Michael O'Loughlin on his way to victory in the Shay Elliott Memorial A3 race in Co Wicklow yesterday with eventual 4th place Daire Feeley just behind (Photo: Brendan Slattery)
Junior international Michael O’Loughlin has rounded out the first part of his season with his best performance to date in a series of strong rides since the new campaign began.
The first year U18 rider was strongest at the finish of the A3 Shay Elliott Memorial yesterday, making his move at the foot of the Glenmalure climb and never looking back.
At the finish he got the better of flying fellow junior Darnell Moore (Caldwell Cycles-Omagh) after the pair had pulled clear fromt a quartet that rode away from the rest of the field.
“I’ll be hitting the books from now, the Leaving Cert is my main focus,” the Nicolas Roche Performance Team (NRPT) rider said after yesterday’s win.
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“I might do a few (club) league races to stay sharp but that’s it for me now until the exams are over on June 13th.”
The Carrick teenager was delighted to win the undercard race at such an historic event.
“I had a look at the past winners in the A1-A2 race over the years; you see Sean Kelly is on it. You know it’s pretty big.
“My granddad doesn’t really follow the cycling too much but when I came back and told him I’d won the Shay Elliott he knew that race; it’s pretty well known to a lot of people.”
Though the early exchanges were lively, with a number of groups clipping away, those moves only managed to pull out modest gaps before a regrouping would occur each time.
“I even had a jump myself but I was brought back before the first prime. It was unpredictable you weren’t sure what was going to happen.
“And then the weather hit when we started going onto the back roads,” he said of the rain that fell for most of the race.
“Around 5 or 6k before the climb (of Glenmalure) a break got up the road. It had around 10 riders or so and they had 20 seconds on the bunch before going onto the hill.
“I had a few team mates with me (in the bunch); Darragh Long, Dave McCarthy and Aaron Swan. We wanted to bring it back so they kept it more or less controlled before we hit the climb.
“We were all up near the front and once we hit the climb Aaron Swan took off from the bottom and I followed him.
“Once he did his turn I went through. I felt good on the climb; I was in my easiest gear. I was putting out the power, spinning up it.”
There wasn't much to separate the top four, but O'Loughlin looked very strong in making sure the win was his, with Moore 2nd and in the distance Aaron Swan (left) just about to take 3rd place from Daire Feeley (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Having made the move he began to distance the bunch as the early breakaway disintegrated up front. To the fore in that move on the climb was the prolific Daire Feeley (Donamon Dynamos), who proved strongest on the early slopes.
Just behind him was eventual runner up Moore, with O’Loughlin picking off all of the other breakaway riders and powering up to the Caldwell Cycles man, who has shown great promise so far this year.
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Once he made the juncture with Moore, that strong pairing then hunted down Feeley, who enjoyed the latest in a string of victories just last week at Rás Chonamara.
They formed a leading trio around 800 metres from the top of the climb and nearing the KOH O’Loughlin sprinted ahead to take the prime; claiming the climbers’ yesterday as well as the outright win.
“Once we got onto the descent then I couldn’t feel my hands or my arms; it was so cold,” he said of the elements.
Now clear with Feeley and Moore, O’Loughlin said he decided not to take any chances on the descent, opting to follow Moore whom he described as “technically gifted” coming down off the climb.
“Around 10k to the finish I got word that Aaron Swan was coming across to the three of us,” he said of the NRPT team mate he had last seen at the bottom of Glenmalure.
“We were working well but when I heard Aaron was only at 20 seconds with around 7 or 8k to go I waited for him. He came across on his own, he had a very good descent.”
O’Loughlin said the next 5kms were over tough roads before the last main road section and that he was glad to have a fourth man in the escape, especially a team mate.
Back on the main road around 2km from the finish it was Moore who took the fight to the others, attacking them hard in a bid for victory.
“He got a gap straight away and Daire Feeley chased him. I bided my time and jumped across (to Moore alone up front).
“The two of us worked and with around 1km to go I had his wheel. I didn’t hit the wind until 150metres to go. I kept my powder dry because I knew it was a hard uphill sprint and that was basically it.”
O’Loughlin beat a flying Moore for the win, with Swan getting the better of Feeley in the sprint for third place a few seconds later.
Having ridden the Tour of the North on the Irish junior team last weekend and finished a very promising 16th overall, O’Loughlin said he has come out of that race in good condition though is determined his exams are his priority in the period ahead.
“It was a totally new experience for me,” he said of the Ulster assignment last weekend.
“I rode a few stage races last year in the youth category but some of them weren’t even done on time. Coming back after stage 1 and being totally wrecked was something new to me.
“On stage 1 I’d nice legs but I had a puncture at the wrong time and it took me a while to get back in and I felt it after that.
“I was 20th or so on the first stage, stayed around there overall and by the last stage I was moved up to 16th on GC. I was happy with it.”
Winner Michael McLoughlin with Daire Feeley (leading) and Darnell Moore third in line; all three rode extremely well on what is one of the toughest courses in the country (Photo: Sean Rowe)
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