Michael O’Loughlin is have a really excellent season with Team WIGGINS and despite being just 19 years old he has shown remarkable maturity in how he has adapted to some seriously hard racing this year. From the Tour of Yorkshire in May to the national championships in June and big UCI races in Europe he is more than holding his own against the big boys.
By Brian Canty
Irish national U23 road race champion Michael O’Loughlin put in a superb ride to finish just 11 seconds behind the winner of the UCI 1.1-ranked Arnhem-Veenendal race in the Netherlands at the weekend.
While far from being his best result, it was a performance that augers very well for the rest of the season as the young Carrick man has a number of big goals.
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The 200-kilometre contest was won in a bunch sprint by WorldTour rider Dylan Groenewegen of LottoNL-Jumbo but O’Loughlin was right in the thick of things all afternoon.
“Yeah I felt good. I had an easy week at home just before it so I was quite fresh, especially early on when the racing was full on," he said.
“I can't say I was feeling good in the last 50 kilometres but that's to be expected over such a long race,” he said.
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O’Loughlin, who only turned 19 years in February, is adapting very well to the rigours of longer, harder racing and doesn’t appear to show any fear of the more established names and teams.
On Saturday he was in amongst the likes of the aforementioned Dutch WorldTour team as well as Orica-BikeExchange but he more than held his own.
He would have finished in the same time as the winner but because there were three corners in last kilometre, much of the bunch rode in safely once their jobs were done.
The Team WIGGINS man will now turn his attention to more UCI races in coming days in the shape of the GP Stad Zottegem and Druivenkoers-Overijse.
His team will compete in the Tour of Britain early next month but O’Loughlin will not be there.
“The European Championships will be the next race after these for me,” he said of those title races from September 14th to 18th in France.
“I'm not too sure of the plan after the Euros but hopefully if I gain selection for the World Champs; that's where I will end the season.”
And as for next year he was staying tight-lipped.
“I’m just concentrating on finishing out my first year strong so I can head into next year a stronger rider.”
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