In the vital last hour of the junior road race at the World Championships Michael O'Loughlin had the legs to go off the front (Photo: Sean Rowe)
By Brian Canty
Michael O’Loughlin put in a textbook performance in Saturday’s junior men’s road race at the World Championships but when his legs “exploded” the last time up Libby Hill on the Richmond course he knew his race was run.
The Carrick rider played it to absolute perfection by staying towards the front all day and watching the group get smaller as the laps ticked down.
And when the inevitable volley of attacks started with around three laps to go he was alert and able to follow the key moves.
He even instigated a few of his own but when his group of around 16 was caught by a bigger group from behind he knew his chances of a big result were slim.
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“The start of the race was pretty manic,” he reflected. “It’s like any junior championship one day race; you only have one chance.
“All the juniors take a lot more risks and the fact it was wet and it was a technical course made it harder.
“It was fast from the gun and even though it was wet they weren’t taking much caution and there were a lot of crashes, though luckily I avoided them all and stayed up near the front,” he added.
“The group got smaller every lap and that was expected because of the climbs and how we’d raced them.
“It was a real wearing down process, the first lap was always going to be hard and I think every junior felt it.
“On the third lap one of the lads came up to me and said they found it pretty tough and at that point I thought I was on a good day because I didn’t feel the pressure too much.
“I knew the race would really hot up in the final few laps so I didn’t get too excited, I held back and was keeping everything for the end, but the legs were good.
“I saw with three laps to go it started to break up a lot more, the big teams didn’t have as many riders (in the front); six-man teams would have had three left so I knew the chasing wouldn’t be on as much behind.
“I made all the right decisions and was confident with some of the moves I was going in.
In the breakaway on the second-last lap; O'Loughlin rode a great race and only the very, very strongest in the field were able to get rid of him (Photo: Sean Rowe)
“I was going with really strong guys and picking the right wheels and I was definitely thinking of a result, but in saying that there was a long way to go and a lot more work to be done when it first all kicked off.”
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Though he knew he was burning matches, O’Loughlin was still conserving anything he could, having learnt valuable lessons from last year’s race.
“I needed to save my energy for the last lap but because of the moves I was getting in I knew I wasn’t going to win from a gallop. I had to give it everything and that’s what I did.
“So after the group of 16 was caught there was a group of about 40 of us and attacks started going again.
“The Austrian (eventual winner Felix Gall) went up Monument Avenue on his own and three or four went with him.
“So with about 10k to go I attacked and the guy who got silver came with me with a Danish guy and we formed a group of seven.
“We all rode together but weren’t closing in on the front five that quickly. We got to Libby Hill and I was thinking of a top 10 but my legs exploded and that was it, I had nothing left.”
He would eventually finish 41st at 1:04 but it is a result that probably does not reflect how strong he was on the day.
“I was really happy with how it went, it was one of the most fun races I’ve done as a junior and I’m thankful to Cycling Ireland for their support over the last two years.
“I was happy with how the team rode, even though they had bad luck.
“I’m already looking forward to next year and racing with Eddie, hopefully it’s onwards and upwards from here,” he said in reference to joining Eddie Dunbar in the U23 ranks.
It was the silver lining on a disappointing week for O’Loughlin, whose chances of a result in the time-trial were ended by a mechanical inside the opening kilometre.
“It was quite disheartening when I had the mechanical, especially only after a kilometre,” he said of a cable coming loose and having to ride the course in the small ring.
“I just kept pushing on and I thought maybe, just maybe I’d get back up to the big ring but it never happened.
“I wanted to keep going because I’d only have one chance at it, my mam and dad came out to America and everyone from Cycling Ireland supported me so well.
“I was never going to throw in the towel and it was a bunch of things that made me want to keep going.
“I felt I might as well push on and enjoy it as much as I could, though it was hard. It was just one of them days.
“I think if anything, my ride yesterday proved I would have had the legs to do a good result in the TT so that was going through my head and that made me want to go out and do a good result.”
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