O'Brien wins Kieran MacMahon Classic after dominating with Foley and O'Loughlin

Paidi O'Brien may have taken the win in Co Clare today, but Martin O'Loughlin and Dylan Foley were also hugely impressive.

By Brian Canty

Paidi O'Brien has taken a brilliant win in the inaugural Kieran MacMahon Memorial Classic in Co Clare this afternoon.

The Osbourne Meats-Edge Sports rider beat his fellow breakaway men Dylan Foley (Aquablue) and Martin O'Loughlin (Iverk Produce Carrick Wheelers) to the line after the gruelling 150-kilometre event.

O'Brien, who had taken a short break from racing last month to concentrate on his college exams, appears to have suffered no loss of form as a result.

He adds today's win to the Blarney Criterium he took at the beginning of the month as well as Rás Luimni, the John Drumm Memorial, Kerry Group Rás Mumhan stage 3 into Waterville as well as the Carrick Cup on St Patrick's Day.

A break of nine escaped inside the opening 10 kilometres today but failed to put significant daylight between themselves and the bunch for a long time.

Sensing danger around the 100-kilometre mark the aforementioned trio of O’Brien, O’Loughlin and Foley took flight from the leading 10.

Though they were brought back again by the original breakaway men, they went again, clearly showing they were three of the strongest today.

Foley and O'Loughlin had O'Brien under pressure on the penultimate and last climbs but couldn't shake the Banteer man rather than bring him to the line for his favoured sprint finish.

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And when it came down to that sprint there was only ever going to be one winner, with O’Brien romping in.

O’Loughlin’s ride where he again mixed it with some of the best elite men in the country and left most of them standing, underlines his status as one of a small number of hot favourites for the vets’ title race at the National Road Race Championships in Mullingar next Saturday.

And Foley’s continued menacing presence at the head of affairs shows he will not be too far away in the U23 title race despite the presence of the foreign-based Irish espoirs in the field next week.

Mike Storan (Fitscience-Liquidworx) took a brilliant fourth place today, while yesterday's third-place finisher in Kildare, Keith Gater (Aquablue) took fifth.