O’Loughlin comes south as favourite
“I have been to Kilrush before, but it will be my first time to ride in Listowel and I am looking forward to it,” explained the Mayo man who is enjoying an extended stretch at home.
But that will come to an end next week when he heads to Belgium with the national team, returning to international duty for the first time since finishing 25th in the world B championships in Aigle where he was a key player in Ireland’s bid for two places in next year’s Olympic road race.
They succeeded through DavidMcCann who was third and Brian Kenneally who finished 14th and from here on the race to fill the places will begin. A week earlier O’Loughlin had been third behind Mark Scanlon and Denis Lynch from Cork in the national championships and, since the visit to Switzerland, he won the Time Trial championships and rode a race in the Isle of Man.
“I was not quite ready for that event as I had been training for the Time Trial championships,” he admitted. “The distance got me in the end.
“But I have been able to get the training in since and I am looking forward to racing in Kerry and Clare this weekend. After that I go to Belgium for a couple of weeks with the national team.”
The annual Gene Moriarty Cup race perpetuates the memory of one of Kerry’s grass track cyclists of the 40’s and 50’s who also served as an administrator and promoter of the sport in Kerry for many years.
His grandson, Eugene Moriarty, won the title in 1996 but will be among the absentees, along with another Kerryman, Paul Griffin, this weekend as they are on international duty in Germany.
Eugene runs the Ireland camp in Belgium and, those watching the Tour de France on Eurosport would have heard Sean Kelly praise the project and Eugene, a physiologist, for the part he is playing in its success.
Yesterday Eugene started a five-day race in Brabant along with John O’Shea, Andrew McQuaid and Paul Griffin.
While David O’Loughlin will go into the weekend as favourite, it is by no means a foregone conclusion that he will win. Brian Kenneally, who won in 1998 and 1999, is back to his best and he is on a strong Cidona team that includes Timmy Barry and Joe Fenlon who leads the classic league table.
On Monday, too, local hero, Vincent Gleeson, who has been the epitome of consistency all season, will be flat out to win the Crotty Cup on home soil and he is as tough as they come.
The Midleton Grand Prix, which would have got proceedings under way on Saturday evening, has had to be cancelled on account of road works on the circuit.
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