Michael O’Loughlin has continued his strong form from the national road race championships by getting stuck in during the 1.1-ranked GP Cerami in Belgium. The young Carrick man was in amongst some big names but managed to finish in some great company after the 211-kilometre contest (Photo: Glenn Hofkens)
By Brian Canty
Former Irish junior national champions Michael O’Loughlin and Eddie Dunbar both put in eye-catching performances in a 1.1-ranked Belgian race, GP Pino Cerami, yesterday afternoon.
Both were off the front for spells during the 211-kilometre contest that featured a clutch of World Tour teams such as Lotto-Soudal, Etixx-QuickStep and FDJ.
A break of eight animated the early part of proceedings with Tom Devriendt (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Alexander Kamp (Team Stolting), Christophe Premont (Verandas Willems), Sean Lake (Avanti Isowhey Sport), Jimmy Turgis (Roubaix Metropole Europeenne de Lille), Steven Tronet (Fortuneo-Vital Concept), Antoine Warnier (Wallonie-Bruxelles) and Nicola Genovese (D'Amico Bottechia) going clear and building a lead of almost four minutes.
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Dunbar was obviously feeling good and he took flight from the bunch in an effort to bridge and he made a fine fist of it, coming to within 1’ 30”.
The gap between break and bunch swelled to over five minutes by the midway point, with Dunbar still persisting with the chase.
He would eventually drop back to the peloton which had split in half; the first group now sitting some three minutes behind the leaders but that would soon tumble with Etixx-QuickStep doing much of the driving.
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The peloton – which numbered less than 50 riders - was closing on the eight leaders while in the third group which contained O’Loughlin and Dunbar, the pace was also hot and they were less than 30 seconds behind the second group on the road.
Christophe Premont ( Verandas Willems) and Sean Lake ( Avanti Isowhey Sport) were the last two remaining riders of the initial break, though Julien Loubet ( Fortuneo -Vital Concept) did manage to bridge to make three.
Another reshuffle saw 14 riders comprise the lead group; the above three and eight more who joined, with Dunbar and O’Loughlin in the next group behind.
There was a further shake-up with Jelle Wallays (Lotto - Soudal) jumping clear in the final kilometres and he was chased by 28 other riders at 43 seconds and the peloton around half a minute back.
O’Loughlin was in that group of 28 and he tried to go on the attack from that before he was caught by the peloton, where he stayed for the remainder of the race, as did Dunbar.
They crossed the line 84th and 73rd behind the winner Wallays who held off Jerome Baugnies (Wanty Group Gobert) and O’Loughlin’s teammate Chris Latham.
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