O'Loughlin claims his third title

Cycling : Mayo rider David O'Loughlin (Navigators Insurance) took his third national road race tile in four years when he proved…

Cycling: Mayo rider David O'Loughlin (Navigators Insurance) took his third national road race tile in four years when he proved quickest of a strong four-man group at the end of yesterday's 170km contest in Waterford, reports Shane Stokes.

O'Loughlin came to the final kilometre with the Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group/M Donnelly Sean Kelly pairing of Paídí O'Brien and Mark Cassidy plus Nicolas Roche (Crédit Agricole) and, despite spending the final uphill kilometre on the front, was able to sprint home for the win.

Roche was arguably the strongest rider in the race but he went for broke too early, attacking alone with four 21km laps to go, opening up a near two-minute lead, but eventually been hauled back.