Le Tour en Irlande 1998

morana

Came across this and its a good show. Eddie Tobin unfortunately passed away some years ago I believe we have a race in his memory.

killalanerr

very good the big Wexford on Paul out side the shop

The Crunch

morana wrote: »

Came across this and its a good show. Eddie Tobin unfortunately passed away some years ago I believe we have a race in his memory.

Fantastic! Hadn't seen that before.
I remember EddieTobin racing when I was a kid. In fact I remember being in the lead group in the Strawberry Fair race with him. I guess that's the race that now bears his name. Sad that he passed away so young. It was a great achievement bringing the tour to Enniscorthy.
I was lucky enough to have a media pass from RTE for that stage. I didn't have a lot to do except blast down to Cork on closed roads soaking up the atmosphere. I seem to remember getting a bit of abuse from a French motorbike cop at one stage. Not sure why. An odd experience on Irish roads...

velo.2010

Fascinating film. 1998 could so easily be 1988 given the way it was filmed and the clothes/hair etc. I feel old watching it!

Anyway, two things I noticed. Roche, even back then giving his sh!tehawk analogies when talking about doping. Plus, Phil Leggit rockin' a US Postal jersey in 98. I guess he was aware of the impending greatness of a certain Texan!

The Crunch

Regardless of what we subsequently discovered about the race, it was an exciting time for Irish cycling. It would be interesting to hear how people enjoyed the weekend. I was away working for the first couple of days so I was determined to get home for the Monday stage.
It must have bed great to see the race in Dublin and Wicklow.

wav1

The Crunch wrote: »

Regardless of what we subsequently discovered about the race, it was an exciting time for Irish cycling. It would be interesting to hear how people enjoyed the weekend. I was away working for the first couple of days so I was determined to get home for the Monday stage.
It must have bed great to see the race in Dublin and Wicklow.

From Sat evening until Sunday night,it was about the worst weather of all time.About 30 of us ''camped'' in a boy scouts tent about half way down the descent from the Wicklow Gap.It absouloutely p......d rain all night long.Some of the crew walked down to Laragh to get some warmth and got involved in a lock in in some shibin or other.They were the only ones with any brains.Still we had a great weekend though.Headed off to Carrick on the Sun evening for Mondays stage and we all got involved in a lock in down there.There was no one going to be left out this time.On a sadder note Eddie Tobin was a great bloke who left us long before his time.Worked on lots of rasanna with him.He rode one or two also.83 and 84 I think.

kingdomlad

Great weekend. A couple of us headed up to Dublin from Tralee on the Friday night. Watched the prologue along the quays on the saturday, before heading to a campsite in Glendalough. Great craic on Saturday night at a ceili in Fossetts Circus tent drinking pints while the rain was lashing down outside. Up early on the Sunday morning to make our way up onto a wet and windy Wicklow Gap. Off to Carrick On Suir on the Sunday night to another campsite and watch The World Cup Final. Finally off to Cork on the Monday to see the stage finish. Have been to The Tour in the Alps and Pyrennees many times since, but will always have great memories of the weekend Le Tour came to Kelly & Roche Country!!