O’Loughlin on the Attack at Junior World Championships as Dillon Races All the Way in Women’s Elite
Michael O’Loughlin finished best of the Irish in 38th position at the Junior Men’s Road Race at the world championships in Richmond, Virginia today after an audacious late bid for medal glory.
Later in the day, Olivia Dillon produced a strong performance to finish 71st in the Women’s Elite Road Race.
The day’s action began with the men’s Junior Road Race Championships held over eight laps of the demanding 16.2km Richmond Downtown circuit where O’Loughlin lined up with Jake Gray, Adam Stenson, Darragh O’Mahoney and Simon Tuomey.
Having ridden intelligently in the bunch throughout the race which was contested in wet conditions, O’Loughlin moved to the front with two laps to go.
O’Loughlin was in a group of 15 riders with a narrow advantage starting the last lap and right in the mix as the riders tackled the final trio of climbs inside the final four kilometres.
At that point the bunch were in touching distance of the leaders and, as race winner Felix Gall (Austria) raced clear, O’Loughlin was swallowed up by the chasers after what had been a brave effort.
At the line he was 41st after a performance which was not reflected in the final result.
Adam Stenson finished 89th with Jake Gray 112th on a day when 51 riders failed to make the finish line.
Darragh O’Mahony crashed on the first lap and, though uninjured, did have a mechanical which forced to stop at the pits for a bike change and resumed a long way behind with no possibility to return to the lead group.
With a relatively short circuit, O’Mahony had little chance of recording a finish.
Simon Tuomey raced well in the lead group beyond two thirds distance and, having been distanced by the bunch was eventually listed as a non finisher.
Afterwards Irish Junior Coach Frank O’Leary paid tribute to the collective performance of the Irish team:
“The Irish junior team rode very well both as a unit and individually, looking out for each other ensuring that they kept moving towards the front. Michael positioned himself well all day and achieved his goal of getting in to the lead group at the latter stages of the race.
“It was exciting to watch him make his move coming to the last lap however that effort did not land him the final result he deserved. There is much more to come."
“For first year juniors Jake and Adam rode really strongly and were well positioned until the last two laps but still finished well in what was super competitive world championships. Simon gave it his all but his positioning made it hard for him to stay in contact with the front of the race. Daragh was unfortunate to crash on the first lap which ended his chances prematurely.
Later in the day Olivia Dillon and Fiona Meade lined up for the eight-lap 129.8km Women’s Elite Road Race.
US-based Corkwoman Meade found herself delayed by one of many crashes on the first lap and chased hard in a group of four to the half way point where the organisers pulled her group from the action.
Dillon was well to the fore throughout the first half of the race as the nations with the biggest squads controlled the pace on the front.
With two laps to go Dillon found herself distanced in a chase group of 20 as splits occurred when the pace ramped up, with many riders from cycling’s more successful cycling nations struggling behind the much reduced main group.She duly finished 5m41s behind the race winner Lizzie Armitstead of Great Britain.
It was a typically gutsy performance from the US-based former Irish National Road Race champion from Kiltimagh as Team Manager Neil Martin noted afterwards: “Both women rode to the absolute best of their ability on the day. Fiona perhaps lacks a little experience in championship riding and paid the price. Olivia, once again, performed strongly and was in the mix until the latter stages of the demanding race.”
For full results see the the Official UCI Website:
See the Cycling Ireland twitter feed for live updates: @IreCyclingFed
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