VICTORY SALUTE A jubilant David O’Loughlin celebrates after leaving his rivals gasping in the All-Ireland elite road championship at Waterford on Sunday.
O’Loughlin hits hat-trick
CYCLING
MARTIN AYRES
DAVID O’Loughlin won the most coveted title in Irish cycling - the Elite Road Race Championship - at Waterford on Sunday. It was O’Loughlin’s third title in four years, and well deserved consolation after missing out on his hat-trick in last year’s championship at Westport.
Just four men were in contention for victory after four hours of racing on Sunday. They included O’Loughlin and pre-race favourite Nicolas Roche, who had been an early pace-setter.
A confident O’Loughlin led up the final climb and sprinted to victory by two lengths ahead of Paidi O’Brien and Mark Cassidy, with Roche missing out on the medals in fourth.
At 29, O’Loughlin proved yet again that he is the top-dog in the Irish elite class. Sunday’s success was even sweeter for the Cong man as he outsprinted two members of the Murphy and Gunn-Newlyn squad, O’Brien and Cassidy.
“I was angered by their tactics, they were under orders from team manager Sean Kelly not to attack,” O’Loughlin explained.
O’Loughlin has hit a rich vein of form in recent weeks with a string of high placings for the American Navigators team in US stage races and criteriums.
Roche, meanwhile, went into the race with high morale after finishing the three-week Giro d’Italia.
Frustrated by the leading group’s non-aggression, Roche put in a lone attack half-way through the 170-kilometre championship, opening a two-minute lead. O’Loughlin bided his time and was in a five-man move that caught Roche with 45 kilometres to go.
“I was feeling stronger the longer the race went on and went to the front of the group on the final climb,” said O’Loughlin.
“I kept to the left and anybody who wanted to come round me would have to go into the wind. Then I put in my final sprint from about 250 metres out,”
“Now I’m looking forward to wearing the champion’s jersey in the Pro’ Tour of Ireland at the end of August, particularly as it goes through Mayo and Galway,” he said.
After a few days break, O’Loughlin is heading back across the Atlantic to race in Vancouver, Canada and the USA before returning to Ireland to begin his build-up for the Tour of Ireland.
RESULT
1 David O’Loughlin (Navigators Insurance) 170km in 4-7-43; 2 Paídi O’Brien; 3, Mark Cassidy (both Murphy and Gunn-Newlyn Group); 4 Nicolas Roche (Crédit Agricole) all same time; 5, Rory Wyley (Dan Morrissey) at 5 secs.
