Things I had forgotten about Stephen Roche...

happytramp

Fender76 wrote: »

From the Italians basically.... Roche's Italian teammate Roberto Viscentini was favourite to win on home ground but Roche was the better rider and found himself in the malliot rose so he had to fight all the way to the finish against the Italian riders who wanted to to sabotage his race in favour of a home win....

That's crazy! You could make a film out of his 1987 season!

trad

He won the H Willaims Grand Prix the year after I won it.

L'Enfer du Nord

Fender76 wrote: »

From the Italians basically.... Roche's Italian teammate Roberto Viscentini was favourite to win on home ground but Roche was the better rider and found himself in the malliot rose so he had to fight all the way to the finish against the Italian riders who wanted to to sabotage his race in favour of a home win....

Viscentini had won the previous year I think. AFAIK he didn't actually finish in 1987 afrer crashing out.

L'Enfer du Nord

iMax wrote: »

He likes cheese

I had a Roche poster c.1987, you had to collect six cards with photos, which you could glue on as inserts to the main poster. Fairly sure the cards came in Galtee packets.

Didn't he also hand Coer de Loin Cheese awards for the most combative ride in the Tour for a while.

L'Enfer du Nord

Muller_1 wrote: »

As well as winning the trebble in 1987 he was 3rd overall in the Tour de France in 1985

When he won his first stage in the 1985 Tour he wore a skin suit on the road stage

http://www.ina.fr/sport/cyclisme/video/I00010254/victoire-de-stephen-roche-au-sommet-de-l-aubisque.fr.html

I remember seeing an post stage interview with his DS the week before this. When it was put to DS that Hinault had the tour sewn up. He said that Roche would win the Aubisque stage and take the yellow. This kind of brovado is often followed by crash and burn. But altleast he was half right.

michaelm

His most famous quote? When asked by Gaybo, when he appeared on the Late Late with Sean Kelly, how they managed with the language barrier abroad, he replied: "With my broken French and Sean's broken English - we get by"!

Captain Havoc

Probably was Galtee, we used to have a tea-towel with him on it from them.

High Nellie

Jawgap wrote: »

Sean Kelly, Martin Earley and Paul Kimmage were on the Irish team with him in Austria when he won the World Championship

We'll never see the likes of an Irish team like that again.

sy

Muller_1 wrote: »

When he won his first stage in the 1985 Tour he wore a skin suit on the road stage

http://www.ina.fr/sport/cyclisme/video/I00010254/victoire-de-stephen-roche-au-sommet-de-l-aubisque.fr.html

Thanks for that link Muller_1. Not often you see 2 Irish men finishing 1st and 2nd on a tough climb in the Pyrenees. Roche had a great Tour and season in 1985. He was very agressive in the Pyrenees, and really had a go at the La Vie Claire super team of Hinault and LeMond. He caused a lot of damage on the previous stage from Toulouse to Luz Ardiden and if Hinault didn't have LeMond to chase him down he definitely would have taken the jersey that day. LeMond was definitely the strongest rider in the La Vie Claire team but Hinault was going for 5 and team orders kept a very disgruntled LeMond on rein. (Roche was in similar position on the Giro in '87 as mentioned elsewhere but he decided to ignore team directives )
The following season he had the infamous crash which damaged his right knee. I really think this was a major blow to his overall palmares as he struggled for a long time after that.
He finished an hour and a half behind LeMond in the 86 Tour!

trad

There used to be a Stephen Roche Grand Prix around the housing estate in Dundrum where he is from. There's also a plaque in Dundrum to commerate the 3 in a row. A french photographer Nutant was arrested there after a scuffle when the Nissan Classis went through Dundrum. He knocked a Garda's hat off to get a better shot.

He was utterly astounded when Kelly beat him in the epic Carrick - Clonmel TT. I had the pleasure of being one of his outriders on the TT. Genuinely nice guy, had a pint with him at Kelly's retirement race in Carrick.

mo_bhicycle

I love this thread ... keep em coming.
It'd be great if somebody knowledgeable could start one about Kelly too, being totally clueless I can't :P

RobFowl

trad wrote: »

There used to be a Stephen Roche Grand Prix around the housing estate in Dundrum where he is from. There's also a plaque in Dundrum to commerate the 3 in a row. A french photographer Nutant was arrested there after a scuffle when the Nissan Classis went through Dundrum. He knocked a Garda's hat off to get a better shot.

That race is still run every year.
Nicolas Roche won it in 2008 (I think)

trad

In his early days Kelly was known to nod in reply to a question on a radio interview. He was also asked about riding on the continent " the flat stages are hilly, the hilly stages are mountainous and the mountain stages are oh my jaysus".

marwelie

trad wrote: »

There's also a plaque in Dundrum to commerate the 3 in a row.

The legend that was Joe Daly (RIP) arranged the fundraising for that monument to be put up at the crossroads in Dundrum. Joe sold Stephen his first bike as far as I know. It was subsequently moved to outside the Mill Theatre in the Dundrum Town Centre.

trad

RobFowl wrote: »

That race is still run every year.
Nicolas Roche won it in 2008 (I think)

I Commissaired that event a couple of times in the early 90's in the Dalby/ Sheehan era. From memory prize money then was around £500, not bad for an hour plus 5 laps.

C3PO

RobFowl wrote: »

That race is still run every year.
Nicolas Roche won it in 2008 (I think)

Well worth a look if you're in the area when it's on - usually a midweek evening during the summer! You can really get close to the action!

Captain Havoc

I think it's the same week as the nationals

dermur

There's a dog on the road!

There's a dog on the road!

High Nellie

And he won a Rás. Was it 1972? It was one of his last amateur races at home and it was the first 'unity Rás' where the two federations (or maybe 3?) raced together.

paddymacsporran

http://www.anpostras.com/event/category_66.shtml

happytramp

His DVD costs €57 euro's in Cycleways.