The Sean Kelly Story (an Irish cycling legend) – Bromley Video production with narration by Phil Liggett.
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Executive Producer: David Bromley
Script and Narration: Phil Liggett
Music: The Emerald Isle by Simon Painter & Ian Clarke
Photos: Graham Watson (excpet where indicated)
Note: This video was created by Bromley Video. I do not own this content.
[Applause] [Applause] s up to the big gear breaks very late his mouth wide open leans into that b he’s got to come off the wheel of Lily white that’ll take some to him but Kelly wants to do it tonight SE Kelly is going to come in the barriers he’s leading
There gets it he gets it in the most amazing spint finish He Yeah cycling has been EV for me uh if I stayed down car Shure as a farmer or as a Brickler as I was before I became a cyclist well I would never be as well off financially as I am and uh you know as well known I’ve made a name for
Myself I’ve traveled the world so you know cycling has brought me so much uh it’s brought me everything really sea Kelly was the people’s champion in him they like to see themselves and he earned every penny of his wealth and deserved it for the pleasure he brought Millions around the world his reputation
As a hard man unaffected by the extremes of a cruel and daunting sport Kelly on his day could not be beaten certainly not by the weather above all his great Rivals knew it well Sean has something I think that any c would like to have but um it’s not
Very easy to have that is so much dedication like Sean was dedicated uh 12 months out of 12 months of the year even in the winter when he went home to Ireland for for rest he was always uh hooked into into cycling and that’s probably the most one of Sean’s most
Outstanding characters because he was dedicated in the winter as he was to the season I think he was very strong in his head he he knew when he was bad there will be will be coming better times and he always continue training and everything he it was a good good uh
Example for the for The Young Riders in the team he was really professional he’s training like a really uh consistent in the track in the road and he know he has always goals to win races ambition for him he was win the races all the time
That’s why he was he was big big champion he is the most dedicated Sportsman I’ve ever come across I mean and that just didn’t come about during the season from March to October or so it was through the winter as well and right throughout the 12 months of the year his total
Utter dedication to the sport it’s what’s kept him there for so long got him so high in the sport and also won him the respect of not just the his followers but his fellow competitors [Applause] The cobbled unforgiving m grandon in Belgium resounded to the name of an Irishman Kelly Kelly Kelly a name the world grew to quickly love and respect this was the type of race that suited Kelly rough tough and a free for all pro cycling though is not for the nervous
Crashes are part of the daily routine yet these men of single determination recover only to do it all over again winning is all they dream of and Kelly was better at that than most fortunately Serious injury is comparatively rare despite the competitiveness of a sport which has never commanded the high
Rewards of say a golfer a tennis player or those in American football here Kelly catches Argentine in the last kilometer to win Milan Sano while behind some end their 7-hour day as non-fish the races attract a huge following as Riders attempt to achieve what only a
Few can narrow roads chaos and a touch of Cruelty was the order of the day during Kelly’s career this was the day in yeser Skiby shown no respect by the race officials Kelly though was hard enough to survive all of this SE down through the years even when he was a
Junior rider was always a man of learn I can remember coming across here when he was 17 years of age coming across here with him and no matter no matter how hard a day it was or the weight or the wind was down to two or three Riders Sean was always there and
The harder the better was for him so he has push himself to the Limit he was always a man of wor well I first met sha Kelly in 1975 when I organized a milk race in Great Britain and Sean came over as a very young member of the IRS team
He was only 18 years of age and uh Pat McQuade said to me watch this one he’s good and after a week he was in third position in the milk race which is quite out of this world because we had Olympic Champions riding the Russians were here
Everybody was here and uh so we thought it was a flash in the pan 4 days later he was still third in the milk race came to the start of the very last day which took us from the north of England down to Blackpool on the prominade to the
Finish and it seemed as though were going to get a terrific surprise and Kelly was going to finish third and um after 20 miles of the race Kelly was off his bike with a problem he jumped back on it he tried to catch them up he had
Another problem it was a break problem the second time puncture the first first time and he finally finished I think it was about 10 minutes behind everybody and everybody on the prominade was on the way home and I thought well I better stay because this kid is going to be so
Upset there’ll be enough tears here to fill the North Sea and uh he’s just lost everything he in fact fell away from third right down to the bottom of the field and so I waited for him and he just Shrugged his shoulders and said oh I’m racing tomorrow in calicon sure it
Doesn’t matter and I couldn’t believe it that was the sign of a hard man and a champion and so it’s turned out to be when he turned profession in his first year he was hungry for Su success and more so for money and that’s what made
It like now we all like both we all want a bit of success and we all want money but he wanted both and he wanted them badly I think Kelly would have been a successful cyclist even if you’d have uh towed him out in the middle of Atlantic
Ocean and told him to ride back home because it’s within his body he wants to be a success he is afraid of no man’s reputation which is the first thing that anybody should know I mean he goes up against the ride of the caliber of Eddie
MKS who was the great Belgian that won the P of France five times and uh wouldn’t even notice anyd Merks in the race because sha was in that race he want to win it and so his his attitude of mind is isn’t always will be
Right on the days when an us on a good day um you know it can be very painful and you can you know he can suffer an awful lot uh and in the big races like you always suffer no matter how fit you are uh friend or a big classic race
Um you can be you know on the top of your F and but you still have to suffer because you know those race are so hard but you know that’s the guy who can suffer most and the guy who can uh push the pain barrier higher but that’s the
Guy is most successful there is easier ways certainly to make a living but um I came from you know a background r on a farm and he was a smaller farm and uh on a farm you always you know in them times especially you always got you always had
A work to do uh so my upbringing wasn’t easy so I think that help helped me in my in my career it helped me to you know to to hang in there and to stay in there uh if I think you know if you had a very
A very soft upbring I don’t think you know you would be as you would be as hard so you that helped me in a big way I Think you know Sean consider in the background he come from considering it comes from a simple home in rural Ireland uh it’s uh exceptional the fact he has done so as well as he has Kelly’s fitted in so well because the families in Belgium and Holland and France are
People from the Farms that they know how hard life is at the Grassroots and if the Suns grow up and see a chance to break out and to become stars and never have to work the SS like they did then they encourage the Suns they form support supporters clubs in the village
The supporters clubs have a little whip round they all get money together and they send the son to the south of France for training and then take him to the big races in cars and look after him now to a lesser degree that’s what happened
To sha Kelly because he was working on a farm and when he comes home in the winter he loves driving the tractor and it’s my bet that the day he stopped cycling he be back in in Carrick working the field and loving every minute of it
And you still will see no signs of all the money he has money to Shan Kelly was the result of hard work winning the biggest races he deserved every penny and from a modest background he had found a way to wear more than anyone with a university education he was
Quickly the king of the sport while his parents Jack and Nelly Kelly took it all in the stride but any thoughts that Jack had that Kelly May one day work alongside him disappeared on the training rid which led to an international career and I left school I was about 15 and um
I went to work on the farm with my father and I worked there for a couple of months and then um I went off and I started seven my time as a brick and uh it was then really I took up cycling when I was about 16 between 16
17 um I had a brother who took it up before me and I just follow him a couple of weeks later with some of my friends and um I like the cycling I played other sports at school like of you know gay leag football and soccer verus
Uh I think the cycling it was uh it was something different and we were going away to races in the weekends for example we go to the car and limi and uh so was getting away from the family uh the family farm on the weekends and getting away from the work well I
Started off for a normal bike that I had going to school um and then the bike that my brother had my brother Joe um he got a better bike and I so I was handed on his one things I knew about cycling was maybe Ross Talton and Eddie M that
Was was about it uh you know the Ros holdon often passed the the road where we lived and we just go to see to be passing and then uh in the papers the national paper it’s you might read four lines Eddie Max WIS the Tour of France
For the third time or the fourth time and that was as much as I knew about cycling and when I started off I had no uh I had no dream to become a professional WR in the Tour of France let’s say and it was just uh you know I
Enjoyed it here and uh the results the results I was getting here I was happy with that and I was looking forward to writing uh you know rating as a senior on this cont when I started off from the anonymous grassland of Tipperary to world star was not a Kelly ambition but it
Happened he became only the second Irishman to wear the lead his yellow jersey in the tour to France the only Irish winner of the tour of Spain in 1986 Kelly won Parry Ru for a second time and he is still the only man in the world to win four green points jerseys
In the legendary tour to France he became the world’s best season long performer in the top events he triumphed in the World Cup when the world number one rider was him in 1982 in Britain he won the bronze medal in the world championship another would follow
Later but he had not forgotten his first racing Jersey complete with hand embroidery as an amateur Kelly had traveled well for Ireland celebrating as a stage winner in the 1974 Dunlap tour of Ireland this was a race that brought all of the country’s top Riders together
And Kelly was so clearly the best of them he gave Kelly a chance to meet the t-shir of the day Charlie hockey managed by former International Jim McQuade who was a much loved and respected official Kelly blossomed in the British milk Racers part of an Irish
Team who knew what they had found Kelly won at Sheffield’s Northfolk Park and among those he beat was the 1976 Olympic champion bar Johansson of Sweden even on grass 2 Kelly was still encourageable the back now one and one straight to goal K holding off done
MC is in third Geary fourth but Kelly now dun coming again but Kelly holding him off Kelly holding him off superbly dun made three attempts to get p and Kelly goes over the line now it was as a sprinter that Kelly first earned his reputation in Dublin’s Phoenix Park he
Won the last stage of the 1975 tour of Ireland in the milk race he beat world champion rard Sakowski into second place in this Sprint at Stoke on Trent but his 1976 Olympic Ambitions ended rather abruptly there on the Olympic uh the Irish the Irish Olympic Squad and I went
To I went to South Africa in 75 for race in the end of 75 and I went under a false name with some other Irish Riders and some Scottish Riders and were there as a as a British team and um it was a great opportunity for us and
It was a great holiday we went out because we went out of the race and then we were allowed I think it was seven or 10 days holidays afterwards so it was you know it was a dream of a lifetime really for us and uh we were caught out
There there was uh there was a journalist out there in English from some of the English papers and he took photographs he sent them back to England to the Federation to the British cycling Federation and they said they weren’t you know they weren’t English Riders they were Irish Riders and it all blew
Up and more supended from Olympic Games For Life Elizabeth H and Richard Borton are probably the reason we were found that’s true yeah we were in this town I think it was called usor and when the stage is finished there and Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Borton were
There on their second h it was the time he gave her that big ring that he bought for but um they naturally had a lot of Gossip colonist from the British papers and World papers with them at the time and one of these uh guys from br’s Daily
Mail I think it was he saw that there was this race on in in arriv the news tourn that day and he thought there might be a link up with uh these two celebrities he had and a British team that was in in the event so he got in
Touch with the organizer of the RAC and the organizer explain to him no they’re in the event all right you know but they really shouldn’t be here in this and the other you know now he’s a South African journalist and he he understood the situation and he should have realized
But instead he got out the following day with his telephoto lens and so forth wired the pictures back to London suspension from the games followed did sha regret missing the Olympics um well I can’t say very but I do regret It um it would have been nice to complete in the Olympics but then again if I had done well and you know made a good place Olympics I might have waited for another four years to have another go at it and that would you know have
Messed up my career as a profession I might never been a profession so for those reasons you know yeah it would have been nice to you know to go to the Olympics but then again uh you know it might it might have kept me away from professional cycling all together we all
Benefited from Kelly’s enforced professionalism which he himself owed to one man count Jean de galdi who wanted no one else but Kelly he’ impressed him that much 76 um when when we were out to the Olympic Games I decided to go to France because I had met people from a club in
France uh in Mets in 75 at the tour of Britain milk rest and they said if i’ ever like to come to to France to race that would be always welcome to that club and that just made a decision for me when I wasn’t going to Olympics I
Didn’t want to stay here well when I went to Mets I won quite a lot of races and I won the Tour of Lombardi amateur uh with the team we went down to Italy to race quite a lot and uh before I came back to irand uh in the year of
75 um I was had some phone calls from a man called Shan de Baldi asked me would it be interested to becoming professional and I said know that I was too young and I had kind of plan to go back to the club for the for the
Following year and that was okay the season finished and I came back here to violent and uh one one December day I was out driving um driving one of my brother’s tractors and uh I was actually come from car andur and this taxi pulled up and there was three people got out
With the taxi and I didn’t I hadn’t I hadn’t met to I just spoken to him on the phone and uh he had an temp with him and he sat speaking and he said you know this is Mr gabal he wants you to sign the professional contract for the year
Of 76 and I said well you know follow me back home and they did that and we talked for quite a long time you know certainly two hours and he left me with a contract and he said that you know I was going to one of the best teams for
Landrea which was with Freddy Mar one of the best teams in the world at that moment and but uh he also told me that there was a team where there was a lot of new professions like myself and I wouldn’t I would not have to make all the big races
Uh we have a lot of small race second cat races to ride in the first year and that was really you know swung the decision for me and I held the contract maybe for three or four weeks and you know he was Ring quite often and then I
Sent it back eventually I didn’t know anything about cycling professional cycling I certainly knew very very little um so I talked with some people here and they said some people said yes go take your chance and other people said no hold on for another year and uh
You there was a few problems because if you became if you became professional and you didn’t work out in your first year and you want to go back as am to be reinstated you’d have to uh you have to wait 12 months before you could be reinstated as amateur where that
Regulation doesn’t exist now so there was quite a few snags there and uh you know when I was looking at all of those but eventually I said well uh I’ll take the chance and I’ll go for Kelly joined flandre in 1977 riding alongside Freddy Mertens a man he came to respect of of
Most and he rapidly broke into the rough professional pelet second in the tour of Holland 16th in the world title he was an instant success Jean de galdi had been right he had seen a very special person on a bike and success was only a wheel turn away
For the brick layer from Ireland the next year he was in the tour to France with flandria so the teammates of the fla team working very hard now they’re controlling this race keeping the Pace High and the object is so there can be no sudden attacks and by doing this
They’re riding along at about 27 mil now just at the moment and surprise entry but one we’ll look out for soon is sha Kelly of Ireland this great tough Irishman from car onur that’s Hank lubbering passing out in the picture the new champion of Holland and sha Kelly a tremendous shot
Of sha Kelly the Irishman on the left he’s looking for his team leader in second position Freddy Martins and we’re coming up to the Finish now will Jan Ras in the yellow Jersey win it will Freddy merens or will it be Shawn Kelly right there too at the front off the field
It’s Walter plard the Belgium has stolen it From Freddy Martins on the line and it could have been Shan Kelly in third place at the time Kelly turned Pro so too did British Rider Paul Sherin and he recalled the day the Riders went on strike in the first Tour of France at
Valendo Jon well actually we were on the second round quite funny all the big stars of the Tour of France Freddy Merton bero they were at the front they were the ones that decided that day there was going to be a strike because there had just been so many transfers
And Kelly and I were in the second row and it was our first tour to France Kelly came alongside me and he says don’t trust anybody he says if anyone moves we go for it the following Year Kelly was in the colors of splendor but it was basically the same team that
Flrea had been and 1978 saw him continue to progress with a stage win in the tour to France he would go on to win four more but although Kelly won many stage races he was seen as an outstanding single day Classics Rider in an event once known as the race of the Falling
Leaves the to of Lombardy in the Autumn he won this three times the hell of the north race Parry Ru he took twice in the Belgian Arden the lia Bast on Le age he won twice as well the Parry tours a race for the sprinters he won in 1984 when he
Was very quick the longest of them all Milan Ando he won twice then there was the Grand PRI denion and G wam in Belgium I think I started to realized the classics and to know what the classics and learn about them was in 76 um that was the fourth year I started
Started reading the magazines uh the cly magazines a lot of the English magazines and then I got to know about the races uh you know the Paris R Bay was all those roads the cobblestones and was the roads that the farmers really use to go to their fields and you know the milance
Was in the tour of FL in L best only Ag and uh you know it was just just a year before I came professional really that I learned about them I as a kid of eight or 10 years of age I didn’t know anything about those events whatsoever the Italians soon knew about
Sha Kelly though as he headed for his first classic win in the tour of Lombardy in 1983 the classics still are the backbone of the sport and to win just one is the dream of many riders here Kelly uses his famous Sprint to hold off the day’s finest finishes he
Taken the first step to becoming one of the world’s best Riders my first win would have been the tour of Lombardi and uh I can remember that quite well um I was actually fighting for the super presti which is the classment for the all the classics and
Was also included some of the big Ts and was a classic D through the season and there was up in the classment it was uh with Greg lamond he was leading and actually you know if if I won the race and he wasn’t in the first three or
Four um I would have won the super Prestige and we arrived in the Sprint and I remember I won the Sprint by by atire from Lamont this the beginning of the short descent now down towards the line on the shores of Lake KO and MZ has gone something like 12C clear of the
Group well he’s looking there a little bit wet the weather’s drying up nicely now and this is the chasing group and at the back here the former amateur world champion Gilbert glouse of Switzerland and also in this leading group Sha Kelly of Ireland and his countryman Steven Roach and the newly crowned world
Champion Greg lemon of the United States so the classic going the way of the English-speaking Riders once again this is Steven roach he’s had a marvelous day he’s been setting the pace throughout the 153 miles and now MZ looks over his shoulder here he really should get on
With the job in hand rather than concern himself now the race is right here where munas is not behind him this is now the chasing group number nine is Henny Kyper winner of par Ru earlier this year and the Counterattack beginning to move smoothly off the front Shan Kelly is
Also in this group and as you might catch a glimpse of him he’s wearing an orange Jersey in fact that’s Kelly now looking around near the front of the group checking to see who exactly is still remaining after what has been a long day in the saddle and now this final classic is
Looking to me as though it could well be going the way of the Spanish Rider he’s burying his head now and he’s trying desperately to survive he can’t find a bigger gear on the machine he’s in the highest gear he has and they’re all coming back so the group is almost on MZ
Now and this is going to put sha Kelly in with a Chance of that first ever classic Victory Steven roach in second place here Kelly that orange Jersey never fall from the front fourth or fifth place and Greg Lon to a good Sprinter and without doubt the find of the 1983
Season well Franchesco MOA the hopes for the Italians here in this group Cerrone the Great disappointment again missing out in a major event the winner this year of Manan Sano and now some four minutes behind this group and the Front Runners now fretti is leading the riders
In through the very twisty back street approach to the line Kelly so cautious so clever lying there in fourth slop waiting for the Sprint to begin a hand on the shorts there applied by Gilbert GL of Switzerland so the fight for the front positions beginning now as the
Riders make the right hand turn Kyper goes into into the corner first Henny Kyper now coming to lead out for the Finish Kyper looks over his shoulder now starts to Sprint for home just behind him is petti and then on his right there the orange Jersey of Kelly begins to
Make the spint Franchesco Moosa in white tucked in behind Kyer mosa now comes forward in the white jersey Kelly in the center lamon joins Kelly on his shoulder hits the line and that’s a photo finish between sha Kelly and Greg lond of the United States and what a Sprint it was
And we can see it here now in slow motion Kyper sets up nicely for everybody else because he really is no Sprinter then Kelly starts the Sprint in the center of the picture but look at the acceleration of lemon there as Kyer moves away to the right lamon bursts
Through and the two stars of 1983 bring the classic season to the end with sha Kelly first and lamond second it gives you a lot of confidence in you you’re much more relaxed for the following ons and you know when you go into those Classics you can be a bit more relaxed
Well then that’s that’s the time you can win win them easier and uh I think the conference Bo when you have one one well then you can go on and you know uh you have the ability to win it’s just that uh if you might La lack the confidence
Until you get the first win but when you get the win and many of course never will the feeling you can go out and do it all again comes as well Kelly was a winner losing was never in his makeup the great Italian Franchesco mosa won Milan Sano in 1984
But in the Sprint for second place Kelly’s tail was up again now he was winning Sprints with comparative ease but there was one classic which was different universally known as the hell of the north it was par rub I remember my first par R I think was 80 or
81 and um I fell off about three times uh I couldn’t stay upright on the cobblestones par R is the best classic to win um but you know it’s a very difficult one because over the cobblestones and 45 kilom of cobblestones and you know it’s people don’t realize what the cobes are
Like because there’s some there’s some potholes there which you know are big enough to get to get lost in because the the roads a lot of them which are used by the farm to get to the fields and um everybody everybody would love to win a power Bay but not everybody dream about
It because I think it’s it’s not possible because you have to be right across the cobblestones and there’s so much um look attached you know you have to be very lucky on the day and not have mechanical problems but the fource big thing is you have to be capful of riding
Over the cobblestones that distance and you know the number of professionals able to do that is not as there’s not as many for example to say people who could win aan andore or Le by only AG there’s much more guys capable of winning those races than they out of a power through b [Applause] Oh [Applause] N Kelly had won par rubay now even the French would recognize him in Belgium Kelly had found a second life and he was a big part of the nie family here second the mom Madame n holds up a sock from par ret 84 I think would be the best um
You know in the classics I was really um I was really riding uh you know at my best and um I was also writing other events in between for example the tour of PA Basque and those races and you know I was I was winning I
Was in the first tree of all those events 1984 was a great year for him here he added Le Baston Le to his growing list and by the end of the year he would have notched an incredible 32 wins this Sprint was a cheeky one as Kelly toyed with Phil Anderson from
Australia and Greg lamon from America the Winter spent Training Kelly Road 160 races in 1984 for was he riding too many now yes it’s uh it’s more than normal the for the normal professional Rider it’s around 1220 races I think I did I R
Uh a bit much a bit too many and uh out of that I W to2 races I was winning races right through the season um so when you win when you win the race all the time where the morale is very very high it’s when uh if you’re recovering
From sickness or you’re going through a bad period which which happen with a lot of riders you’re not on not in Forum all the year and uh there are the moments when you’re off forum and things are not going right in the races you know the morale is down and there there’s days
You don’t want to go training and there’s days you don’t want to race in 1984 Kelly won the super Prestige Trophy and would win it again in the following two years in 1985 the tour of Lombardy was again a Target my second tour of lumber um
Again you know when you have one when you won a classic to it you know it comes more easy you have a bit more confidence in yourself and uh my second one was uh we arrived on the track actually in Milan and um again I was going for the super Prestige and
Actually Phil Anderson was leading and uh he had to finish he had to finish up in the places uh if I if I WN the event he had to be in the first in the first 10 or the first8 I’m not quite sure the odds were against him winning
The Super Prestige for the second year in succession Kelly had to win and hope that Phil Anderson stayed out of the top 10 this was an award for the year’s most consistent allrounder in the world’s best events Kelly was certainly that in the early 80s and so now sha Kelly is in this
Leading group and will be somewhat relieved that Phil Anderson has retired from the race so Kelly knows now he’s pedaling to the second successive a super Prestige Trophy and he’s in a breakaway yet again in a big classic race he has been outstanding today attacking almost from
The start little Charlie M of France on the Renault team is in this Breakaway as well and riding equally as strongly kroer kilon a friend of Kelly passes through in The Itachi colors on the left jeppe Cerrone also a member of the Breakaway well this has been a
Remarkable event and Kelly has come out with such determination today from the minute he left the start at Lake Co Mo he made it quite clear he wasn’t going to lose the trophy he won for the first time a year ago he doesn’t need to win the Tour of Lombardy anymore to take
That trophy now he simply needs to finish in this leading group Anderson has retired and the Finish will suit Kelly too they’re coming into the stadium and onto the track at the vigorelli the boards of the vigorelli track and that’s where they’re approaching now Mark Mio
Is leading out CL kilon is in second place little little Charlie M is in third place Kelly’s got his wheel Kelly seems to have figured that m is the man to follow here through the narrow entry the riders in a long straight line they’ll now see the track and it’s very
Steep boards you know for a road racing cyclist who doesn’t race on the track this can be a very nervous finish indeed but Kelly loves it when they’re nervous look at him go now moves over the top of them following the wheel of Charlie mate mate is going to tow Kelly but Kelly
Will have the Sprint to beat him mate is not it like as quick sha Kelly in a finish like this adre van theole is coming up van theole is coming up with great speed has closed the Gap to the wheel of Kelly who’s gone wide Kelly is
Going to win the Tour of Lombardy and take the Super Prestige trophy a superb finish by Sha Kelly van theole will get second Charlie M third Marina laretta is the rider who finishes in fourth place and for him that’s a great performance on this track sh Kelly takes the final Accolade
Of the season the tour of Lombardi and with it the trophy so Kelly got the lombardia trophy for a second time and won the super Prestige trophy as well the season was over but the next one would start also in Italy with the classic Milan Sano well Milan Sano it’s um it’s the
First uh big classic of the season and you know there’s a lot of uh there’s a lot of interest with the media and uh the Riders the teams you know are very nervous if you can win mean Remo then your seasons made and uh the Italian teams are definitely um you know they’re
Crazy for Milano if you win Milano well then you can sit back in the armchair for the rest of the year and uh you know I won uh my first mananan Remo I remember arrived with Lemont uh Lemont escaped in the podio just before the finish and he was with a rer called
Beia and um I came I was in a group behind with you know a group V and Mo and I left them and I caught him just before the top and I arrived in the Sprint with uh with with two guys and I beat him quite easy in the Sprint and uh
You know it’s when you when you it was my first mean it gives you know it’s a great feeling uh maybe you don’t really show it when you cross the line you know you just the normal thing you put your hands up uh part of the sponsorship to the
Sponsorship Expos as well but I think the feeling with then is something that uh for the days after the event that’s you know that’s where the get the real pleasure from the Italians were getting used to Kelly taking their Awards and the 77th Milan Sano was his after he
Beat Greg lemond a month later Kelly was back in France and showed the rest a clean well perhaps not so clean per of wheels in par Ru the queen of the classics as it was known was looking at her King again it’s a fantastic performance of Kelly’s and indeed from
The other three here in pyu Bay every one of them deserves to win it they’ve all put up a fantastic performance and every one of them is a winner in actual effect John Kelly second last week at tour of Landers winner of the tour of the bass country up here he’s certainly
Going to be fourth at worst this week in the Parry Ruby the remarkable man who never seems to rest that body of his that those legs of his and what a tough chore it is for him but it is of course the same for them all but remember he’s
Defending the prestige perno which he won in 84 and 85 and that is regarded by many professional cyclists as a greater honor than the world championship itself which is of course is just one day and there’s the arrow there’s the kite 1 kilm into the final kilometer now and
Danon’s having a go now danon’s attacking vaner Paul going after him Kelly on his wheel and Freddy venal still the fourth and to my mind the danger man at the back so Kelly in the yellow distinguishable the yellow of Kelly the white of Von H and Kelly realizes perhaps now that vanen how
Really is as Pat mced says they danger can Dan and snake away Vander pole realizes that as a possibility venal thinking about another attack 1 2 three go went on The Blind Side and Vander Paul was looking the wrong way now Vander Paul chasing him taking up the
Chase this is very good for Kelly yes it’s vanon h from Vander Kelly and vander’s wheel Dan in fourth place has Dan anything left Kelly looks perfectly positioned has a look for Dan Kelly he takes it oh one Split Second AP par leaves gripman vanquished Kelly comes
Away that’s a marvelous win for sha Kelly a marvelous win beautifully timed D is second banderole is third well when you’re a superstar as is Kelly the fuss and the agulation are part of the scene and it’s no difference here on the street in rube in April 1986 making his
Way to the column the tears of television and radio radio commentators uh interviewed there with some of the writers who finished behind Kelly Jimmy McGee was the first with the news as Kelly beat Rudy D and adrey Vanderpool this was the richest race of the time with a 15,000 prize and Kelly
Had claimed it he was having another dream season and the newspapers throughout the world gave him the space he deserved at his adopted home in vort Belgium the niece family had hoisted the Irish tricker and the fans had given him the treatment any shortage of white paint around Brussels Airport could be
Blamed on Kelly’s supporters the Peru Bay is the classic to win so the day after the interviews followed and Kelly was speaking to Belgian television the last the last 30 40 kilm were quite a big group together uh which is not normal for a p because how do you explain that uh how
Do I explain it well first of all yesterday the stones at the start of the race I thought it would be very very it would be a very very hard part would be very very slippery and very muddy par but yesterday the stones they weren’t they
Weren’t as much mud as as other years and uh I think that was that was one of the reasons because a lot of riders a lot of riders they St together because the W as much Crashers but there was no moment of panic uh well not not not great panic
But that’s when I see was totally ago I see there was quite a big group and a lot of a lot of good sprinters for example fer uh vanderen I think he was with and uh also planker and I said if if it goes if we keep together like that the Finish Well
Then it’s going to be he’s going to be dangerous but looking back in other years it’s always the last couple of couple SE of couples that do the damage and I think it’s always there break up last year Mario got away in the same sector where where where we also got
Away yesterday so yeah I said I was just thinking I was saying to myself yes I must I must make the I must start making a Tempo on the cobs try and attack and try to try to break up the group and on the next SE on the next on the next
Sector of cover was vpol who who who goes to front ride very hard and then uh halfway through that sector he he moved over and then I he said to me he he said to me come through and I went through and I Rod very hard and we came
Out to the other end were only four Riders and at that at that moment then I started ride and every the other three also rod and yeah that was I said to myself now is it’s the chance chance to win the race do you agree with people saying you are racing too
Much uh no I don’t I don’t agree with that uh a lot of people say yes you race too much because I made the tour of Lawns and then immediately I went to the tour of fa Basque but for me I think the tour of fa Basque was the best the best
Preparation because uh yeah if I stayed here on road g w g Wan well then I would be I would have the train every day and I wouldn’t have the I wouldn’t have the same LIF as I had the T Fair bus because there I just
Rod my bike I eat and I slept and uh I think it for me it was the best preparation because when I’m at home I’m always at the house I’m always doing something I can’t I can’t say stay still during the day I’m always working at something doing something in the garage
And you know you’re always you’re always going walking about and it’s not it’s not good for you but you are still there from the beginning of the Season till the end in Classics in tours yes uh yeah seems I seem to I seem to get to the say much better than other
Riders other RS after after two months three months they seem to think that they have uh that they have raised too much and they need to rest but I think I think a lot of the problem is that it’s the people it’s the people around them that say you raise too much maybe
They’re supporters in this they say yes are you rais too much you’re going to be tired you better take it easy and uh yeah they get into their head they’re tired and then uh but uh physically they’re not TI but with with people saying to them all
The time well then you know if you if you have something in your head it’s the same if if you have the morale to raise well then you can’t you can’t raise good it’s just the same where do you find this uh Force the the mental power to do
So uh well I don’t I don’t I don’t have to find it is something I have got I think a sportsman alone in any country needs special friends and Kelly found them in the niece family who gave him are home from home they were enormous importance to me I think um you know
Getting getting in in the professional scene and getting set in uh but I think that was you know that was the making of me and it was a very important moment as well uh you know to get in there get settled in get to know the ropes get to
Learn the game and you know living there I think that was very important when I went to Belgium um I most I first met H Alise when I went to the 75 World Championship in met there in Belgium as an amateur on the Irish team and uh they
Said to me if I was ever come to Belgium want to stay with him i’ be always welcome and um when I became professional in 77 I went to France and then 78 I came to Belgium for a while and I stayed there and 79 I went to live
With the with hammer Elise and I lived with them a number of years before I got married and they were like another mother and father to me and it was a perfect situation you know when you go away to race you come back to a house
With somebody living if you live in an apartment well then the thing is closed up and there’s no food in and it’s you know the lifestyle is much more difficult where um you know in that situation for me it was the perfect situation and I was like a son to them
And they gave me they gave me the support as same as I was I was their Son G And Kelly comes out of it with a badly gashed left elbow as you can see yes it’s a tough way to earn a living the three leaders Michel D of the lotto team adri vandero of PDM and Robert Miller of fagar H in the last kilometer now these
Riders have been away for about uh 50 odd kilms now and it’s Miller leading out the Sprint just behind them is Steven Rooks but he’s not going to be involved in the Sprint it’s Vanderpool darier and Robert Miller but the Dutch Champion vandero takes it dery is second
And Robert Miller is third Steven Rooks good fourth and this is a Sprint for fifth position and Shawn Kelly takes that it’s an ideal situation for sha Kelly because unlike the other weeks we’ve seen him in the classics this year he hasn’t had two and three and sometimes four men marking it’s every
Man for himself and it’s in all of their interest that they keep the pace up because the bunch isn’t all that far behind and there’s the kite with 1K to go kilon from Peters from Kelly bno just out of picture on Kelly’s wheel kilon now we can see uh taking up
The the lead now and staying at the front now and leading out this Sprint now the last whole last kilometer kilon looks to be just uh just going for it he knows he’s not going to win he’s just going to lead out the spint and possibly
Uh and probably I I would say even for Kelly at this days they’re very close friends and kilan would like to see Kelly get that classic he so so badly deserves so Sean Kelly with bugno and Kelly’s wheel and no doubt bugno knows where the real danger is but Kelly’s
Looking up ahead you’ll see him checking back behind just to get the shadow of bugno see there again so those two certainly the favorites and keing giving a very good lead out here and into the Sprint Kelly and bogno going for It Kelly taking it up now and here comes the strength of the big man and Kelly has a quick check to his left he’s won the classic gent Bev gam has been won by Sha Kelly he looked very strong very strong indeed bno was second and Herman n there with a green
Irish cap just in Kelly’s left shoulder the faithful Herman niece always close by to look after Shawn Kelly Kelly moved to the Dutch PDM team spending the early season winter training in Austria where his strength was also apparent on skis he had such an appetite for competition and he was an accomplished
Skier Kelly had moved to PDM and soon afterwards a major success followed in the 1989 Li Baston Le welcome this was a big return to form for sha Kelly with the new PDM team he’ refound his old confidence he was about to end the long drought since winning a
Race Kelly was in a leading group with fabis philipo riding for Tosh Sheba Phil Anderson again of Australia and riding of TVM was also here Anderson was if anything the big favorite but then Pedro Delgado launched an attack delgardo had said this was to be his most important race of this season and
He was determined to Win It Kelly had other ideas they recau delgardo who had split the front group they were now across all of the big Hills they were now heading down into the finish in the center of Li delgardo was at the back now he knew
His last chance had gone when he couldn’t break away on the final Hills Kelly knew though he had a big Sprinter in Phil Anderson to beat fabri philippo a Frenchman was on a high these were nervous moments because the remants of the Breakaway were not
Very far behind in fact only a matter of seconds this 268 kilm World Cup event could come down to a big sprint yet Rudy Dar Lauren F Stefan Rooks Miguel iner were all chasing ing behind while the four at the front diced for the final result well I knew if I got to
The finish with the with three other Riders I knew I had a very good chance chance in the Sprint uh but the problem is if you get a long ways ahead you get a minute and a half to two minutes ahead of the the group of riders which was
About 30 or 35 hours behind us well then the guy started started attacking so that was something that wasn’t going to suit me because if it start attacking Well everybody’s going to look around to me and let me do all the chasing so by not being very far head
There were no time to attack and it was perfect to we worked out in the final and the other side of was R Rooks and Tunis in the in the group behind I knew they were there and maybe possibly another Rider from PDM so I I said to
The other Riders well if we don’t work together well then we’re going to be caught we’re going to lose everything and that was that was what I said to the guys at the top of the last Hill which about I think 8 kilm 10 K before the
Finish and so it came down to what would be a Sprint finish as they race down into the city of Le it was now could Shan Kelly produce the finishing Sprint that would win him this great race Phil Anderson TVM on the left one and a half kilomet to go fabis philippo
Behind him Shan Kelly Number 14 was right there into the streets Kelly had taken fourth position Anderson was worried about him he knew the power of sha Kelly once Kelly saw the Finishing Line Pedro Delgado setting the pace the non-s Sprinter he’d lost his Chance by
Not breaking clear in the Hills he tried but he failed delgardo slipped back Kelly maintained number four wheel Anderson that was worried not only about Shan Kelly but by the fast approaching chasing group behind which were in fact now a matter of seconds and there they were this was an important ride for
Kelly his new sponsors he wanted the big win Anderson hit the front early Kelly gratefully took second wheel delgardo is now out of it Filippo though had to be watched then they lined up for the Finish Shan Kelly on the left of our picture went smoothly through the inside
Of Anderson and came quite clear of the field philipo just holding the revs got second but Kelly had got his big win yet again by 1990 Kelly had been a professional for 13 years when I spoke to him in Austria at zelam already he’d been at the top longer than most but
Clearly was still enjoying it was retirement now looming Shan 10 years ago 1980 was beginning you’ve been a pro a couple of years people were talking about you then as the upand cominging Superstar are they were absolutely right what’s going to happen now we’re going into the ’90s obviously retirement will
Come at some stage this decade but you you’re not thinking of retiring right now are you no not thinking of retiring right now um hopefully after this year that be do another I’d like to do another year maybe two but I think after this year two years more would be my
Maximum and uh well I can’t give myself I can’t keep myself um like another three years and that’s going to be it now you have the ultimate respect of the professional Riders and they are the best judge of their own Rivals they all respect you because you never seem
To be affected by illness or injury or the weather or bad morale now is that your secret of success well I think that’s been uh a lot of My Success um whether and uh you know when when I’m on on an off time in during the year for
Example you know you go through times where the form is not very good and I don’t uh um I don’t mourn about it a lot I think that’s a problem with a lot of riders the very M you know they’re enough and off off for uh they just lose
The moral and you know they they just stop training that is the problem when you’re you know when you’re not in a good going through a good patch uh you know they lose out on that training I think that’s that’s the time when when you really have to work on more and get
Back get back again to top cycling was the earner but the twins expected by wife Linda were their life now and this was far more important at Shay Kelly than another win in Milan Sano I won’t have really a big acting this my job is done um it’s going to be more difficult
For Linda because uh first of all as a profession you’re away so much and uh normally it’s for the third of March so uh you know I don’t know where I will be at that moment uh but um you know it will be it will be it will change a
Lifestyle a lot because first of all you can’t go away uh whenever you like and for Linda more so she you know she came a lot to the races for example the race in Belgium and uh she was travel lot a lot more before she was more free well
Now it’s it won’t be the same situation but uh you know I’m really looking forward to it and she uh much more so Nigel and Stacy arrived and like it or not they were already part of Dad’s team this was an event Kelly was very happy
To take fourth in as the stage went first to babies and then to Linda as the children were baptized and why was Ireland chosen instead of Belgium for the christening well Linda wanted to have the babies here because all our family is here all both of our
Families are all here and secondly uh we’re B happy moments though quickly disappeared as a return to the battlefields of classic riding resulted in a bad fall in the 1990 tour of flers a race sha always wanted to win but finished second in three times he broke
His collar bone so the kids got to know Dad a bit better an unexpected chance to learn about being a father as well as a bike rider Kelly would recover as his Rivals always knew because he was such a professional well I’ve you know I’ve put
A lot of work into us um I think um you I’m one of the Riders who really work hard us uh maybe I’m not a rider with uh with a huge amount of class I have you know a certain amount but I work very
Hard uh to uh to stay up there and over the past years uh you know as you get older you have to work harder again and uh it’s probably for one of those reasons uh that you know the other Riders look up to me and say well he’s
You know one of the one of the professionals who was uh you know who who who really lived the life of as a of a professional for uh for the classic races at the moment there’s not great rivalry in the team um some of the Riders uh that we had last year there
Was a change about or some have left so I’m really uh you know the leader or you know one one of the leaders for the uh for the classic races but in 1991 he was back home again in midseason with another broken collar bone in parin a
Race he had won a record seven times straight he was getting used to holding the children but although the season may have started badly it would end on a high note the mighty sha was not relinquishing his crown yet and the tour of Lombardy would be his for a third
Time in the race of the falling leaves Kelly was with a Frenchman Marshall gayon the per were clear and gayon little known as a sprinter was never going to be a match for the Irishman just for a change here’s how the name Kelly sounds in Italian This win proved even to him there were still a couple of Seasons left in those talented legs and in 1992 he would again show the world that he just couldn’t stop winning my last was uh which gave me an enormous amount of pleasure probably as much as my first classic win
Um the reason I wasn’t a favor for the event um and um you know leading up to the event I hadn’t been right in that strong but I felt quite I felt quite well in in the Torino R was writing very strong and I felt myself um that I had a good
Chance and I was feeling very good but I didn’t draw my cards uh as I had probably you know in other years where I was writing everything to try and win before even before the classics and went toan when I felt very very strong in the
End and on the podo Argentina was riding so strong that year in Torino at latico he was just Miles Ahead everybody else and we had one or two to finish and he just left every for dead and just rolled away from them and when we got to the
Podo he started you know doing the same thing as he had been doing in the Torino attico and he started attacking he was just you know he was blowing the thing to Pieces a nice I decided on the podu was going to take a position you know
Eight or 10 position just sit there and you know leave if somebody else do the chasing and they did that Kelly was right to fear Moreno argentin because as soon as the podo climb started Argentine was straight to the front he was very very confident he knew he was the
Strongest man on the pro circuit at this time on this year Moreno Argentine was confident enough to ride at the front of the peleton as the slopes climbed a little bit steeper inch by inch The Climb itself is 3 kilometers long Moreno Argentine knows that to win Milan Sano
This is where you make your move slowly he opened the gap of the front and then he launched a very very strong attack where Argentina Throw Down The Gauntlet blasting off the back wheel none other than Lawrence jalab he was now heading for victory alone on the last climb of Milan
Sano and I came over the P was a group of about I think about eight or 10 behind in Argentine I think at 13 seconds over the top and I decided I was going to go for on the Descent and uh you know I said well you know at
Least I’ll be going for second place if I don’t catch him and I just took after him and I just you know took started taking risks at the beginning second place for sha Kelly he would never even dream of it yet Moreno Argentine had started the long drop down towards the
Finishing Line Shan Kelly just had to do something about it and do something about it quickly as I was going down I could see I was Claws and very very rapid ornament I just you know I gave it everything and took all the risks with all of Europe watching on television
These live pictures Shan Kelly made The Descent of his life simply riding the rest of Milan Sano off his wheel you know when you look at this end of the P if you miss a call well you know there there the walls uh which are you
Know 8 or 10 foot high there’s no place to run off uh where you can slow down a but you just go straight into the wall and you know when you look at that and and it always looks more dangerous on TV when you look at any of those events
Later but I definitely said you know after that event well you know I took I was just you know a bit crazy really and but walked out and you win in plastic like andanan Remo you said to yourself well you know uh you do that again if
You’re in the event you don’t start you don’t think about the danger you just think about catching the guy you think about winning and uh you you’re concentrating on what you’re doing you don’t never the danger never really comes into it until you know until there
You know be stuck in in the bottom of the w a look over his shoulder Moreno Argentine thought he was going to win Milan Sano he was now heading for the final kilometer he could never have accounted for The Madness of one sha Kelly he was a big favorite in you know
He was the best Rider by far at that moment when I CAU him then he wanted me to share the work but at that moment I was at making a very big effort uh to get to get to him and uh you know I said
No I just you know I’m not able and he uh he was the guy he panicked for us and he sat R and uh you know he he kept the kep the kept kept the gap between our and the bunchers which was coming up very quickly you know if I had taken the
Front then and uh he wouldn’t have he wouldn’t have you know did as I did he would have come over me so he would have waited for me to lead out to Sprint and when you’re in that position it’s the worst position to be on the [Applause] front so Shan Kelly was a brilliant winner again but he was still hoping for one more big win the T of flers in Belgium the race that had eluded him throughout his career well the flers was it’s a very important one and if you live in Belgium like I did for many
Years for the Belgium to of FL you know such an event is the event of the year and you know I was you know one of the big favorites of many years and finished second on many occasions but I just couldn’t pull off the two of flers and
You know there were Seasons there where I was I was the best in the race um by far and you know there was always somebody slipped away or you know the other the other team tactics that just uh you know they just just CAU me out of winning the
Event the tour of Flanders is the most revered race in Belgium and the best Riders of their day have won it but for sha Kelly it was never to be the race is centered in an area famous for its short but steep hills and cobblestones it
Should have been a gift from heaven for Kelly it was his kind of race I suppose his best came in 1985 he was in a leading group of four Riders surely the best finisher of them all there was only one really good finisher here and that was the rider
Following sha Kelly’s wheel adri van the pole by his own admission sha Kelly felt stronger than anybody else in the race this day he was too confident he led out uncharacteristically far too soon it was a long way to the line ADI Vander Poole dug deep into his reserves and came up
And overtook sha Kelly what a disappointment it must have been it was it was a disappointment you know not having I would like to have you know had of a tour of flas in in exchange of even one of the other Classics T of France uh I read about a couple lines in the paper and Eddie Max wins his T of France for such and such a time or you know he T time is four time um but what it entailed exactly how long the event was I didn’t realize until
Until I was almost professional when it was you know 19 or 20 um when I became professional in my first years um I wasn’t a guy who was you know capable of winning the classics and I certainly wasn’t capable of winning a tour of France and uh you know the classics I
Had to develop and get stronger and be capable of riding all them that distance and the T our friends I had a lot I had a long ways to go because I was really a sprinter in my first years as a professional and I had to you know a
Time trial I had to improve quite a lot in the mountains I was limited uh so you know I didn’t never thought about winning a tour of France in my first couple of years as a professional But as time went on when I you know I got
Stronger and I got stronger on all fronts time triling in the mountains well then um you know people start saying well you know he’s becoming a candidate for Tour of France when and I was a favorite you know a couple years into the Tour of
France but um I think the one thing uh that affected my performance in the Tour of France was doing too much in the early path of the Season writing all the classics going down to Spain writing tour of P Basque writing uh tour of Catalonia and you know racing from one
Event to the other and by the time the tour of fans came around I was a bit you know bit tired a bit you know suffering fatig when I look back now um I think if I changed my program on the beginning of season had a lighter program I
Definitely could have had a better Tour of France finish uh I certainly think a place in the podium um but I think a win would always have been difficult because in the high mountains I was always I always had a day where I I suffered a
Bit and lost a bit of time having turned professional for the Belgian flandria team in 1977 Shan Kelly’s first to to France came the following year unlike most new professionals his ability had shown he was ready for the toughest race of all at an early stage of his career
He was a great tour man 14 tours and 12 finishes with a record four Green winners points jerseys the 1980 tour provided much drama outed gone race leader Bernard Eno with injury and new leader yop zut mik of Holland was also in a spot of bother
It was the Year Kelly won two stages being said by the champion of Holland Johan veld oh he’s going down oh he’s brought down the yell Jers oh my goodness me that’s terrible van theelder has brought down the leader both mates both teammates in TI rally
This is big trouble now for Jes M back on his bike he’s obviously slipped the gear there as he went up now let’s see it in slow motion what exactly happened there he got out of the sad he slipped the gear he’s taken the front wheel away
From underly and down goes job zut of Holland for TI rally that is an absolute disaster grandela himself zelt now being pushed off big shove now this is going to be a tremendous fight back for zut of Holland 1 minute 18 seconds is all he has over
Henny Kyper Kyper is still in that leading group and you can bet your life that he saw the blood dripping off the left arm there of uh Z ZK after years of trying finally went on to win the 1980 tour the first Victory by a rider sponsored by a British company but Irish
Interest was still with sha Kelly and on the road toti end the hopes hit a high now we’re back up to the front here and the number 57 on the right of the screen is Shan Kelly with laretta looking very unwilling to do any work at all but where are the other two
Men Kelly on this climb looks to be in the spot bother Kelly in fact looks to be struggling on this climb now is he in front or is he behind at the moment certainly the little span laretta is a very very good climber I wouldn’t expect
Him to be left behind by delad or Joe Mars on this climb Kelly obviously making him do his turn at the front he looked around and then pushed him into the lead and now we’re going down the and they away this is tremendous Kelly has gone clear of the two danger men as
Far as he is concerned Joe Mar of Holland and Ludo Dela of Belgium those two Riders losing a considerable ground on this climb now and surely if Kelly can make the top of this climb The Descent and the Finish will just be a formality for him now the main field or
What is left of the main field being led up here by too Jean too a new French Rider in his first toour to France and in this group too y zut mik of Holland the overall leader and all of his dangerous men second overall Raymond Martin and third overall Henny
Kyper Shan Kelly now settling into the long descent this descent initially extremely wide and very fast bends and the rid is going to come down here something at up to 55 60 MPH and the weather absolutely beautiful so the speeds will be immense Kelly pounding on that big gear now the
Highest of his 12 gears being pushed around there Kelly seemingly not interested now in any help at all from lareta to Spain now the climb is over what a nail fighting finish this is going to be for Sean Kelly he he’s always involved in something Sensational
This young man from car onur he’s been disqualified earlier this tour to France for pushing his way out of the main field and literally elbowing his way to the line and pulling jerseys and all sorts of things and he was disqualified although he won the stage and he’s also
Thought he’s won twice when in fact that have been Riders ahead of him which he didn’t know about so now we into this narrow road and this is where Kelly and laretta can make most of their game extremely tight Corners Kelly visibly slowing down now speeds down to 40 miles an
Hour well the news now really encouraging indeed one minute the time Gap one minute so they’ve gone back out to a minute having been down to 41 seconds and it’s all the work of sha Kelly there is the main field one minute behind Shawn Kelly and
Laretta and taking no chances at all on this descent coming up towards the last 2 kilomet to go and at the last laretta has gone to the front and he’s doing some work with about 2 kilm to go to the finish the Spanish Rider laretta has gone to the
Front and Shan Kelly is having to follow now has Shan Kelly done just too much on this 19th stage of the tour to France to now use his Sprint and win what will be for him his second stage win in his tours to France the first for him this
Year and Kelly now in second place this is the first time Kelly has been in the slipstream of laretta for the last eight miles of this stage Kelly’s done all the work and there one kilometer to go so we’re going to know the decision very shortly now Kelly in the best possible
Place for the spinter for the element of surprise free wiing at last he’s been down to 41 seconds on that group which contains Yoke zilal the overall leader but he’s by virtue of all his own work he’s pulled the lead out again to 1 minute 25 seconds at the last check so
Kelly now knows there is some time available for finessing to try and outthink and out with the Spaniard laretta but even as I speak Kelly goes back into the front and Letta goes back into his customary place in second position remember Kelly was disqualified at n when he elbowed and pushed and pulled
His way through the main field to win the stage there in a photo finish in the world champion Yan Ras he was disqualified and placed 101st on the stage he hasn’t forgotten that and he’s been looking for the stage win ever since he’s doing it in this most unusual
Fashion for a sprinter he’s broken clear of the field and he’s coming in towards the deadly end now with just one man to contend with Kelly now knows that he’s almost at the Finishing Line he’s in the wrong position in the front lareta looks to me
As though he’s a man preparing for the Sprint he’s not going to give this one to sha Kelly on a plate certainly despite the fact he’s done no assistance at all in this Breakaway they can now see the line Kelly going for the line Kelly must keep his line straight
Because the judges do not seem to like Shan Kelly too much in this race Kelly why oh what’s he done Lett is set up he’s giving it to Kelly and that was a gentleman reaction Sean Kelly has won the stage his first stage in this year’s toor of
France and now there is Shan Kelly so Shan Kelly indeed is looking for the Finish again he won already into sedet end now on Saturday with one day to go to the end of the to to France Kelly Number 57 riding just behind this ride who is Johan Velda of Holland there is
Sean Kelly so Kelly again looking for victory on this penultimate there and that’s the Gap so sha Kelly clear at the moment with Johan van deelder of Holland and there certainly doesn’t seem to be a lot of interest at the rear of this main field but of course they’re
Not likely to know that just ahead of the group now there are three Riders clear and one is sha Kelly of Ireland but there is sha Kelly now out at the of the group with him Johan Velda number 18 and it looks also like Jerry vindon of
Belgium and the Gap is about 50 m and this is now the scramble from the main field to make contact with the leaders and there’s Johan vanela of Holland still trying to work away clearly towards the end of this stage Shan Kelly and all the field are
On them so that attack has not worked but Kelly and vanel are still right at the front of this long long line this feeli now an attack going there on the right of the road van over shelder I think that is the Frenchman with this very strange Belgian sounding name
But the pack now extremely Vigilant and now they’re being pushed round towards the finishing straight in the center of the picture tala and he’s done it again Shan Kelly has won his second stage of this year’s to the front and that is the sight of the Eiffel Tower and the sign that the
Riders have at last come into Paris to finish the event well there the field comes up to these beaten men who are dropping back into the peleton now the main field Shan Kelly passing through the picture now there also the yellow Jersey of zel keeping his eye on the first
Doesn’t want to get involved in any silly accident now on these last few kilometers of this year’s Tour of France you’ll always see that yellow Jersey now at or very near the front of the group and the whole field you see how these Riders are beginning to die in the
Sprint for the line now tremendous battle for the line here they’re hanging on and it’s going to be trouble because these are where the cones are on the left Road they’ve taking the cones away now spint on the right the where is Sean Kelly Josh Jacobs in the center of the
Screen now Shan Kelly looks to be in fourth or fifth place coming up now towards the line one of the iceberg team has got it and that certainly looks to me as though the win has certainly gone to Paul VCA of Belgium his first win in
The tour to France P the scooter and there a very happy picture Jerry canans waves the arm of the winner of the toour to France y z of Holland and Kelly did finish second on the stage he now had a total of three stages in three tours and
His finish at 29th this time was his best to date and he was still only 24 in 1981 the French Renault team were out to get Bernard Eno back on top after giving up the previous year Kelly was on form again winning the stage at ton and Le
Ban but slipping in the overall picture to 48th then came 1982 and the first of four Podium places in Paris the champion of the race on points As We join Mark Gomez is leading Gomez absolute concentration and the effort written all over his face now his mouth wide open guling in the
Air just a glance over his shoulder just to make sure his progress is sweet at the moment he’s holding off the ho field the adrenaline must be cing now through his arteries because there’s the field right behind him now and Kelly is right there in fifth or sixth position
Johan Kelly is right in amongst that field and Gomez is brave loone Escape is over and Kelly is there in third place so now at last can we see sha Kelly winner stage of the tour to France he’s had two second places he’s had fifth
He’s had third he’s yet to win a stage and at the front the teammates here of Eddie planker who’s becoming the number one rival to sha Kelly at the end of these stages of the to but the field is tightening up now as they’re coming in towards the finishing
C absolutely enormous crowd in Bordeaux the whole of the city I think taking the afternoon off to see the arrival of the tour to France this the most famous of all the finishing cities in the tour to France and the most often visited and for the first time we’re
Coming together in one large bunch and now the attacks will be come to the line and this is a sun Rider trying to go clear now to stop Kelly winning the bonus reaction coming from the field surely they won’t lose it now these Riders from the S France FL team
Kelly can never have smelt the Finish closer than this now after 10 days of racing and never want to stayed and look at the Gap well this is an opportunist win indeed it’s not it’s one of the walber teamer going clear and look at this Gap
V hasn’t won to State the toour the FL for about four years I don’t think a rider from the region lives not very far south of Bordeaux he finished second yesterday beating ganas to the line for third for second place and what an opportunist uh what opportunity rather
This is for Raymond vmia and he’s another man that can’t Sprint For Goodness Me he’s got the Gap now he’s jumped the field just as all the sprinters were toying with each other waiting for the Finish Raymond filia has broken clear the teammate of Gomez and he’s coming up to the Finish
300 me to go now and it looks as though Gomez or rather V now Gomez’s teammate is going and look at the the pack coming now can V make it Kelly on the far right of the P it’s coming down the head to Kelly F try for the line look at the
Speed of Kelly he’s driv too late too late F get Kelly is second and robbed the again and that’s Kelly’s third second place and Raymond ban gets the victory from Sha Kelly but sha Kelly increases his lead even further in his quest to winning that green
Jersey so we’re now on the final climb of the day and nothing like as severe as the Pyrenees which you can see behind us there the cot Ron a short climb given a third category rating and immediately to the front comes Robert Alba the lanky Frenchman he really has no
Muscles at all this man yet he has such tremendous ability to climb the mountains he prefers to climb unusual for a climber really he prefers to climb out of the saddle most of the time and aide him on our left is the American Boer and Boer now really climbing very
Very well indeed alongside Bernard Eno here in the yellow Jersey of leader of course this year’s to to France now Bo looking extremely determined certainly not the face there of a man who’s feeling the pressures of this stage all the time Alban setting the pace and a reason for this of course is
That his teammate Bernard Val is in this Breakaway and Valley is the man he’s trying to defend look at the face there of Phil Anderson as he goes through Anderson now out of yellow and into white sha Kelly in that green jersey and if ever there was a favorite now to win
This tour the fr on point it has to be Kelly and this group now coming towards the top of the final climb of the day 18 Riders In Front including Shan Kelly including Bernard Eno and including Phil Anderson and what a great day this has been for Anderson and especially for Kelly because he’s done what he never
Believed was possible he survived with the best climbers in this year St of France on the cul LA and the Calo Beast the cuul 4,850 ft and the Calo Beast 567 the pace now being made here by Robert Alan Alba in the front trailed by
Eno oh and look at the face of Eno now the determination a man who’s suffering just like Anderson there going through and look at Kelly his mouth wide open but he must be increasingly confident now knowing he staying with these people and with six miles to go they won’t get
Rid of him now and maybe we’re going to see Sean Kelly win the stage but he couldn’t win on the flat and he’s going to do it in the mountains so over the top of the last Hill of the day and that’s all the Kong was because it’s nothing like the two
Big mountains the Riders have climbed today the Calo Beach the CU they were shrouded in mist and the most dangerous conditions I’ve seen in 10 years at to the France five yards the visibility and Phil Anderson and Shan Kelly there’s Kelly still in this group and there’s
Jonathan Bo passing through too Bo is alert Bo is alert he’s looking around so he’s not a tired man this could be a very good State result now for the English speaking Riders three of them in this group and there’s only five of them in the tour to France this is the most
Elite leading Bunch we’ve had in this year’s race so far because the mountains are always so selective the pace being set here by laretta Trail by Bernard Eno behind him is Bernard Valet and here you can see valet moving up there in that polka dot Jersey to join Eno at the Front and so the Riders now can almost see po for the first time they’re coming off the Pyrenees The 18 leaders on the 12th day of the tour to France LED here by Robert Alba Trail by laretta and there are two of them in this Breakaway Marino and ishma there goes Shan Kelly Phil Anderson Raymond Maran and Bernardino Bernard Valley Peter winen justtin Wilman of Norway J zut of
Holland anny Kyer of Holland Jonathan Bo of the United States stage Johan vanela the champion of Holland what a great selective group this is just this long narrow descent now and all of a sudden the Riders will drop off this descent onto a main road and as if
By Magic they’ll be out of the lanes and into the wide boulevards of Po where a huge crowd await them and the Riders then pass through the finish and do one circuit and come back to the line and surely a win here for either Boer of the United States Kelly of Ireland or
Anderson of Australia none of them now want to make a mistake because they’re so close to home and with tremendous gains today Kelly now going to be not just the leader of the tour to France on points but right up at the top challenging a g
For that yellow Jersey being held by Eno and what about Anderson third overall and going to climb back up to second place and out of the mountains for the day come the 18 leaders in the tour to France and the Riders now swinging off into the wide roads of bordeau and sha
Kelly has survived the hardest day of his career and now ironically he could well win a stage of the tour to France in the mountains having not been able to do so on the flat roads Kelly right at the front of this group in that green jersey alongside him is Bernard Eno in
Yellow and the other top man of this year’s tour Phil Anderson wearing white and that’s little beta at the back of the group a little Italian who has at last come into his own on the climbs join the leaders for the first time in over 1100 miles of Racing way down at the moment in 60th place but rapidly uh putting Matters To Rights now as he goes clear with his very select group of 18 riders in this group first bro of Switzerland zut of Holland Peter winen Justin Wilman there number 40 91 Henny Kyper there’s winen just passing out and
Now we go towards the front and gain the Spanish Rider laretta setting the pace followed there by Bernard Eno and Kelly Kelly now surely going to win the Sprint he’s shown us every day of this tour to France that when there’s a group he always wins and I’m sure he won’t let us
Down now unless he gets caught again by these attacks and that’s one of the laretta brothers going off up the road there’s two in this group so forgive me if I make a mistake they’re exactly alike the Ishmael Letta and Marino laretta once the mountains of the
Pyrenees came the culu the CUO Beast they just flew up them like Angels Eno had to chase Eno brought up the majority of riders in this group Kelly caught up on The Descent and now as we approach the finishing po Kelly is looking likely for a
Win zut there at the back of the group but down below we can see that lonely figure of laretta whether it’s Ishmael or Marino I simply do not know but it’s one of Them a huge crowd in po one of the best finishes on the tour to France this wide Bouevard fard Valley out of the saddle there Bo in a wrong position here I think he feel he’s done enough work to stay with sha Kelly his team leader he’s sitting at the back but as we come through now Eno showing himself at the front and Kelly is going to have his
Hands full because I think Eno is still smarting having lost the time trial to Jed Canan he might well try to win this and when he wants to win he has a spint to match Sean Kelly and Kelly knows it Kelly tooks in right behind him now he
One very small circuit to go and Anderson in third place what a finish the first day in the panes and Kelly and Anderson of maxino pedal stroke for pedal stroke 18 survivors of a great battle in the mountains Men missing John reny Bernardo he’s losing over two minutes and that
Will make Anderson without doubt the team leader of the persio squad job zik a great follower again at the back of this leading group now Kelly I almost feel like please saying to him please Shan don’t make a mistake now don’t let the counterattacks go on the wrong side of
The road Kelly’s reacting Kelly going he’s not making the mistake this time he’s lost too many stages like that and he’s left Eno on his own as we come Round the Corner now Kelly in second place he must be Valley Valley leads Kelly is too fast for Valley Kelly waits
He waits he watches Anderson’s on his wheel round again Valley leads Kelly followed by Anderson what a finish Kelly’s going to go now there’s the line Kelly Anderson also trying Kelly Kell on the right Valley on the left Anderson also trying Kelly come on Char for the
Last side Kelly’s one the last stage of the to of France what a great result and I think everybody will be delighted at that one Sean Kelly gets his victory for the first time and how ironic it’s come at the end of the flat stages and in the
Mountains well after that I’m not too sure who’s out of breath most me or Shawn Kelly but indeed what a fabulous spint and I think Sean’s with me now Sean that was one of the finest spins I’ve seen for many years yes it was a it was a very a very
Very fast very very fast finish the cers you know when we come out to the C who make the who set the pace and he he set a very very fast pace and uh yes the Sprint it was uh I was I was in a good
Position with the spint I take the last Corner in in second position which was the which was the best position really and uh then I I I I I start my spint and I win win quite easily but Sean we’ve seen you nearly win three times climbs
On the flat and now we come to the highest climbs in the Pyrenees you not only stay with them but you beat the best climbers in the race now how do you explain that yes this morning uh before the start I said to myself uh I’ve read the last the first
Time the first 10 days of race I ride very very strong and I always we always ride for the for minor placings in the race there’s always a group that get away towards the end so this morning I say if I can pass with the with the with
The with the force group if i r if i r to the spr then I I have a I have a great chance of of winning the stage now on The Descent of both the suo and the L Beast today it was very very foggy indeed and terribly dangerous what was
It like coming down yes on the obis it was very very dangerous the fog you could only see at at the first at when we when we started the Cent we could only see less than 100 yards in front 150 yards and was we could not see the
Corners in what in what direction the corners were turning it was quite dangerous and we we deci we descend very quite fast but uh yes we get down okay the group I was in nobody fall so right now then we’ve won one you’re the green jersey I can’t see anybody taking that
From you sea but what will you do now in the next mounting stages yes the green jersey that’s something I I do everything to take it to Paris and uh tomorrow stage is it’s it’s a mountain to finish which is something it’s it’s a bit too hard for
Me when it’s arrival at the top but uh yes half the mountain tells that there’s there’s more stages on the flash and there there’s some Mountain stages that that also arrive at at the bottom of the mountain so you never know winning Sprint points on a Mountain Stage
Assured the green jersey an Irish first in 1983 Kelly rated a different color of higher value know professionals when they dream to R France or uh to get the yellow Jersey and then of course if you become a rider who who have the capabilities and who you know who’s an
All rounder capable of winning a toour fany think about winning it but every professional you know dream about carrying the Y of Jersey on the back for one day and I actually did that in one day and one day only but you know I I
Look back at that as being one of my great achievements uh you know as I said it’s it’s something you look forward to when you become professional before you just become professional and if you can do that well then you know it’s it’s it’s a great it’s a great achievement so
Much so only two other Irishmen to date have ever done it sheay Elliot the Trailblazer in Europe he kept it for 2 days in 1963 and doubler Steven roach he hit the jackpot in 1987 when he won the race after a great battle with the Spaniard Pedro delgardo Kelly however has a sad
Memory of his yellow Jersey actually I I had that yellow Jersey and my cow was broken into Paris half the Tour of France and it was actually stolen so the that that I wore on the one day that was stoling from my car but I got I got a yellow jelly from
The organization that t France uh so I’ve got that one but it’s not it’s not the real thing hasn’t got the perspiration out exactly because I did I did have a lot of on that day because it was a stage in the Pyrenees actually I
Took on the stage into Po and the next day was into the mountains and I really had a day of suffering the tour to France is all about suffering but Kelly made sprinting look easy in 1983 he was in green again and heading for a second win in a classification ranked second
Only to the outright Victory it was a jersey most important to him yes well the green jersey is it’s very important and in the Tour of France uh it’s you know it’s it’s after the after the yellow Jersey it’s a very important uh very important Jersey and it’s it’s big
Publicity for the teams and after the Tour of France forance races it’s you know it’s very very it’s a race it’s a jersey that’s you know very very demanded and you know for me I did four times winner it’s you know it’s a record and it still stands in 1984 Kelly was
Stopped by Belgian Frank Hoster from winning three green straight but there were other the things to celebrate well on Wednesday between C Ponto and Allan son it really was a mixed day for the Irish it All Began so happily because Steven roach began the stage knowing
That his wife had just given birth to their new son Nicholas and he was anxious to tell all the race about it in fact he carried photographs of the child in his back pocket so with the permission of all the race it was a happy moment when Steven roaches was
Allowed to attack and press on to the village where he is adopted in cery Salan car by all the French people in fact he’s building a house there and waiting at the end of the street and flying the Irish flag was the mother of Steven roach who’d come out from Dublin
To see her new grandson and also to see her son in the tour to France it was an emotional moment and the crowd loved it but it was a different tale at the finish of the stage because trying to celebrate the birth of roach’s son was
Shan Kelly and perhaps he was a little bit too enthusiastic because he can be seen quite clearly here to push the former amate world champion Gilbert glouse towards the barriers and so Frank host wins the stage his second stage win of the tour and Kelly was an hour later
Disqualified and relegated to 140th Place fined at 90 lb and penalized 15 seconds uh yes well uh in in the Sprint uh 300 me in the line I I I I attacked my Sprint and I was I was on the front and uh 100 me before the line they had
Problems with the podium before the finish and uh they had to move out the barriers so the bar the barriers fil filtered out onto the road and uh glow was on me inside so naturally when the barriers came out he also he also pushed pushed me to get out and uh the commer
Said that I didn’t keep my line in the Sprint but I looked at it a couple of times on television and uh I kept my line in the last 200 met it was the it was the the barriers which which you know which was our for and so to the
Mountains we go Sean and I’ve got a feeling we’re going to see a lot of you coming in in the Sprint finishes am I right well uh I hope so hope in the mountains that I get I can get through better than I did last year and uh give
It everything for the general in the last in the last two weeks he climbed to fifth overall in the general and still ran Hoster to the line in the green jersey race is trying to play on this vital few moments of the tour to France all his effort going into this final
Kilom I think it is now as we come through there it is the red flame flies in the sky the last kilometer and would you believe it he’s been caught virtually on the line vinon goes back into the pack now where is sha Kelly because if he wins this he’s going to be
In the green jersey as points leader of this Tour of France tonight and that would be a result Miller in the P the do’s King of the mountains Kelly in the green but they’re coming up to the Finish now in a mass Sprint I can see the green jersey of
Frank Hoster Belgium jostling in the middle there but he’s well boxed in on the left this could well be lii on the front now and I think Phil Anderson in second place jack hanra in third place Frank Hoster Gilbert GL of Switzerland is here to hanra comes on the left now
Bernardino having a go two Enos in the center hanra on the right host is on the left coming up to line now Jack hanro coming to line hanro and Hoster Frank Hoster takes the lead now heo is in third place pass get it Sean Kelly was
Second or third so a good result for Shan Kelly next day the time trial and Kelly was a blink of the eyelid off beating luren Fon keeping him on hoster’s tail for his three green jerseys in a row as well Kelly had always said if you’re near the top of
The leaderboard you can time trial fast he proved it losing by a tenth of a second n frch on boile to the best time trial Rider of that time Kelly was also closing in on hosta the sign of Paris and all the Riders passes by now they know now this
Tour of France is coming to an end number seven here ion Mio number two is Vincent BTO number four is Dominique G these are the Riders the Faithful Servants of the overall leader of this race Lauren Fong and there he is Lauren F now approaching the Shan CIS how must he
Feel this was the greatest tour the France for many years and F has proved he is the number one all these riders in the jerseys of Rena and there is Robert Miller at the back of the field sitting unac customly at the back because he
Knows now his job is done and done well as the leader of the king of the mountains competition he can’t be caught content to arrive in this big pack but although the individual positions now seem to be settled as the tour comes towards the streets of the shanis there
Is still one great battle to be enacted because Shan Kelly riding in the green jersey as leader of this race on points must finish in front of Frank Hoster of Belgium to be certain of that final Accolade white jersey there of Greg lamon the American in his first toour to
France was a r finishing third the best ever overall position from an American the face of Alan bondu more accustomed to being seen on the bank vomes riding just 5,000 m this time at the end of 4,000 kilomet the attacks are beginning this is going to damage the lead of
Bondo the cheers you may hear are all for Alan Bondo for all those people throughout the English speaking part of the world would they ever have thought that they would have witnessed three english- speaking riders coming onto the shant in third fourth and fifth places for the
First time in the history of the Tour of France Phil Anderson goes through Steven roach goes through ta de Roy then Paul Sherin and again bondue looks over his shoulder again he brings this race onto the Shantel through the Finishing Line he’s been in the lead now for over 10
Miles the only big question mark we have left to answer is can sha Kelly and there he is finish ahead of Frank Hoster the rider just in front of him here in the blue on the inside of Alan Piper in the white if Frank Foster wins this stage and Shan Kelly finishes even
Second then Kelly will lose this race on points and lose that green jersey to Frank Hoster of Belgium and I think Although our cameras didn’t show it the brave Escape by Alan bondu is over he’s been swept up by the pack so Ryder number 33 bondue has been
CAU after a magnificent Brave escape and at least that will give him the prize of the day for being the most consistent lap winner on the shanis now you can see all of the toour the France gutter to gutter 124 Riders and Shan Kelly in green making his way
Towards the front of the group well whatever happens in the Sprint whether or not Shan Kelly retains that green jersey this has been an historic to of France there’s no doubt now that Robert Miller of Scotland will be the king of the mountain and will finish fourth
Overall the best Britain since the days of Tom Simpson who finished sixth in 1962 there’s no doubt either that Greg lont will become the best American ever in third place and keep that white jersey and the John Kelly Green or not at the Finish will finish fifth overall
Inside the last kilometers of the finish and this is going to be the most hectic Sprint that to made him earn it Kelly himself had gone around France in the fifth best time he wasn’t just a sprinter anymore and would be a favorite in 1985 although 180 guys start to the
Press not everybody has a chance of winning there maybe five Riders capable of winning Greg Lon Bernard Hino Steven Ro Phil Anderson Sean Kelly and it’s basically a race between those five and we’re into the last kilometer now as Anderson comes over his shoulder looks over his shoulder now Phil Anderson on
The outside now but Eric vaner is not in this group and this is going to be a CP about that at this stage of the 1985 tour Kelly was keeping his options open he was well up on the overall classification for the yellow Jersey fifth on that stage and the leader in
The red jersey Town Sprint competition a third green had to be considered now so the sprinters are being uh approached by the stairs as it were in the tour to France the men who are thinking of that yellow Jersey in Paris still 19900 miles away because sha Kelly has not yet made
Up his mind whether he’s going to win this race for the yellow Jersey which is the jersey in the Tour of France or for the race on on points which is the green jersey for the Race’s most consistent daily finisher Kelly is in second place in that competition at the moment just a
Couple of points behind Eric Vander who wears the green jersey as points leader today so the field all together once again the attack by Piper has been swallowed up the cameraman on this motorbike quite literally leads a very precarious lifestyle he’s always in amongst the Riders and on the mountains it’s a
Difficult job but they’re swinging into the home straight now as they come up the long long finishing straight it’s the sort of finish that sha Kelly will love normally the red jersey of Kelly on the far right now he and vandon pushes him out of it and Kelly on the far right
Of the picture now comes through and there’s punching and pushing going on there Varden and Kelly as they come towards the line now Varden gets the lead and takes the line and in second place there I think was Leno but you know I think there will possibly be an
Objection by Sha Kelly because vanderen quite clearly was fending off Kelly fists were flying when the judges studied the video they decided that Vander Arden and Kelly on The Extreme right of the picture here should both be relegated for their physical contact to 125th and 126th places in the race on
The day what was Kelly’s view of that incident at course when he brought me across the road I was I was lying on top of him I was sprinting almost on top of his bars and I didn’t I didn’t leave my bars go because I knew of I knew uh I
Knew when you take a hands off the B the come they they disqualify right away so I tried to continue but as I was going right over the left towards the barriers I had to had to push him because I was afraid that he was going to put me the
Barriers and uh at a speed like that uh if you hit the barriers it’s better to it’s better be disqualified than hit the barriers at 60 km an hour you’re in an unusual position whereas you could win the green jersey for the race on point which you’ve done twice before but you
Also possibly have the ability to win this race and the yellow Jersey and no irishman’s ever done that which one are you going to go for well for me the green jersey that’s my that was my objective right from the staff because I think I have more of uh more of
Possibility to take the green jersey to par than the yellow but I will see how it will how it will go uh for example in the time till this afternoon I think uh that will decide a lot and then in the following Mountain stages uh so the race is very
Very open up to this up to now so I will see I will see uh what way I get through the mountains and the time TR but little Colombian climber Lucho Herrera helped spoil Kelly’s dream of winning the Golden Fleece as he combined with Bernard Eno in the mountains to move
Clear at the top overall American Greg lemond involved in a personal battle with teammate Eno was also forcing Kelly onto the defensive this was a year of change and the clear arrival of not just lemond but also Steven roach on the CUO beast in the Pyrenees
Roach danced his way to his first ever stage victory it was to be another memorable day for Ireland 2 Eno was forced to chase to keep his lead he had his hands ful enough with Greg lemond but now another Irishman was giving him trouble the badger as he was known was a great
Fighter at the summit of the pyrenean giant roach took the line in Grand style looking back this was the start of tour Fame for roach but that was still two years away not far behind Kelly delivered the Irish one two and that had never happened before Kelly went on to
Win that third green jersey and while roach finished third Kelly took fourth injury left Kelly out of the 1986 race and in 1987 the year of roach Kelly again had only sad memories of a crash his non-f finish for the first time brought only sadness to Ireland and his many race
Followers 87 in the tour um I tore ligaments in my shoulder uh it was one the stage where we’re going along at quite a quite a casual casual pace and I was actually talking I was chatting with Steven roach and there was uh you know there was a there was right
Those break suddenly in front of me and I wasn’t concentrating and that’s the time some of the you know the most that’s the time you break something in those sorts of trashes because you’re not concentrating you’re too relax and uh I was caught out in the Tour of France that
Year in defeat Kelly showed the courage of a great Champion everyone around him wanted to help because Kelly simply had no enemies he deserved a better departure than This you’re right Sean you’re right boy you’re right Sean you’re right Sean you’re right right the two f is it’s for a professional biker it’s a dream to win the Tour of France and for me uh you know I think it’s if I going to win the Tour of France well it’s got to be in
The next two or three years maximum if I doesn’t if I don’t win in in the next three years well then I’m never going to win it there was no animosity or Envy in Kelly when he saw Steven roach win the race that year thus becoming the first
Irishman to conquer the tour but it didn’t stop Kelly from wanting it for himself either uh you know our France it’s it’s it’s you know the most important stage to win and for every profession it’s just it’s just it’s just their dream and uh if I could win the
Tour of France this year well then uh I think that would you know just it would just make my career and if I didn’t win another race until well I don’t think it would bother me I’m not sure about that Kelly love winning anything but there
Was no success in the 1988 tour did he find his Spanish team too weak it affected him it definitely it definitely did um because when I was riding with the Spanish teams they were very interested in riding the Spanish races in the beginning of season season and any any
Event in Spain which was of any sort of importance uh you know I had to go down a road in those events and because of that my program was it was a bit bit too heavy in the early part of the season and I suffered by the time the two of
Fans came around he moved to the crack Dutch PDM team in 1989 he had a new program and the tour was part of it once more but yet another Irishman was making progress ear has gford Martin early has gford and looks as though he may take the stage will he following the
Footsteps of shery in the pass Sean Kelly in the P Steven roach in the pass and become the fourth Irishman to win a stage in the most famous cycle race on Earth Martin Eary from Dublin is going to win the stage of the PO and do what sha Kelly did seven years
Ago Martin early coming in round the last B and into the enclosure now and the crowds coming out to Greater what a day for our cycling nearly 4 hours in the saddle and Martin early with those other strling is coming behind him he hasn’t Lu well done Martin super super
Martin early has won the stage to pole early never Rose to the same dizzy Heights as Kelly and roach but on this occasion he was on Kelly’s team and Kelly did Dawn the green jersey again the same day next day Miguel inine was winning in the mountains at
Cotter but Kelly was also on a high after a great day out in the Pyrenees he arrived to take fourth place and the Sprinter come climber was again on top form I had a very good day today and hope that we continue tomorrow on the in
The in the Alps in the stage in the Alps and looking forward it’s good for the morale when you climb the first day because a lot of times the first stage in the mountain was always difficult for me to get settled in but today I was really climbing well so hopefully rest
Of the Kelly had brought himself back from the black hole of two years and was feeling good again as he pulled on the red jersey for the town Sprint leader he also had the combined Jersey and the green jersey he was giving a rare broad smile and life on his team was
Good for Steven roach the pendulum had gone the other way and he was out with a knee injury in the broomwagon was the fourth Irishman of the day Paul kimage this only proved how far ahead of the rest Kelly and roach were by Paris the PDM team had proved
Themselves to be the best taking the team award Kelly got the red jersey he got the green for a record fourth time but in his 11th tour in which he had finished ninth he realized now that the yellow as winner would never be his I won the Tour of Spain in
8 and um I went to the Tour of France I was hoping that you know uh that I was going to be on the podium and maybe win the Tour of France but uh when I didn’t work out that year uh but I think that’s at that moment that year it’s start to
Set into my mind that you know to Win It toour of France would be very very difficult and I think ‘ 89 was the year when I decided I think um I accept that you know I was it was never going to happen to to Wi
A so to 1990 and on the road to Al Duz as the race headed for the Bas town of borison the PDM team had slipped up and Kelly had to take on a new role of helper for Dutch team mate Eric breing situation was we were in a group of 20
Riders and were four PDM Riders and it was getting very near the refreshment into their fisherman zone so I decided to go to the car and there was a group that gu got away with Lund and Delgado and a lot of the important guys and there was nobody from our team with it
So immediately our team director came along he said was the two guys who have to got to ride now and I was I was the guy I decided immed but it was me and there was another guy ampler he was a new writer from the team and East German
Guy and he didn’t want to write although he was his his first year professional he had the idea that he was you know one of these great writers and there was a lot of there was a lot of talk about that you know after after that day and
Uh it was it was a very hard day for me and I lost I lost so much time the ab to way I really lost the chances of doing anything in the general classroom of the Tour of France that day but I feel I don’t regret it doing it I think I was
One I was one of the two guys who had got to do it and I just you know did it immediately there was no time to start having a team Mee better there then I remember in the T fronts when I went third in the overall we had a stage to
Al and we lost the grip of the race between the I think the glandon and ald there was a group going away with in and lemon and and then he was the man who chased between the two mountains for me and for alala and that was what what
Saved my my good classification and so even though he was a winner himself one of the greatest Riders he was never afraid to become a helper of domestique no that that moment I I always remember from him Kelly was a two professional in 1991 though the PDM team was again the
Talking point of the tour but for the wrong reason the pdmf that was you know Luke was rap the doctor was giving his and it was it was contaminated and um you know the whole the whole team was seconden uh everybody at high temperature and everybody was out of the
Race uh we all had to pull out the race this on the same day the PDM sponsors left the sport and Kelly was nearing the end of his affair with the tour to France there was only one more tour to follow for him after almost 20 years at
The top but he could look back on having ridden and often beaten the best his favorite cyclist was Bernard Eno for the way he commanded so much respect in the pelaton he rode alongside the pioneering American Greg lemond Eno liked Kelly too because he was a real fighter Eno loved
Fighters they all respected sha I think Sean Kelly has to be one of the toughest Riders I ever raced with he used to race from the start of the season right the way through to the end and he was always competitive and he always wanted to win
He’s a very a very tough man you never say die he was always in there whether he was fighting for first place or third place or whatever you know like a lot of the stars of today they they give everything to to win and once they can’t
Win well they they they more or less throw in the tail I saw I’ve seen sha do some great rides to run a place as well not only to win but uh to run a place and for many years he’s the best cist in the world and I think that only got to
Sh good he was his mentality and the the way to treat younger Riders and um uh yeah you know um just took the way he behav and sometimes the way he rides he was very uh he was very he was very good of uh you know teaching
Young Riders to uh to do the right thing and uh I think a lot of writers have uh you know a lot to they can thank Sean for a lot of things he didn’t take on airs and Graces he was the same whether it was with domestic or whether it was B
You know he spoke to them in exactly the same tone I think that’s probably also why the the Irish people liked him so much because they could relate to him a lot more than maybe they could relate to Steven roach because Roach was a man
From Dublin he was a man from the big city and Kelly was a man from the small Villages when I was starting cing Sean Kelly was already the the king Kelly and for me it was always uh almost an idol for me because he did win so many races and then also not because he did win also his the personality for him was very important
For for me also and then I was R racing with him also a lot of years I think seven years and I for for me is one of the most impression person I know because racing the personality everything he has I think one of the greatest thing about
Kelly was he actually reflected the fighting Spirit of the Irish which is probably why the Flemish adopted him because the flandrin were tough people as well and they felt that Kelly was one of their own I think that Kelly the last well the beginning today I think just sums up what Shawn is
Like someone who started fighting all the time and even in his last race he fights to the very last minute and he’s won it so I think that just sort of sums up you know the the fighting Spirit of Sean and I think that’s one of the
Reasons that he’s been so good for so long I mean any Rider who sort of stayed or any sports person who stays at the top of their sport for almost 20 years you know it just got to be incredible Sean was a very special guy also a very
Big Champion I think also a good friend I was not riding so much with him but uh in the beginning of his career was riding a few times and I saw immediately he was a big very big Champion said they saw him coming to The Paton a couple of years ago as a
Warrior Kelly was loved by all by none more so than the people of Carrick on Shore where Kelly still lives he’s never forgotten those who followed him well that’s the advantage when you’re living in a small town of you know 5,000 people everybody know me so well and they they look forward
Especially in the big races like the Tour of France and the world championships and classic races look forward to the results and uh if I you know when I win a classic race you know do very well in the T France well everybody the next day is just talking
About in the town so it’s you know it’s it’s really uh it’s great and it I think it’s it’s also good for the for yourself because it gives you that more bit more incentive to go on Carrick honored Kelly by naming the Town Square after him not
At the end of his career but early on during it he always gave them every reason to feel proud of his achievements if Sean Kelly has had a great infuence in cying in this town and in this country uh I probably wouldn’t be in the C Club if Sean Kelly wasn’t around he
Might give us a couple tips for the recent season you know just you get a new bik get and all that sort of stuff you know so have got involved in cycling only for Sean Kelly here in Carri and I think it’s very good sport and we go out training every
Weekend and Sean Kelly comes out and he great when he comes out training with us these were the times Carrick will never forget nor repeat Shan Kelly may never have won the Tour to France but he did win the Tour of Spain the first and only Irishman to do so and
The town gave him a big city welcome in its only Main Street it is my privilege to forly welcome back to car Shore the Conquering Hero and to congratulations on His Marvelous success in the tour of [Applause] Spain I’d like to say that I’m honored to be back in uh back in carck uh after winning such an event for me to win the Tour of Spain uh it’s so important uh words don’t really explain it because over the past couple of years I’ve won
Uh I’ve won so many races but people said yes you’ve never won a big tour or national tour I know for me to win the Tour of Spain well it’s you know it’s so important um and I think you know to break that bar well then I can go go on to F Things Kelly on the right of your picture wearing the green uniform Kelly with withis and domingues and Kelly goes for Tak a Rider’s ground I think just about H out there Kelly one of his typical posers sprinting for the line just in front of good R Kelly should
Have won the Tour of Spain twice and the year before in 1987 he was in fine sprinting form early on as he raced to the end of the stage in the yellow Jersey to snatch second place he lost the lead but in the time trial despite a
Problem he was again heading for yellow what’s very significant on the day is that he will be much faster than R leader Lewis Herrera and despite the fact that Kelly was suffering with a boil at this particular stage and having a lot of different difficulty on the saddle shifting from
Right to left left to right trying to get comfortable Shan Kelly grimacing in pain takes 29 minutes and 35 seconds so for the fourth time in three weeks Sean Kelly will take the yellow jersey in the tur spin but that cyst the size of an orange just had to be removed so Kelly
Was forced out of the weled desia when race leader would he ever get to win a major tour I I I feel okay but the moral is the moral is down actually uh you know it was it was so so close to winning the race you know at
Such a late stage uh to winning you know a national T couldn’t put my full weight on the SLE because it was just you know it was just so painful but I said to myself yes well I have to go on and you know uh maybe uh maybe the following
Days would be better a for laor Hope and Kelly left the race with great sadness and appeared on Spanish television distraught and disappointed but he reset his for 1988 as he recalled an Ireland’s top rating gay burn show um I really gosh got through a good win my training
Has uh has really went well has went as as I planned it going coming out of the season last year and that’s something never happened over the years I’ve always planned but I never they never seem to work out because you know you’re going away somewhere or there’s you know
Something to be done the training program is always upset and this year you know I’ve got I’ve got to I’ve got to do what I Land open in the 1988 Welter Kelly had lost 2 minutes overall but he was determined to win a big tour
And time was running out he been a pro over 10 years this had to be the one Sanchez there going towards the finish in the crowd F to encourage him through and who’s this it’s Kelly coming Kelly in the green van braen with Kelly and Kelly
Swallowing up he kicks first of all Sanz that’s Cru look he’s about to take the motorbike as well and more important he’s about to take the step I was writing very strong and there was a Spanish Spanish Clan as they say and uh you know they were writing they were
Doing everything to try you know to try to get me to distance me before the final TR ride and you know I was riding very strong and uh I was you know I hang I hung in there the mountains and didn’t you know lose lose any time the star
Names are staying together the poker do is there Wy in brown Sean Kelly in green and cabino in yellow H this is the day that Kelly fears most and it’s the day that the the BH team have got to do damage to Kelly if they want to win this
Race and kuino is in trouble and this now is looks good for Kelly at the moment although there are other BH Riders there now but they’re setting a fast pace and as cabino is the one who’s cracking for it Cara now doing a lot of attacking now
On on this clim and ferte and Kelly responding cabino seems to be in trouble again Pino looking over at him and and telling him to try and sit sit in on a wheel and I’d bring it back up to these three leaders but uh par doing a lot of driving at the
Front now Kelly now taking over and obviously feeling good knows cabino is in trouble and knows now is the time to to attack him and attack him he did lalino cubino had a reputation as a climber and Kelly broke him in his own backyard this was the ride of a tour
Winner at last a year on and the tour spainer brought a big smile to his face but as he enjoyed the moment he still had to outride FTE in the final time trial before Madrid could welcome him home Kelly’s main adversary now was ancelmo ferte another great climber he
Had tamed in the mountains few believe Kelly wouldn’t handle him in a time trial as this was now Advantage Kelly the man who almost had but never so far had succeeded he spent it home like it was a road race and with one day to go
There was no doubt now who would win while the cheers in K on sure could be heard in Madrid Kelly had built a healthy lead he marched with confidence back into his team coach with a day to go in the mass Bunch finish in Madrid the Amarillo Jersey of Kelly was near
The front giving others the pleasure of last day Glory his was the pleasure of 12 Years of effort sha Kelly had swept the board he’d won in style snatching all of the jerseys which were presented to him one by one Kelly had done it he’d refound
Himself and he had proved his point he was the very best gives personal satisfaction to win a national tour of three weeks like the tour of Spain tour of Italy or Tour of France uh it’s you know it’s it’s the feeling is great and
Um now I look back I said to myself well you know it was a Pity that I didn’t get through in 87 I would have won I’d have won you know the tour Spain twice it’s always the same situation in sport there you know there’s the there’s the people
Who say well you’re capable of winning a tour of Spain or he’s capable of winning a tour of France and there’s the other ones who say well he’ll never win it you know he never win it 3 we to because he’s not consistent enough and he always
Has an off day and you know so I Prov to some of those people you know that that said that well I Prov to them that I could win it you know a three we T and uh but you know those people you know they they never really worried me I
Think I think it was my for for myself first of all you know this personal satisfaction and also for the the the sponsors who uh you know for me when I won the Tour of Spain I was a Spanish team it was enormous importance for them ever the quintessential professional
Kelly along with Steven roach were honored by the Federation of Irish cyclists between the two of them they had won every major race in the [Applause] world Kelly perhaps still has one regret as he only has two bronze medals in the world Road Championship he wanted gold
Of course even so his first brond medal came after a gold medal performance as one man took on the rest of the world in Goodwood in 1982 when he rode in 1982 in the world championships which were in Goodwood down in the south of England he finished
Third and what a terrific ride that was because he not only took the bronze medal for Ireland and all Ireland were at Goodwood with his name written on the road in chalk um but he’d taken on all the Italians who are racing for one man Cerrone they T he’ taken on all the
Dutchmen he taken on all the uh belgians and he nearly beat them it was a horrendous ride that really was memorable I wrote a very good race and uh I was very active in you know in the in the end when the you know when the important moves were going and maybe a
Bit too active at times because I was you know going away in groups that were attacking and italent team was just riding on the front and keeping being anybody that went away just taking them back and then in the Sprint Sone was just you know too for everybody when he
When he sprinted he just went away from everybody in the final uphill Sprint but I was very pleased with my TD place and uh you know TD place in the world championships and I I was probably thinking of years to come I said to myself well you know I have a t place
Now at least it’s a stepping stone one day I’ll win it 18 laps of the 9.5 M circuit are to be covered giving a total distance of 171 mil and the winner at the end will certainly know he’s been in a grueling race I must say h that we saw sha Kelly
Starting off in the front there and that’s where I think we’d like to see for most of the next five or six hours of racing isn’t it I think Kelly is the man that would very much like to win this event particularly as it’s on British soil Bernard valet just there coming
Into shot up this Long Hill what a lonely race it’s been for him the big punch will be coming in a minute as he looks back to swallow him up and there was sha Kelly right at the head of Affairs it’s interesting to note here Hugh that
The on these Riders are now completing the exact distance of yesterday’s amateur race 114 miles and Valley now showing all the signs of a very very weak man now and they realized they can catch Valley and pick him up this is the first time they’ve seen burnard Valley
In nearly 4 hours of racing and Shan Kelly there in third place and the crowd are going absolutely berserk here they’ve realized now that there is a good possibility of a world champion coming from Ireland for the first time ever but going through the in second place was Bill Schon of the Netherlands
Team you you can see that the breaks are starting now Riders are starting to feel each other out after this 4 and a half hours of racing and Shan Kelly really alert on the front Tommy Prim picked up some more food there he’s put it in his
Pockets throw the musette away and we’re going to get a splinter group that’s going to come from the front of this big bunch to join Tommy Prim now Bel Shulton on the front hny Kyper also there Yan Ros in fourth place janetti in third place in that blue jersey Jonathan
Bo there fifth in the world championships let us not forget this in 1980 in Salan this could play into Kelly’s hands the fact that the tempo goes up at the front from a teammate will stop people trying to jump away we’ll see as they come out of the trees
Whether he is still at the front yes Kyper still there he’s putting the pressure on so this is stopping anybody going away on Kelly’s right he’s also his teammate there Steven roach the man who won par last year so two Irishmen here at the kill you there’s never been
An atmosphere like this in Britain before because every time the spectators catch a glimpse of the television monitors and they see that green jersey they just leted out an enormous cheer because they believe that sha Kelly will walk away with this title Kelly surely will not allow this to go Lera trying
Again Jonathan Boya joining him so Letta of Spain and Boya of the USA the nation having won the world title before laretta glances over his shoulder and how on Earth he’s finding the strength now to go for Home on this final lap when he was away for the previous lap I
Really don’t know but boo goes clear and boo must not be left left alone because he was fifth in the world title on a very very difficult course in Salange a year two years ago Shan Kelly realizing the danger surg into the front so the Dutchman but look at Jonathan Boer he’s
Attacking after almost 169 miles he really realizes at the end he in sight he would be the first American to ever win this world title but the Dutch realize the danger they’re trying to close the gap Shan Kelly very well placed there he’s on the wheel at the
Moment of waspi Cerrone the man who could possibly dislodge him in a Sprint finish so the big Sprinter starting to mass at the front but they’ve got to catch that larti and Jonathan Boer of course is the man who’s going away he’s taken the chance this is what can happen
At the end well 655,000 people here are being tweeted to a most extraordinary finish of the world championship in goodward boo changes gear he glances over his shoulder he knows he can still do it and Greg lemon of the United States comes as well now really lemon
Should not be doing this because he’s bringing with him all the other Riders towards his teammate and one of those Riders is Shan Kelly around the corner comes Jonathan Boer and just behind him comes the whole field Boer now heading up to the Finish it’s agonizing for this
And right past he go every Cerrone Cerone is going to take the world title this is a tremendous finish for Italy and look at the speed of him now Cerrone washes by Bo as he comes up the line and TS right in with the crow Cerrone of Italy and the Italians are going
Absolutely mad here on the line as they are about to hit the line now Jee Cerrone has won the world title he throws kisses to the crowd and in second place there goes Jonathan Boer and I think sha Kelly was third with the bronze medal the story of vac in Austria the
Was going to be the rest that Kelly was going to win what happened well again you know I was one of the favorites um you know the world championship um it was my my style of event it’s you know like it’s it’s like a classic uh the world championships and
I was one of the big favorites and I was riding very well and the conditions were suiting to me it was very wet conditions pretty cold and in the final I was writing quite strong and we’re in that group of I think we 15 maybe a bit more
Of rles and Steve was with me and uh you know the other writers they wrote very well Mart and ear and Paul kimage uh they did a lot of work up to the time that they they lost contact from the first group they were keeping things
Together and um giv us a help out in general and then we were in the final in the final lap there was a lot of attacking and Argentine was just he was just stuck to my rear wheel he was following me everywhere I went and I
Just said to Steve and I said look you know way these guys are technically just have to try and one of score each group and at least like there’s one was up there in the final after you know after after putting up such a good show and
The other guys working so hard for us and you know they attack go and I go with and then to be caught and there another one go on Steven and be with it and the one that went Steven was with it and I didn’t you know I didn’t chase
Because Argentine he was you know he was hanging with me the last lap and a half or two laps and uh Steven pulled it off in the Sprint and he you know he he really calculate calculated really well he tched just before the Sprint uh you know won the World Championships they
Gave me enormous amount of pleasure because I suppose with Nish team of four Riders and winning against you know the big ey Talent teams of were 12-man team and the French and the Belgium uh it was you know a rememberable day do you feel you cut of them well Argentine was um I
Think if it had came to a Sprint I think Argentine would have been very difficult to beat I I definitely think I would have you know I would have a big problem beating him in that day if I came to a Sprint and you know I think we did uh we
Worked it well tactic wise and we won the event and that’s what what counts in 89 I arrived in the Sprint in chambury with Greg lont and uh Rooks and a group of riders and um I think if if anybody wanted a bet take a beted
For me there I would have put a lot of money on myself that I would have been world champion which a half a mile to go uh because you know lemond was probably you know the the best printer of that group and I think you know out of 10
Times I I would probably beat him eight times and that was that had been the case right through uh the previous year or the previous three years leading up to that and um I made a mistake with the gear selection I was a little bit too low and
Lon was writing very strong he had you know he had a super year that year and he was he was very strong that day in chamber and um he laid out Sprint from a long way out and uh it was a very fast Sprint and that that didn’t help me with my being
Under gear and I was beating and I was you know so disappointed I was really I was the last I could have finished second but in the last 10 Mets I stopped sprinting and cor Chef he went by me and he finished second and I was T and but I
Was uh you know it was real disappointment that day well after the event I was really I was really down uh I suppose you know the most the most down I’ve ever been uh after an event and you know I didn’t I didn’t want them
That on on the M out the event and uh I think Frank Queen had the medal in the end and uh I think he should still have it Kelly fought back tears a world title he felt had been snatched from him but look what didn’t escape on a marvelous
Career three times the winner of the super prestige perno 12 classic victories his highest finish in the Tour of France was fourth he won the green jersey four times he won the Tour of Spain of the other events around the world he was always a winner seven
Straight wins in Parry n twice the tour of Switzerland it just goes on and on Kelly was a true champion they call it the race to the sun when Frenchman Jac onel won it five times they thought that was a record which would never be equaled never mind
Beaten Kelly changed that on the mountain of caldez the traditional end to the parin above the city Kelly was racing to his seventh win in a row the French were saying he was using the gear of the devil stamping on the pedals daring anyone to take the race he had
Won for the past six years from him the time he had to beat 2013 and the French knew it was a formality as Kelly turned into the home straight the clock counted it down he was well inside he was again the winner of Parry a record seven times straight
The tour of Switzerland was another event the Irishman claimed for the first time in 1983 he came back from a broken collarbone in March to the victory in June here he uses his Sprint to win the third stage and take the leader’s yellow Jersey he was doing to the Swiss what he
Had done to the Italians belgians Dutch and French he was winning stages as he pleased his timing was always inch perfect In 1990 he would win the Swiss tour again ironically after also breaking his collar bone at the beginning of April in the tour of Flanders in bike races there are always crashes and these are the hazards which haunt the Riders who feel they have a chance of final victory for
This reason they rarely predict their chances of the win until the last stage is over and relief follows Kelly had no such problems in 1990 he had a strong team around him and he was helped by the experienc of teammate Rudy DARS who controlled the Furs by organizing the rest of the Team Kelly won the Tour to for the second time back home in Ireland racing was becoming a show P sport for Kelly and roach in Cork the competition was at its best roach leading here and Kelly were on show and giving their best before a huge crowd these were great days for
Cycling in Ireland roach crashes out in a No Quarter given race and this left Kelly to Sprint to Victory after this Kelly then took on Chris ly white a fast British finisher who didn’t like playing second string to anyone and it really is a gamble isn’t
It well this is Kelly and Lily white to come around the corner liy White leads and Shan Kelly now Kelly’s going to have to unleash something special he slips up to the big gear breaks very late his mouth wide open her into that b he’s got
To come off the wheel of L white that will take some to him but Kelly wants to do it tonight SE Kelly is going to come’s in the barriers he’s leading gets it he gets it in the most amazing finish he the for the for his
Hand we didn’t you know we didn’t really know what to accept and what way the people would turn out and um the first Miss that came to Carrick and that stage down into Wexford like the turn out that day was you know it was it was a great turn out the amount of
People that came out and uh then we came to car on the second stage and the amount of people that turned out in kri was you know unbelievable um and it gives you know the feeling when you go when you go when you go out on your bike there and you
Know you’re competing at the end of the stage and the people you know there’s so much people shouting at you uh you know it gives you that much again I think you’re that much that many percent better on on home ground with with local support the people behind you do you
Remember the day of roll down the start house and the time trial and that person is from Sean Kelly Square yes I certainly do and the people like the clows of people that were hanging out every window and hanging out everywhere and uh the atmosphere was unbelievable
And I think that set me off on that you know that super time done that that time was you know definitely uh it was one of my best I think there’s two time FS that was one of them uh the other one was in the tour of P Basque I
Was writing so strong um you know in the one to car to CL and then the one that tour of P Basque at times like it was going to bend the bik that was I felt so strong on those days Kelly and fabulous form as the sign post for clan Mel shows
Them he’s just gobbling them up this is power harnessed to maximum of terrific stop well Kelly catching first of all turn Van Vleet 2 minutes ahead of him on the road now 2 minutes behind him on the overall classification and the next man in his side adre vanderpal and Kelly
Takes him too so both the Riders equal on time at the start are now behind Shan Kelly this is a magnificent ride by the Irishman and if the average speeds are correct that are coming our way Jimmy then the average speed of Kelly around 322 milph we are watching sha Kelly ride
The fastest time Drive of his life we have checked him on one of our cars here right beside him and he’s touched over 45 mph at time so the average is certainly over 32 a man on a mission dedicated intent the crowds have come to
See him roach has come to test him Kelly is producing the goods this is marvelous stuff but fair play to Vander Poole he’s responded and reacted and he’s coming back at the car well he must come back at him because he can’t ride behind Kelly too long he’ be penalized for that
So he must attack Kelly and he’s trying to get back on turns but you know Kelly has been cheered all way from the start in sha Kelly Square and drawn like a magnet into the square at CL Mel this is a man possessed it’s a long way to tiary
But it’s a lot quicker with Kelly of the saddle he really is driving for it now this is a day a morning he’ll never forget it’s a phenomenal time Trial and a time trial is turning out to be a Sprint B pole is back at him again he beat him in the Sprint yesterday in car is Kelly going to be beaten two days in a row by this Dutch man let’s wish the Finish look at the crow look at the
Enthusiasm it’s fantastic him Kelly goes for it Kelly takes it and not Al that he wins the stage and he’s 49 seconds better than Steven roach that’s sensal you look back in all the N we had uh you know there was there were great events
And um you know the Royals we had here in this country and the people that turned out uh the schools uh when you go through any Village on town like the schools everything was closed down uh and they were all out you know to see the Nissan and you know there were there
Were marvelous years um you know you go down to co Patrick’s Hill uh you know the number of people on Patrick’s Hill it was you know you just so many people in this you could as you were coming around to go Pat’s Hill you could hear the people up on hanging on Patrick’s
Hill and you could hear the shouting it was uh you know it was it was really it was really moving and you know the feeling was it was just unbelievable remember the incredible day the finish with the it and all that the pouring rain and the
Wind yes I remember that that stage like it was it was one of the probably one of the best stage of of the of of the Nissan Classics it was very difficult day started up in limi and out the LI the tip where I Ro and I remember it was
You know it was blowing a window it was unbelievable and rain and everybody was very nervous because of the wind and the race started going faster and faster because everybody wanted to be in the front and eventually like we’re only two M the road and we’re just belting for
And into tip are and up the plan of aalo and was you know the bunch was scattered all over all over the Balo and then you know onto onto the V and those roers just got back on before the V and were out again uh when we started
Timing the V and you know it was it poor rain all the day right into car and then I arrived I got away on the way to car with Gates and um you know it was for me it was uh it was one of the great I think it was one
Of the great days of my career getting to Patrick’s heand or Patrick’s heand as I said the crowd was there in the pouring rain they were out there and there was thousands and thousands and uh you I went on to win that Nissan which
Is you know uh which is one of one of one of the great memories of the career here are the men of the moment this is Shawn Yates in second and Shawn Kelly leading them up Patrick’s Hill for the very last time in this Nissan International classic of 1991 is this
One of the great climbs of cycling nobody in Cork today is going to disagree with you let’s go back on the last approach to the Finish let me quickly remind you of the overall situation sha Kelly and Shawn Yates are separated on time by a single second and
Yates has got to win this race by 2 seconds George to be in yellow tonight otherwise it’s k Kelly they’re giving no respect at all to the greasy surface they’re into the home straight Shan Yates is in first Kelly has got the advantage now in second place he can see
The banner now can Shan Kelly finishes off with a flourish and take yellow and the stage y has found fresh legs from somewhere he looks across and Kelly and goes again sha Yates is going to spoil sha Kelly’s stage win but Kelly’s reward was another yellow jersey and a fourth
Nissan Victory sadly the race has now ended and Kelly was planning his last event too last year when I decided uh you know I was going to have a retirement race and there had always been a Christmas hamper race which was uh which was a killer of event the last year because
There was so many guys training for it was a handicap event and it was you know it to tear the chest out here that time of year so I decided last year I Rod a race in Switzerland with the Roman J classic and it was the same event as we
Had in Carrick and I said well we’ll know we’ll do something like this and uh we try and get some of the professionals over and I start to started to talk to the professionals M and you know and I had a list of guys and you know I you
Know I started ringing about and as I started ringing like everyone wanted to come and the end I had to stop because we just couldn’t afford to get everybody over expense wise um so there’s a lot of guys I would have liked to have and
Would have come but I just you know I just we hadn’t the budg to get them over uh but it was you know amazing day and uh the number of riders over 12200 Riders and uh the amount of people that came out it was it was just a perfect end
For on a wonderful day in December in 1994 they all turned up from world champions to the club cyclist this was a pelaton for everybody a chance to say I rode against the great Shan Kelly and to say a simple thank you to one of Ireland’s best ever Sportsmen this race
Was not fixed either but the winner couldn’t have been anyone else but Kelly he went for the line like it was a Milan Sano or a tour of Lombardy an Irish cycling Legend the sport would be the the sad without Shan Kelly he was more than a rider he was an Entertainer
Everyone could attach to on a day you bought a new car you would remember it because it would be the day Kelly had won Milan Sano or Parry rube how did he see himself among the elite well I think it’s very hard to to rate yourself with the others
Because Mex I think he was in a different he was in a different time for me as a different generation and you know now they’re probably going into a different different generation again so it’s very you know it’s very happy compare in the alltime grades you can’t
Really compare my uh my career with maxus because you know he was he was a long long time before me but you know I I look back and you know I started out I knew nothing about cycling when I started riding a bike and uh I worked on
It very hard I put a lot of work into it but I got a lot out of it I made a lot of friends financially I did well learned a couple languages and uh you know made I’ve a lot of results there won a lot of big races and um so that’s
You know uh if I give myself personally it was very satis they gave me a lot of satisfaction and I think you know a lot of people got an enormous amount of enjoyment out of it so I have no regrets if I could go put back the put back the
Clock and go back and do it all again I certainly would um there be things I do probably differently but uh on the whole i w go back and do the whole over again There N For Oh a
1 Comment
Anyone knows the song at the beginning?
Brilliant athlete!