Olympian and former national road race champion, David O’Loughlin has come out of international retirement and will now challenge Martyn Irvine for Ireland’s only track slot for the 2012 London Olympics.
The surprise move sees the Mayo rider aiming to qualify for the Omnium in London next year. Irvine, a 26-year-old pro with Giant Kenda, is also going for the same place.
With Ireland only eligible to field a maximum of one rider, the stage is set for an interesting battle in qualification track meetings in the months ahead.
Stickybottle understands O’Loughlin, who walked away frustrated from the Cycling Ireland team pursuit track programme just over a year ago, will fund his own qualifying campaign. Irvine is funded by Cycling Ireland and Irish Sports Council grants.
Irvine has already scored qualification points for London. He has moved Ireland into 11th position in the European standings in the omnium, with the first eight European nations to qualify for the Olympics.
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Ireland currently has 315 points, just 65 points off Russia in eight place; the gap would be made up with even minor placings at qualifying events.
However, it is the country rather than the rider that qualifies.
It means if Irvine were to score further qualification points and get Ireland into the top eight European nations and then O’Loughlin’s form kicked in early next year, O’Loughlin could be picked for London ahead of Irvine.
O’Loughlin will ride the points race at the European Track Championships which begin tomorrow, Saturday, in Apeldoorn, Holland.
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However, stickybottle understands he is using it to simply brush up on his track skills after a long competitive lay-off, though he has been training hard in the track in Newport in Wales. Irvine goes in the omnium at the Apeldorn.
While O’Loughlin is no longer part of the funded Cycling Ireland set-up, he has been picked on the Irish team for the Europeans because his selection does not displace any other rider.
There are then two World Cup events – in Astana and Cali – before Christmas, followed a further two early next year; in Beijing and London. All four carry a significant number of Olympic rankings points.
O’Loughlin is not relying on being picked for the Irish team, from which he has effectively been estranged, for these World Cup events. He has registered his new Cunga trade team with the UCI and can enter the World Cup events and pay his own way, riding for Cunga.
Next April sees the UCI Track Championships in Melbourne, Australia, which is the last event carrying ranking points for the Olympics. It should be clear before then if Irvine or O’Loughlin have done enough to qualify a place for Ireland in the omnium in London.
If they have, Cycling Ireland will then be faced to choose between the two riders for the sole Olympic place on offer.
O’Loughlin has a very good pedigree on the track. He qualified for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 in the 4km pursuit and also won silver and bronze medals at World Cup meetings in 2009.
He lost out on gold at the World Cup meet in Copenhagen in a ride off against Taylor Phinney.
The 33-year-old has also been national road race champion three times. He rode the An Post Ras this year but has kept a low profile since then, opting to work quietly on the track in Newport in preparation for his Olympic qualification challenge.
Irvine has been in great form this year, taking an excellent solo breakaway stage win the An Post Ras. He also won three titles at the recent national track championships and has been altitude training in Colorado in recent weeks.
This will be an interesting one folks; it’s going to be a tough battle between the two boys.
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