Junior rider Michael O'Loughlin (Standard Life -Nicolas Roche Performance Team) stunned some of the best senior riders in Ireland to win the Wexford Two-Day this weekend. (Photo: Sean Rowe)
By Gerard Cromwell
Having missed out on the Junior Tour of Wales this weekend, first year junior Michael O’Loughlin got special dispensation from Cycling Ireland to ride the Wexford Two Day.
O'Loughlin hoped that racing against some of the best senior riders on the domestic scene might help him prepare for a possible ride at the junior world championships next month if selected.
What the Nicolas Roche Performance Team rider didn’t expect however, was to go home with not only a stage win from the race but the overall victory as well.
Having finished 12th on the opening stage, 54 seconds behind stage winner Greg Swinand of UCD, O’Loughlin then took sixth in the evening hill climb time trial on stage two.
Advertisement
Despite moving himself up to seventh overall and cutting his deficit to 41 seconds going into the final stage, not many would have factored the Carrick-On-Suir teenager into the equation when trying to predict the final outcome of the race yesterday.
Even when he did manage to get up the road in a 10-man move yesterday, both Damien Shaw (Aquablue) and Sean McKenna (UCD) lay higher in the overall standings and it seemed the race would come down to a two-man battle.
Having gone clear with experienced duo McKenna and Shaw, O'Loughlin attacked the duo in the last 10km for stage victory. (Photo: Sean Rowe)
“I saw Sean McKenna nip off in a group of three and I went across to him with a Cuchulainn lad (Liam Dolan) and there was five of us up there,” said a delighted O’Loughlin.
“Then another few came across. Damien Shaw did a serious ride to come across to us on his own into the wind. There were 10 in the break altogether and we worked pretty well together.
“We were getting time checks of a minute and a half for a good while so we were all pretty confident we would stay away.
“The virtual yellow on the road was Sean McKenna. Damien Shaw was second I was third. I was quite happy to be in there because I knew I’d have a chance of a stage win and I knew I was going to move up overall.”
Heading out of New Ross with around 25km to go, McKenna and Shaw began to attack the group and while O’Loughlin was able to follow the moves, he wasn’t overly confident of success.
“Shaw launched a big attack up one of the drags and took McKenna and me with him. We dropped the rest of the guys but Shaw was still looking to get away from McKenna.
"I was doing a bit of attacking but there were still a long way to go and I knew I wouldn’t be as strong as them so far from home so I played the waiting game.”
Although racing against senior opposition, O'Loughlin showed no fear and spent plenty of time at the front yesterday. (Photo: Sean Rowe)
After a fast downhill split the break in the last 12km, O’Loughlin seized his opportunity
Related News
“I knew with the junior gears my best chance to get away was on a drag as I found it hard to ride with the A1s on the main road.
“I took a chance with about 10km to go. I was right at the back and saw there was a big drag coming up.
“I looked around and saw there was a bit of a stall. The lads were watching each other a bit and neither of them wanted to chase in case the other one jumped.
“I pushed as hard as I could over the drag to see how much time I could pull out.
"I’d about 6km of headwind to ride into but knew if I could open a gap I might be able to hold on in the tailwind for the stage win.”
Greg Swinand took the opening stage with a really strong lone effort but he was left to chase yesterday when he missed the escape (Photo: Sean Rowe)
While the stage win looked a distinct possibility, O’Loughlin still hadn’t let himself believe in overall victory.
“It wasn’t really until 2km to go that I started to believe I could win the overall," he said.
"I looked back at one point and couldn’t even see the group coming but I knew they’d have a faster finish than me at the end so I was fully committed.”
So fully committed was O’Loughlin that he didn’t even chance a victory celebration, instead lunging for the line in an effort to garner as much time as possible.
“I got out of the saddle with 100 metres to go and made sure I threw my bike at the line instead of celebrating because I knew it was going to be very close for the overall.
“I wasn’t sure if I had got it because the lads had finished very fast but I was delighted to take the stage and the overall win was a huge bonus.”
Having sat his Leaving Certificate exams in the summer, O’Loughlin has had a great end of season with two stage wins at the Junior Tour, the red jersey at the Suir Valley Three day and a very close second place finish at the national championships prior to this weekend
“The Junior Tour is such a big thing amongst juniors,” he says of his stage wins there compared to this weekend result.
“There’s a bit of bragging rights attached and you’re riding for Ireland, but this was pretty good.
“Just to be racing with guys like Damien Shaw, Sean McKenna, Paidi O’Brien, Mark Dowling... they’re all guys I’ve watched for a few years in Sunday races. But I’ve never got in and raced against them, so I was glad to have the opportunity to ride this weekend.
“The worlds team selection hasn’t been made yet so I was hoping that if I did get selected for the worlds that this would be a good race to prepare for it. I missed out on the Junior Tour of Wales this weekend so this will kind of make up for that.”
Topics
