CYCLING/Irish Road Race Championships: David O'Loughlin (Navigators Insurance) yesterday completed a rare double when he came out best in his second successive Irish Road Race Championships in Dundrod, Lisburn.
The Mayo rider attacked fellow breakaway companions Mark Scanlon (Ag2R-Prévoyance) and David McCann (Giant Asia) with two miles to go in the 101.5-mile race, racing in to finish 12 seconds clear.
Scanlon and McCann took silver and bronze, losing out on any chance they had of bringing a strong O'Loughlin back when they delayed mounting a committed chase.
All three professionals were on the short list of favourites before the race and effectively ruled out the rest of the field when they went clear in a high quality 12-man breakaway early on.
Present in the move were Ciarán Power (Navigators Insurance), Philip Deignan (Ag2R Prévoyance), Ryan Connor (DFL), Páidí O'Brien (Loch Ness), Brian Keane (All Systems Dublin Wheelers), Tommy Evans (Planet X), Andy Roche (Team Rochelle), Eugene Moriarty (Cycleways) and Rory Wyley (Dan Morrissey Carrick).
McCann turned the screw on lap nine of 14, prompting a four-man attack with Scanlon, O'Loughlin and Power. The latter lost his place when a long-running muscular problem flared up, while another of the pre-race favourites, Philip Deignan, missed out on the crucial split.
The three leaders drew further and further ahead, remaining together until the final lap when a dig by O'Loughlin finally broke the elastic. Scanlon and McCann hesitated for a vital moment, giving an impressive O'Loughlin the gap he needed to retain his champion's jersey. O'Brien came home fifth and took the best Under 23 title, while Cycleways came out on top in the team classification.
"I am delighted to win," said O'Loughlin. "I was suffering at the end but was as strong as the other two. I was worried about them both, I think any one of us had the legs to win. I went after the climb, got the gap and it all worked out well."
An important part of the win was ensuring that Scanlon's team-mate Deignan didn't get across once the break split. "We saw that Philip missed out so myself and David McCann rode hard to stop him coming across. If Mark had another man up there it would have made things very different tactically."
Meanwhile Siobhán Dervan (Lotto Ladies) dominated the women's championships on Saturday, breaking clear on the fourth of six laps in the 52-mile event.
The Belgian-based Lotto Ladies rider soloed strongly on to the finish, crossing the line one minute and two seconds ahead of the surprising Trudy Brown (Northern Dave Kane) and a further six seconds clear of bronze medallist Louise Moriarty (Ren TC Groenewoud).
Former international fell runner Robbie Bryson came out on top in the tactical battle which decided the veteran's race. Bryson, Shaun Gray (Orchard Wheelers) and Bo Graham (Planet X) pressed ahead of an eight-man breakaway on the fourth of six laps.
Bryson picked his moment perfectly to jump clear in the closing stages, leaving Gray and Graham to fight it out for silver and bronze.
