O’Loughlin puts on inspired display
The Carrick-on-Suir man said he was inspired by Ryan Mullen’s silver medal-winning display a day earlier.
O’Loughlin produced a superb performance that saw him lead the race for a time. The 17-year-old, who is eligible to ride again next year, set the fastest times at the opening two checkpoints and when he crossed the finish line, he had set the fastest time by a whopping 15 seconds, shifting Polish rider Mikolaj Gutek out of the lead.
O’Loughlin would remain there before the stronger, more established riders came in, but few would have expected the young Irishman to be anywhere near the top 10, given his inexperience at this level.
“I knew in the warm-up that I was going to go well,” he said. “I was really concentrated and the legs were feeling good but sometimes that doesn’t translate onto the road.
“But after the first few kilometres I could feel they were good and I was going to put in as good a time as I could. I was wicked happy with how I went,” he added.
“It’s right up there with the best days of my life, it’s hard to explain, I was in shock. If you told me I’d get near that yesterday I’d have taken it but I wouldn’t have believed you.”
Mark Downey was also in action in the same event but the national champion and European track silver medallist could only manage a 34th place finish, just over three minutes down on winner Lennard Kamna of Germany.
Next up is Nicolas Roche in the elite men’s time trial today (1.36pm, Irish time) and he’ll also look to break the top 10 over the 47km course.
Meanwhile, Sam Bennett has signed an extension to his contract with the NetApp Endura team until the end of the 2017 season.
The 23-year-old Carrick-On-Suir native has had a fantastic start to his professional career with four victories. And even though his end of season has been ruined somewhat by a virus, the German team (due to be renamed BORA next year) had no hesitation in signing the young sprinter.
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