|
National title No.3 for O’Loughlin
 By
David Thorpe
Mayo rider David O’Loughlin took his third national road race title
in four years outsprinting three other riders at the end of the tough
170-kilometre event in the National cycling championships at the weekend.
Racing in Waterford the Navigators Insurance professional came to the
final kilometre with the pairing of Paídi O’Brien and Mark
Cassidy (Murphy and Gunn/ Newlyn Group/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) and France-based
pro Nicolas Roche (Crédit Agricole).
He led the sprint from a long way out but was strong enough to win.
Roche narrowly missed out on a medal even though he was regarded by many
as perhaps the strongest rider in the race.
He attacked alone with approximately 80 kilometres remaining, opened up
a two-minute lead but his gains were limited by the strong winds, the
large group chasing behind and the fact that he had probably played his
card two laps too early.
He was clear for approximately 45 kilometres then a group containing
the three medallists plus Rory Wyley (Dan Morrissey) and Sean Lacey (Murphy
and Gunn/Newlyn Group) got across to him.
The latter two yo-yoed off the back of the break on the final lap but
Roche hung on despite suffering bad cramp.
Missing out on bronze by a few inches will be a disappointment for him.
However he will return to France with the consolation of gold in Friday’s
time trial, beating former champions David McCann (Colavita Sutter Home)
and O’Loughlin.
McCann and local fav-ourite Ciarán Power both went into the race
aiming for gold.
McCann was however below par due to sickness and withdrew, while Power
cramped badly. Daniel Martin (VC La Pomme) also faded early, dropping
out of a big break.
Meanwhile French-based Denis Dunworth (VSK Pays Lamballe) dominated the
106.4-kilometre junior event. He hit the line 3 minutes and 20 seconds
ahead of Philip Lavery (Usher IRC) with Sean Downey (Banbridge CC) a further
30 seconds back. |
