Happy out: Michael O'Loughlin's commanding performances in stage races will see him start among the hottest favourites in every race he rides this year with a time trial in it (Photo thanks to Brendan Slattery, homepage photo with thanks to John Coleman)
Michael O'Loughlin notched his second stage race victory of the season when he won the O'Leary's Stone Kanturk Three-Day yesterday, following on from his victory in the Gorey Three Day at Easter.
The Carrick rider said he was proud to add his name to some real luminaries of the sport here in Ireland. "It was a great feeling to win,” he said.
“Riders like my dad, Sam (Bennett), Brian Kennealy and others have done pretty well here in the past so to be one of the winners along with the other names on the trophy is great."
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O'Loughlin, who won the U16 Kanturk Three Day two years ago, was riding for his home club at the weekend as the NRPT-Magnet.ie squad was racing abroad.
"The team were great," said the second year junior. "The lads in the bunch couldn't believe how strong they were, especially today.
Getting a time gap to the men ahead on the final stage, but O'Loughlin was always going to be very hard to shift from yellow, especially with the Carrick lads around him so willing and able (Photo with thanks to John Coleman of DC Images)
"I was even taken aback by their strength and I know all of the lads really well. Winning the team prize was also brilliant.
“It's great to race with them and win, seeing as all of them train together in Carrick each Sunday over the winter."
It was textbook stuff from the winner, blitzing the 8km time trial stage 2 on Sunday morning and defending his lead thereafter.
"I didn't expect to do as good a TT as I did but I felt really good,” he explained.
“Judging by how well Sean (Yelverton) seemed to be going on Saturday; I knew I needed to put in a good performance to take yellow."
Nearing the end of another weekend with some yellow jerseys in the kit bag and his name on another trophy (Photo with thanks to John Coleman of DC Images)
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And taking the jersey meant he needed to be vigilant on Sunday afternoon’s stage 3 and the concluding stage 4 yesterday.
"Today was fast but there were some big stalls at times," he remarked of the final stage.
"Apart from that it was an aggressive race with groups going up the road constantly.
“The lads from 2nd to 12th were all keeping an eye on each other after Brian McArdle (Orwell Wheelers) caught a few of them out on stage 2, which made it interesting.
"Also, guys who weren't high up on GC knew they had a good chance of a stage win as they wouldn't be watched as much.
O'Loughlin was riding in the colours of the club he came up with, Carrick Wheelers, because his current team of NRPT-Magnet.ie was racing abroad at the weekend (Photo: Brendan Slattery)
"But in terms of taking the jersey from me; the team were brilliant. They concentrated 100 per cent on keeping yellow all the time and they done the job.
"And to have a man (Aaron Kearney) finish top three on the last stage was a bonus."
Next up for O'Loughlin is a slew of college exams in Waterford Institute of Technology this week and next, after which he'll race the Trophee Centre Morbihan UCI Nations Cup Race with NRPT-Magnet.ie.
The race is one of the biggest stage races on the international for juniors.
Last year, Eddie Dunbar almost won it outright and as there's a time trial included in it O'Loughlin can be optimistic of his chances.
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