American debut for Irish road champion David O'Loughlin

By Tommy Campbell, Irish Independent, Evening Herald, Sunday Independent

David O'Loughlin the current Irish National Road Race Champion will make his debut for the Navigators Insurance eight-man squad in the Dodge Tour de Georgia in the USA on Tuesday.

O'Loughlin has already had a win under his belt this year when he convincingly won the Carrick Hotel Challenge in Carrick-on-Suir, which is the town associated with one of Ireland's national heroes, Sean Kelly.

Unfortunately because of his American commitments, 2004 Shay Elliott winner O'Loughlin will be an absentee from this year's edition, which is scheduled for this Sunday. The race is sponsored by Murphy & Gunn for the second year. Initially they were a subsidiary sponsor, but they felt that the event which has a 1.2 ranking on the UCI calendar deserves the support of a top Irish company. Last year, David set in train of high profile victories after he won the 'Elliott', and was also successful in becoming a member of the Navigators team.

The Tour de Georgia will be the Navigators Insurance squad's first team event in the USA in 2005, after spending most of the early season in Western Europe. "This is the first significant event on the domestic race calendar in the U.S.", said team Director Sportif, Ed Beamon, "and it is a very important event for us. I think we are sending a very strong and capable team, and we will be looking for results. The team has been racing since January, and should have very good condition, and we are looking forward to representing Navigators Insurance, Colnago bicycles, and all of our sponsors on home soil."