O’Loughlin on target after international return at Euro Track Champs

David O’Loughlin’s return to the international stage at the European Track Championships may have been low-key, but his making the final in the points race was a case of mission accomplished for the Cunga rider-manager.

The Mayo man had set himself a goal of reaching the points race final in Apeldoorn in Holland this weekend and having achieved that, he will now set his sights firmly on the upcoming World Cup meeting in Astana in a fortnight.

The former triple national road race champion was eighth of fourteen starters in the first of two heats in the points race at the Euros on Friday afternoon.

That result was good enough to put him through to the final later on Friday, where he eventually finished 14^th of the 20 starters, scoring a total of five points.

While O’Loughlin was perhaps a little rusty after such a long lay-off – he left the Cycling Ireland track set-up last summer after becoming disillusioned with the programme – he was using his entry into the points race this weekend to simply blow away the cobwebs.

Cycling Ireland high performance coach Brian Nugent, who is in Apeldoorn with the team, said O’Loughlin looked strong and was glad to get his first international event completed after his comeback.

“He was very active throughout the race. He came with the plan to get into the final, which he did, so that was great,” said Nugent.

O’Loughlin will now turn his attention to using the five remaining meetings that count for Olympic qualification – four World Cups and the World Track Championships next April – to try and qualify for the omnium next year in London.

The first of those meetings is in a fortnight in Astana, Kazakhstan. O’Loughlin will ride that outing in the colours of this trade team Cunga and will do the same for the following three World Cup meetings.

He will self-fund his attempt to qualify for the Olympics, meaning he has essentially set himself up outside the umbrella of Cycling Ireland; though he will have access to their back-up staff, including a mechanic, at any meeting where Martyn Irvine will be riding for Ireland.

O’Loughlin competed for Ireland on the track in Beijing Olympics in 2008. He has now come out of international retirement to challenge Martyn Irvine for the Ireland’s sole place in the omnium in London 2012.

Ireland will qualify a maximum of one place in the omnium for London 2012 so, assuming that spot is secured, O’Loughlin or Irvine will have to miss out.