CYCLING:With several of Ireland's top riders heading over to Ghent next week to be assessed on the track there, David O'Loughlin's excellent performance last weekend will have boosted the morale of the squad.
Although he has been racing professionally on the road with the Navigators Insurance team, the Mayo rider has very little velodrome experience and was the real underdog going into the two-kilometre roadman's pursuit at the latest round of the Revolution track series in Manchester.
O'Loughlin was up against vastly more experienced riders in the somewhat unusual race, which saw all four race it off at the same time.
Olympic pursuit champion Bradley Wiggins, former world pursuit champion Bradley McGee and Tour de France and Tour of Spain stage winner David Millar of Scotland were his opponents, and were each expected to fare better because of their background.
But the Irish rider came out best, stunning the crowd and showing he has a real future in this wing of the sport.
O'Loughlin will now join fellow professionals Ciarán Power, Nicolas Roche, Mark Scanlon and David McCann, plus several other Irish internationals, at an Irish Sports Council-funded try-out in Belgium.
It starts on Monday and will help to determine which riders have the ability and interest to do some track racing in advance of the next Olympics.
On the subject of McCann, the Irish road race champion has signed a deal to race with the continental squad Colavita/Sutter Home for the next season.
The 33-year-old Belfast rider will consequently join compatriots Power, O'Loughlin and Scanlon on the US circuit, with all four Irishmen set to compete with teams there in the new season.
McCann had a very successful year while competing with Taiwanese-based Giant Asia.
He won the overall classification of the Tour of Indonesia, took the Irish road race championship and landed two stage victories in the Tour of Thailand, plus one in the Tour of Qinghai Lake.
He was also third overall in the Herald Sun Tour in Australia and finished fourth in the overall rankings of the UCI Asia Tour.
To domestic news, and Team Worc have taken over the running of the cyclo-cross event originally due to be organised by Dublin Wheelers this Sunday. It will be held just off the N7 in Corkagh Park, with the entrance at the Camac Valley Caravan Park.
The race will be held on a variation of the course used last month, with the muddy run-ups to be excluded this time round. All categories are welcome and sign-on is from 11am.
