By Shane Stokes
National junior coach Martin O’Loughlin has called for a rethink on Cycling Ireland’s approach to track racing, saying that the federation needs to work in concert with a men’s road team to help its riders achieve a higher physical standard.
O’Loughlin was speaking to stickybottle about Irish cycling, its current direction and the riders who are breaking through now or look like they could do in the future.
When asked about Mark Downey, who impressed greatly in the past with victories in track World Cup races but who hasn’t returned to that level of success, he said that he believed a new approach is needed to help Downey and other riders to really deliver on their potential.
“Mark threw a lot of effort into the track,” he said. “But if you look at this year’s Olympics, and if you look at where the track is going, it really is the case that all the top road guys are transferring across.
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"I think Mark has to look more seriously at road as his way to get track results. The endurance base that is needed is just huge. And it is all the top road guys who are getting track results.”
The track endurance events at this year’s Olympic Games underline O’Loughlin’s point. Lasse Norman Hansen and Michael Morkov took gold in the men’s Madison, and are both WorldTour riders with Team Qhubeka NextHash and Deceuninck-Quickstep respectively.
The duo who took silver are also racing in cycling’s top echelon, with Ethan Hayter part of Ineos Grenadiers and Matthew Walls a pro with Bora-hansgrohe.
Walls took gold in the omnium, while the successful pro Elia Viviani (Cofidis) was third. Downey finished back in 17th place, and he and Felix English were eliminated in the men’s Madison.
O’Loughlin believes a focus on high-level road racing is what is necessary for riders like Downey to be able to compete on level terms with riders such as Hansen, Morkov and Walls.
“That’s the way he should be going, and that’s the way it has to happen,” he said. “If he wants to develop, I think he has to really put a huge effort into the road racing.
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"He has the track skills, he has the smarts, but he just needs that huge level of fitness that only road racing can bring you.”
He believes the same applies to English, and also to younger riders such as JB Murphy. The latter rode events such as the Tour de l’Avenir this year and reaped the benefits of that when he took a superb bronze in the scratch race at the European track championships, as well as fifth in the points race and sixth in the elimination.
O’Loughlin believes further road racing is necessary for Murphy to get the most out of himself.
“I think that for the track squad, Cycling Ireland really has to look at supporting a road team. They did it with Team Rupelcleaning this year, where we had Lara Gillespie, Kelly Murphy, Alice Sharpe and Mia Griffin riding with it. And that is the model that needs to be followed.
“I would agree with Morgan Fox that Cycling Ireland should be supporting Evo Pro. The track riders need top quality road racing, and a programme. That goes for the men and the women.”
Cycling Ireland may well already be aware of this need to work with a team. Paul Manning has been acting as the interim head track coach and, presumably, will have applied for the permanent position.
He was a member of British Cycling’s track team for many years but also part of its road squad competing in races around the world.
This ensured the track riders had a higher standard of fitness than they otherwise might have had. They contested races such as the Rás Tailteann, winning it with Manning and Chris Newtown.
“If you go back to the start of that program, that team with Paul Manning that won the Rás, they were riding all the Conti races. You would meet them at Circuit des Mines, the Tour de Normandie, the Tour de Bretagne, the Tour de Loir et Cher.
"Kristian House too - they all would be riding what would be Continental level races on the Continent, competing in Great Britain jerseys.”
He argues the same should happen with the male Irish track riders, be it as part of the Evo Pro setup or an Irish national team. Otherwise big road riders dipping in for the major competitions seem likely to continue making off with the spoils.
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