At Trek, he formed long-lasting friendships with many riders, including Jasper Steiven and Mads Pedersen.

"Before every race I would always watch 'Wolf of Wall Street' or 'Bad Boys' and it was hard to get away from that. Being Mads' teammate took ten years out of my life," he said as he hid in his hotel room before Pedersen popped out to surprise him.

"I was always shaking, but he was great. He and Jasper are just regular guys off the bike, and on the bike they are heroes. I have great friends on the trek, but I asked myself if I wanted to leave. The answer was no, but I also had to ask myself if staying would be good for my career. It was a really hard decision, and I didn't just snap mullet hands and leave. It's hard to say what my thought process was like, but I guess I just needed a breath of fresh air. It wasn't that I had become stale, but I needed a new role."

Beulah Hansgrohe recalled Bennett after a two-year absence, but strengthened the entire leadout with the Irishman. Last time, he had to share sprinting opportunities with Pascal Ackermann, leaving Bennett in a tense environment, and he eventually moved to Quick Step.

With Ackermann's move to UAE Team Emirates, the core of the sprint revolved around Bennett, and Mullen would play a pivotal role in its success. There will be opportunities for him to hone his time trial skills, but the overall priority is to make sure Bennett and the rest of the lead-out train are in full form with 1km to go in the race.

"They want to use me in the leadout, but they also think there is a lot of untapped potential in my time trial. I've been so focused on the classics at Trek that I've turned my attention away from time trials. Especially early in the season, I want to gain confidence by taking the lead out early. After that, it would be nice to ride a Grand Tour with him," Mullen added. [If Sam is happy, I'm happy. I don't want to let Sam or Ralf Denk down. I want to reward him for trusting me in the early season races. I don't mean to put pressure on Sam, but it is really important for him to pick up where he left off. We have never worked together before and I want to lead a new lead out. I needed the extra pressure and the extra pressure to perform. When you have the best sprinters in the world on your wheels, you can't afford to fail."

Bennett has little to prove in the sport, given his green jersey win at the 2020 Tour and countless other victories, but he was plagued by injuries in the 2021 campaign and his former boss, Patrick Lefevere, tried to discredit him in the media After failing, the Irish sprinter will no doubt want to let his legs do the talking once he starts racing again.

"He was motivated in camp in October," Mullen said. [He wanted to ride even when it was snowing. He's a racer and he wants to win every time he gets to the starting line. He is a racer and wants to win every time he gets to the starting line. This year he was set back by a knee injury, and the way he was treated in the media probably wasn't great. The mental damage must have been severe. With his first win, he will get into the flow right away."

"We haven't discussed it yet, but it's me, Danny, Shane, and Sam. I've been trying to figure it out in my head and I think I'll be number one, Shane will battle it out, and Danny will have about 200 people to contend with. That's what I imagine in my playstation reality. I like to think it's the best lead out. Danny and Shane are fast and I'm pretty fast, so I'm confident I can take someone from 5km to 1km to go."