O’Loughlin outsprints six-man group to take third title
The Mayo man won back-to-back titles in 2004 in Sligo and 2005 in Belfast, and he was back yesterday in battling form to outsmart and then outsprint young guns like the Murphy & Gunn/Sean Kelly pair, Páidí O’Brien and Mark Cassidy, and Nicolas Roche whose father, Stephen, won the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and World Championships in 1987.
It was the young Roche who threatened to take the race apart when he surged clear of the field 52 miles from the finish and gained a lead of some two minutes.
