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Last Updated: 2 Apr 2018 - 8:45:17 PM |
DAVID O'LOUGHLIN/FRANK CAMPBELL INTERVIEWS
By Shane Stokes
27 Mar 2008,
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David O’Loughlin finished an excellent sixth in the pursuit race at the world track championships in Manchester yesterday. Recording a time of 4 minutes 20.91 seconds and thus going 4.4 seconds quicker than his personal best, his chances of qualifying for the Olympic Games look good.
Irishcycling.com spoke to both O’Loughlin and team manager Frank Campbell yesterday.
Shane Stokes: It must be a bit nerve wracking watching the other riders?
David O'Loughlin: Yes, I suppose I am delighted to do a personal best and to improve it by a good margin, but at the same time it is disappointing to be so close… I suppose a good thing in relation to the Olympics is that there was only one guy in front of me today who was ahead of me in the world rankings. That is obviously good.
We don't know what the situation is as regards qualification. The criteria is confusing, so there is a bit of maths to work out. Jenning Huizenga is the only rider who was ahead of me in the world rankings, so that is a big positive.
SS: If somebody said to you this morning what time you would get, would you have believed it?
DOL: Well, I knew I was in good form but obviously it is hard to replicate that in training because conditions play such a big part. Being fresh as well as important - a lot of times we have gone into competitions tired.
SS: This must be great for your confidence - last year Frank was predicting a fast time and you didn't meet it, but this time you have gone even quicker than his expectations.
DOL: Yes, this year, I suppose we have been doing things in a different process. I used to go by schedule a lot last year, whereas this year I'm going a lot by holding myself back in the first 2 km and then getting it out. I was fast today, I don't know - I just felt good. Even last week, Tommy was telling me to hold back. I felt so strong and just wanted to get it out.
SS: At what point today did you realise that you were on a ride?
DOL: I knew straight away, because I did a very fast early lap. I didn't really want to do it, the second and third lap - we were working a lot on slowing that down, because if you're not fit you can do a lot of damage in the first three laps. But I knew going through 2 kilometres that it was good, I was really comfortable and just banging them [the laps] out very consistently.
SS: Did it help to see the other rider ahead of you coming towards the end?
DOL: Yes, it was good because the last kilometre is always tough. It hurt a bit, so it was good to have him there.
Overall, it was good but I'm a little disappointed as well [not to finish higher than sixth].
SS: Looking at the rate of improvement, you have taken 4.4 seconds off your personal best since December – that’s pretty astonishing…
DOL: We knew that if I could do that in December while not at one hundred percent of form, that there was a lot more in me. Los Angeles was the biggest one, I just went way too hard at the start. It is a hard track, I used a big gear and it really came back to bite me in the last kilometre. So that was disappointing. I wasn't in super, super shape for Copenhagen but it was a good result. Here everything just came together.
SS: Regardless of what happens with Olympic qualfication, does that rate of improvement suggest that you can really go for medals in the future?
It is going in the right direction. We had the evidence, we came here last July - I think it was the first few days they have the track down. I came with Simon, Tommy, Frank might have been here. We said to ourselves, okay, what is it going to take us to do a 4’15, a 4’18, a 4’20. We did tests with SRMs on this track and base everything off that. We could work out what amount of watts were needed. We have been doing testing all the time since then and it was easy to monitor. We knew we had it in the engine, it was just a question of getting it out.
SS: What was your feeling when you saw the time this evening?
DOL: Well, I could tell the track was running fast. Even in training all week and I knew it was running fast. We had a 3’23 in mind, a 3’22, but you could tell it was running fast. I think it is a lot of things - firstly the surface, but also the temperate, the humidity and the atmosphere of the place was good. Just being fresh and it being the world Championships also helped.
SS: What do you do after this?
DOL: I'm taking a break. It has been a really busy winter, so I am going home and building a house at the moment. That has been neglected quite a lot. I'm looking forward to spending some time at home, training on the road and not really travelling.
I am going to get back for the East Midlands International on the 27th of April. It is a 1.2 over here. The following week I have a 1.1 in Holland, another 1.1 the following week, and then the Rás.
After that we do Philly week, the Tour de Beauce in Canada… some of the under 25s on the team are going to the Tour of Pennsylvania, and then some of us are going to do the Grand Prix of Wales. After that there are the Nationals and then the Tour of Qinghai Lake in China.
It has been quiet enough with the team, but that is on purpose. It means I can concentrate on the track. I will take a bit of a break, I am looking forward to the road.
SS: Has it been useful being with a new team, in that you can set your own programme?
DOL: That part has been good, but at the same time there has been a lot of work dealing with race organisers. It was stuff I didn't really want to do, but I ended up doing some of it.
But it is good, I'm really enjoying it this year. The track has given me a good kick, because I got a little bit stale doing just road racing. Obviously when you get results like this - and you can see an improvement, more than the result - that is really encouraging. And, of course, to finish top six in a world championships is good.
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Shane Stokes: So David went quite a bit faster than expected, even if others did the same….
Frank Campbell: The times were all over the place. The New Zealander (Hayden Roulston) put out a 4’18. We knew David was strong but it was a question of getting it out. Last year we thought he would do a 4’24 at the worlds but it didn’t happen. But we have been so methodical. He also had a great deal of help from his team Pezula, they took him to South Africa.
We hoped for a 4’22, 4’23 today. 4’20 is world standard. It is still not definite about the Olympics, it depends on what the other guys do. But 4’20 is really something.
SS: But whether or not Beijing happens, this rate of progression really bodes well for David..
FC: Yes, it just backs up all the work he has done, all the work done by the coaching staff, the volunteers and everyone. And he must be capable of going quicker than that [in the future]...it looks good.
SS: Last year David was at the worlds, he had planned a fast time but it didn’t happen. Today must be great for his confidence…
FC: As we said last year, it a learning curve. We are continuously going along that curve, learning what is happening. We changed things. We had good coaching help with the help of the Sports Council, bringing in Simon Jones, and he has helped Brian Nugent, he has helped Tommy. That means we have now got two coaches who have worked and are still working with Jones. And we have learned from our mistakes.
It has taken a lot of time and effort from David. But he has proved that he has got it there.
SS: Looking back at the past year and the fact that he was expected to do fast times but didn’t always do so, have you pinpointed one specific thing that was at fault?
FC: Not really, I think it was inexperience on his behalf and inexperience on our behalf. We always knew deep down that he had the engine, but it was just a case of getting the engine tuned to work on the day. We went through a different process on the whole warm-up, we looked at how we handle ourselves in the pit and made a lot of changes; less staff about and more people knowing directly what they were doing, and making life as easy for him as possible.
SS: Will you have an idea today about the chances for Olympic participation?
FC: I am hoping to...the next thing is to go and chase and find out what the figures are after today. To talk to the UCI and see if they can give us an idea, because it would be good to go away from here with that.
It is just so hard to know..it would be much easier if they just said that the first ten in the world go to the Olympics. But it does not work that way.
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