Niall McLoughlin may have been thrilled to finish 2nd yesterday in Co Kerry “and even be on the podium at a race like Rás Mumhan” but the 17-year-old outdid himself today with victory on stage 3.
While Conor Murnane has emerged as one of the best sprinters on the domestic scene in recent years, especially at the end of hard races, 17-year-old McLoughlin got the better of him today. The “over the moon” youngster sailed across the line with his hands in the air having beaten all-comers.
While his face was caked in the muddy spray from a wet stage, it was clear he was barely able to take in what he had achieved.
“Oh, I’m delighted, yes,” he told stickybottle when asked if his victory had sunk in yet. “I’m just going through it all now; putting the race together in my head and seeing how I got to the line. It’s the biggest achievement I’ve ever had.
“When you’re coming down here to this race you hear all the stories from everybody at home, they’re all trying to terrify you,” he laughed. “But I was just coming into it with an open mind and to see what happens.
“I’d no doubt that I could be up there, definitely. It was just a question of, tactically, making sure I did the simple things right. And I’m pretty pleased that, so far, I’m up there. It’s reassuring that you’re going well if you can get result like that today.”
McLoughlin is on the Irish junior team this weekend – under the management of Martin O’Loughlin – alongside Quillan Donnelly, Sam Bolger, Ruairí Byrne, Patrick O’Loughlin and Liam O’Brien.
They are the first national junior selection to ride Kerry Group Rás Mumhan as juniors have never been allowed into the four-stage race before now. But McLoughlin today proved the young guns can cope – even thrive – with the additional intensity.
He said today he felt the stage – 107km based from Knocknagree, Co Cork – was likely to come down to a bunch sprint as the VeloRevolution team of yellow jersey Lindsay Watson was riding to make it hard and to close down gaps.
“It was very fast at the start, we were going to 50 km per hour out the road for the first 20 minutes,” he said. “So there was definitely no hanging about from the gun.
“There was a lot of attacking but all the moves were being shut down by VeloRevolution because they had the yellow jersey. It was kind of up to them, they were the ones that everybody was watching. And the Dan Morrissey lads were getting involved, there was plenty of riders getting involved and just making sure it was a good race.”
As the stage progressed and the main field got smaller and smaller McLoughlin was still there; all the while carrying hopes of making his mark come the finish and buoyed by his 2nd place of yesterday.
“I knew it was going to be chaotic and I was hoping it was going to come down for a sprint,” he said. “Coming towards the finish I was scrapping for position; just trying to get to the front. The bunch was well lined out it was a big long finishing straight of about 800 metres to the line.”
As the stage was based on two laps of a large circuit, followed by two of a small lap, McLoughlin said he noted a strong headwind on the finishing straight first time around.
“I felt it wasn’t going to be a long-range sprint and I knew the fact there was a headwind would suit me a bit better because I’m on the junior gears. So I said to myself, and it was the same as yesterday, that the man to watch was Conor Murnane,” he said of the UCD rider who won yesterday’s stage 2.
“I thought if I could find his wheel going into that final sprint he’d be up there. And luckily I did I got on his wheel. He made the initial kick and with about 75 and 50 metres to go I made my final sprint and I got around him, so it was great.
“Yesterday I was thrilled to even get 2nd and be on the podium at a race like Rás Mumhan. So for today, I was hoping if I could get a top-10 and maybe I could keep the red jersey (of junior classification leader) I’d be delighted with that.
“But I suppose when you get into a finish like that you kinda forget what you’re doing; you more or less forget that you’re in such a big race. It’s like you’re doing the same thing that you always do and it was fantastic to come away with that result.”
Looking ahead, he rides E3 Saxo Bank in Belgium in two weeks and is “hoping I could get a result in that and just to go over there and enjoy it”. After that, his attention will switch to the Junior National Track Championships – “I’d really love to put a marker down there”.
For now, in Kerry this evening after really announcing himself as a young athlete of considerable ability, he is enjoying the moment. He said everyone in the Irish team camp was “delighted” with today’s win.
“It’s a great boost for the team and it just makes the weekend worthwhile; getting a good result and showing that it’s worthwhile having juniors in the race. This is the first year juniors have been in it so it’s great to do something for the juniors coming through so hopefully they can get a chance to ride this race after us.”
